Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Cosmopolitan resort hit with another investor suit

Updated Monday, July 19, 2010 | 10:43 p.m.

Click to enlarge photo

A view of Harmon Avenue and MGM Mirage's CityCenter project on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009. The Cosmopolitan Resort tower is shown under construction at right.

Map of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

3708 S. Las Vegas Blvd. , Las Vegas

Owners of a casino-hotel resort due to open later this year on the Las Vegas Strip are being sued by condominium buyers who allege the residential units they bought in 2005 aren't being built after all.

Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas owners Deutsche Bank and Nevada Property 1 are accused in a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles of fraudulently keeping nearly $100 million in escrow deposits paid for condos that were to open in early 2008.

The fraud and conversion lawsuit filed by three southern California residents comes after they and more than 200 other people sought an injunction in Nevada state court in Las Vegas last Thursday alleging the developers of the $3.9 billion project are turning their condos into hotel rooms.

Amy Rossetti, spokeswoman in Las Vegas for the project developer and Deutsche Bank, called the claims "entirely without merit."

The California lawsuit accuses the developer of "capitalizing on the recession" by delaying construction, then "stonewalling" condo buyers while secretly scrapping plans to include 2,000 condos in two towers totaling some 3,000 rooms.

Owner Deutsche Bank paid about $1 billion for the half-finished development in August 2008 after New York developer Ian Bruce Eichner and his company, 3700 Associates LLC, entered foreclosure. The German bank decided to finish and open the resort.

The resort announced last month that it was taking reservations for a Dec. 15 opening of about 2,000 of some 2,995 hotel rooms. It said 987 rooms would be delayed to July 2011. The hotel website advertised opening night room rates starting at $300.

The Las Vegas complaint asks a Clark County District Court judge to order disclosures from the company about plans for the project and stop the rental of condominium rooms.

"After a nearly three-year delay in construction, plaintiffs are now receiving mixed signals as to whether their units will ever be delivered to them as promised," the complaint said.

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