Las Vegas Real Estate and Business News

 

Developer aims for aesthetic flair with Manhattan

All units sold at midrise condo project, official says

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Feb. 06, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Walking on the roof of the $250 million Manhattan midrise luxury condos on Las Vegas Boulevard South, developer Alex Edelstein discovered the delight of his day.

"My gargoyles!" the former technology guru from San Francisco exclaimed. "They almost didn't make it."

By that, Edelstein means the gray, stone sculptures became an item of budgetary debate during the architectural design process for Manhattan. He felt they were a small, but necessary part of the mix of Manhattan-style architecture and would look good on the roof, overlooking the courtyard.

"There are always design decisions, but I decided, 'Damn it, we're going to have gargoyles,' " the chief executive officer of Gemstone Development said.

It's just one of the aesthetic touches Edelstein wants residents to see when they move into the first of nine buildings at Manhattan within 90 days. The five-story building has 72 units, including two-story lofts at the top.

Edelstein advertised prices starting at $149,000 when he announced the Manhattan project a couple of years ago. At $300 a square foot overall, he underpriced other midrise condos in the market, including Boca Raton that's under construction across the boulevard at Serene Avenue and Vegas Grand that's finishing infrastructure work at Swenson Street and Flamingo Road.

"We made sure we had four units at $149,000 and they didn't get sold to insiders," he said. "They went to the first four people in line that wanted a one-bedroom unit in that location."

Manhattan sold all 700 units and is now reselling units for buyers who don't want to bother with closing costs, mortgage financing or 6 percent broker commissions, Edelstein said.

 

About half the buyers will move into their units, a quarter will rent them out and another quarter will resell.

Edelstein said he's under contract to buy 25 acres at Warm Springs Road and Rainbow Boulevard for a project similar to Manhattan.

"We're going to have more innovations in our next project than I've ever seen in my three years in Las Vegas, amenities and features that have never been done before, and we'll remain in the affordable luxury class," he said. "We, as an industry, are not creating anything new. We need to be innovative."

BROOKHOLLOW PARK: The Koll Co. of Newport Beach, Calif., purchased Brookhollow Business Park at Smoke Ranch Road and Tenaya Way for $12.7 million. The seller was SCI, a tenant-in-common investment firm from Los Angeles.

The 6.9-acre business park was built in 1991 with four buildings totaling nearly 100,000 square feet of light industrial space. It is currently 78 percent occupied.

HUGHES WEST: Corrigan Investments and Impact Development have completed construction of Hughes West, a $23 million suburban office building at 10100 W. Charleston Blvd.

WPH Architecture of Las Vegas designed the two-story, steel-framed building. JMA Architecture Studios was interior designer; Breslin Builders was general contractor.

The building was 80 percent leased upon completion. Tenants include Commonwealth Title, Bank of America, Voit Commercial, Corrigan Investments, Mass Mutual and Vinters Grill.

OFFICE SALE: Christopher Bentley of Bentley Group represented Congressional Properties in the sale of the Graves Morrisey office building at 8367 W. Flamingo Road for $4 million, or about $250 a square foot.

Built in 2000, the 15,690-square-foot building offers below-market rents and easy access to major thoroughfares in the southwest valley, Bentley said.

Mark Musser and Jason Thrower of Bentley Group sold an 8,800-square-foot retail center on Western Avenue for $1.35 million, or $153 a foot. They represented Arthur and Marsha Levine.

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