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StumbleDeveloper gets 2 acres on Las Vegas Strip for $25 million
Tourists pass by a vacant piece of land at the Las Vegas Strip and Harmon Avenue Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010. A Las Vegas developer has acquired the property for $25 million after being deemed the only qualified bidder in a Clark County auction.
Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010 | 3:41 p.m.
Property location
A Las Vegas developer has acquired a vacant piece of land at the Las Vegas Strip and Harmon Avenue for $25 million after being deemed the only qualified bidder in a Clark County auction.
A Las Vegas developer has acquired more than two acres at a key intersection on the Las Vegas Strip for $25 million after being deemed the only qualified bidder in a Clark County auction.
Brett Torino, who heads Metroflag Management LLC, which has an interest in 18 acres on the east side of the Strip south of Harmon Avenue, and two partners offered the bid that was accepted Tuesday by the Clark County Commission.
The 2.15 acres includes a long rectangular parcel with Strip frontage adjacent to the Planet Hollywood resort on the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue and a smaller triangular piece just south of it. The two parcels were appraised at a total of $24.7 million.
The county in March 2000 purchased nearly three acres from Reynolds Enterprises LP for the widening of Harmon Avenue. Because Reynolds waived its right to repurchase any portion of the property, when the county completed the widening project, the land was deemed disposable.
Torino, who also is chairman of the Las Vegas division of FX Real Estate and Entertainment, could not be reached to comment on plans for the acreage, which is across the street from the newly opened CityCenter development.
Metroflag, a joint venture between Torino Companies, Leviev Voymel Green and New York-based luxury commercial developer Flag Luxury Properties LLC, has subsidiaries that developed the Harley-Davidson Café, the Hawaiian Marketplace and the Smith & Wollensky steak restaurant.
The Hawaiian Marketplace, an 80,000-square-foot, $140 million retail complex modeled after Waikiki’s International Marketplace, opened in 2004.
FX Real Estate, controlled by Robert F.X. Sillerman, who also owns the “American Idol” television show, accumulated 17.72 acres in the same area of the Las Vegas Strip across from CityCenter with plans to build an Elvis Presley-themed resort.
But with the recession drying up financing for such projects, FX defaulted on its $475 million mortgage loan and planned to file for a pre-packaged bankruptcy to auction the land or sell it to company insiders.
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What did the county originally purchase this parcel of land for? Per the article the county originally purchased 3 acres 10 years ago and the land sold was 2.15. I wanted to point that out before doing a direct comparison but I would like to know this information
Thanks in advance
Great spot for a soup kitchen and homeless shelter.
Good question, akrowdybuck. A Clark County spokeswoman said the 2.96 acres was purchased in 2000 for $36 million.
well there is a deal if I have ever seen one.. buy high, sell low, and stick the taxpayers with the bill..... Ahhh Las Vegas, where ineptness is rewarded
amazing anyone wants to invest here, we have opened our UK based business in Vegas and finding staff who actually want to work is near impossible, $100 an hr and no takers, amazing we are seriously considering taking our business out of the states.
why anyone would want to invest 25 million on land is beyond us.
Yes, I too opened a business and offered $101 an hour with no takers.
well Markp and Logic-should-rule
email me, I have been looking for work, my email is ivegotcha@live.com
mark, email me I'm ready at $100 an hour. I'm even experienced although I have no idea what the job is.
Well, the County got rid of the property for $25 million. I guess that's called "cutting your losses". If you add all the blunders up with the Regional Justice Center, this land deal and others that have been in the paper, we would be PLUS $30 million not MINUS $200 million...wait..I have the answers...LET'S LAY PEOPLE OFF!!! IT'S THEIR FAULT, ALL THEIR FAULT! Somebody has to sign these deals!
what will the 2 acers going to be
no a casino i think
I wonder if Harry got a million dollar hand shake on this deal ?
How does a guy with $475 million in DEFAULTS come up with the $25 million to buy a corner lot on Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon....?
I smell a rat in Clark County Government.
This sounds a lot like
RICO
to me.
RICO RICO RICO RICO RICO RICO RICO RICO
Oh, did I mention, RICO..?
I was happy to see this parcel bought finally but saddened to see who the buyer was. To be quite honest, we don't need an Elvis themed resort or anything as crappy as the Hawaiian Marketplace, which is a hotspot on the Strip for drug dealers and prostitutes.
What that parcel really needs is a mid-line, 2-3 story nightclub/resturaunt type project. No hotel rooms, maybe not even a casino. If they built something like the building in Town Square that has The Yardhouse, Cadillac Ranch, and Blue Martini they would have a smashing success. The last thing they need there is a tacky Elivs-themed resort.
Informant,
The club idea sounds nice,
But 25 mil. for the land, let's say a conservative 15 mil. for the building (probably much higher).
There's no way to justify a 40 million dollar investment, even in a high traffic area and ever expect enough business to pay the service on that debt. (sounds familiar, doesn't it?) at 6% you're looking at 6500 a day in interest alone.
i think i got somthing that i would put
I don't understand why Harrah's didn't try to buy the land, since they now own PH. Harrah's just bought PH for about $100 million I think, and plan on another $30 million in renovations. Why not buy another 3 acres for $25 million?
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Posted by The-Socratic-Inkwell
A Valuable Property on Harmon Avenue...
If memory serves, this property, as described, is a long rectangular piece of land adjacent to: the (former) Aladdin Hotel, which is (now) Planet Hollywood. In days gone by, before the CityCenter project was initiated, Steve Wynn wanted to build an under-the-strip tunnel for access to the "back 40" entrance - to and from Bellagio.
I believe this idea was dropped. In later years (as the story says) Clark County bought the land to "widen Harmon Avenue." Well, whatever happened to Harmon Avenue bit, the land has now become available for sale and sold to to Brett Torino, et al. No one ever wanted this land. As suggested by some comments herein, it is too small for a casino, etc.
So, why would Brett Torino buy it? He may be a man of vision who knows how to make "a buck." To understand what might occur, one has only to look at a similar rectangular strip of land that the owners of the Flamingo hotel declined to buy - which later became the Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino on Flamingo Road at the Strip.
The Barbary Coast was also a long-shot, and an improbable site for a hotel/casino, primarily because of the size of the lot, and the overhead power lines that ran parallel to where the usable land was (facing Flamingo Road, across from Ballys)
Well, a way was found to build the Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino - in stair-step fashion (to avoid running into the high tension power lines). It became a strip competitor with a four star restaurant in it.
And, inadvertently or on purpose, the hotel blocked the Strip view (north bound) of the Flamingo's beautiful $5 million dollar "flame design" sign. That did not make the Flamingo happy. But they had not seen the potential either.
The Barbary Coast was a money-maker for a long time because, like the subject land in this story - it sat on a corner of the Strip - adjacent to the power-house casinos.
Who knows what Brett Torino has in mind. But I would not doubt that, given the proximity to "Planet Hollywood" and CityCenter, there is some money to be made in the future.
If nothing else, given the price of real estate on the Strip, the property is now a potential cash-cow investment that may be used for a variety of purposes; to enlarge the business of one of the nearby casinos, or purchased to avoid allowing a similar experience (through lack-of-foresight) that the Flamingo experienced.
Dreams are what made Las Vegas; and dreamers will be the ones who save it.
The property is now basically a homless shelter until they are caught. Apparently the property that was not included was used for the widening project the city did.
MarkP. Sad you're considering taking your business elsewhere, when so many people want work. If you need workers that bad email me at lasvegas4me2007@yahoo.com
Let's see the comp, comparable sale would be the Fontainebleau, 6 acres plus unfinished building for $135 million. Maybe they need a clothing optional resort for nudists or a Tea Party Hotel for the Glen Beck fans?
Mred,
Maybe an English speaking school for Obama, so he can learn to pronounce 'corpsman' and spell 'early' correctly.
From your posts you could use some 'learnun' also.
Build a casino and call it Putz casino, people like mred will be they daily.
What can you do with two acres? There is no significant room for parking. Some sort of small walk-in business?
Most of the people commenting on this site don't have 25 cents and their going too knock this guy that had 25 million to invest!!!!
It's wonderful that the county was able to add $25,000,000 to their coffers.
In this recession, to get almost the same price as they paid for it in 2000, everyone should be HAPPY.
The County bought 2.96 acres for $36 million which is $12,162,162 per acre. After using part of that for the roadway realignment, they sold 2.16 acres for $11,574,074 per acre. That's about 5% less than in 2000. In this bad economy. It's a good thing.
Inkwell, you are spot on. After a reciprocal access and parking arrangement is inked with PH a new entry front door will be developed to carry thousands of tourists through a new retail center and Diamond Emporium at people mover and street level. Only bidder was no accident and the exposure-frontage premium is worth 40 million dollars.
WizardofOz, where do you think the loan proceeds went from the $475,000,000 in loans made across Harmon to FXRE and Metroflag?
PH has new partners and the deal set comparable in a packaged chapter 11 with land at 10 million per acre, raising the value to 11,574,000 per acre a gain in value of over 30 million when you already have 24 acres in BK leaving the Buyer with 2.16 acres with new owners who are partners in a BK filing with a steal. Genius with a little help from friends in the right places, lots of spin and a managed appraisser.