Archive for Informational

3 July, 2008 | No comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A Strategic Alliance - Sahara Sports Entertainment Joins Beasley & DeVarreau Sotheby’s International Realty

LAS VEGAS, NV (July 1, 2008) - Sahara Sports Entertainment is an elite, turn-key firm providing exclusive real estate sales, private mortgage banking, luxury interior design services and estate planning to celebrities, professional athletes, and those of high net worth.

Our premier real estate sales through a partnership with Beasley & DeVarreau Sotheby’s International Realty  specializes in the sales and marketing of luxury residential estates, land acquisition and development, luxury home construction and consultation.   Sotheby’s International Realty and Sahara Sports Entertainment assure you that your goals are successfully achieved.

Our Private mortgage banking division, Sahara Mortgage caters to clientele commanding the affluent lifestyle.  They are top entertainers, star athletes, successful entrepreneurs, CEO’s and social/opinion leaders with the public at large. Our in-house underwriting and funding  provides  jumbo loans  up to $20M for our discriminating clientele.  Owning multiple residences, luxury goods and real estate is not based on need, but the desire and ability to indulge.  Our clientele has the financial resources to maintain their elegant style of living regardless of the fluctuations in the global economy. They enjoy the finest things in life.

When high-profile clientele wants the best, they call Vergee Interior Design. An expert team awaits you that is committed to creating the ambience and luxurious surroundings that befits your status.  With more than a decade of experience in interior design, VERGÉE fulfills all types of design desires.  Recent projects illustrate stunning residences, chic rooms, relaxing club houses, dramatic color schemes, inviting lobbies, and functional outdoor living spaces.  Vergee has been featured on MTV Cribs, Architectual Digest and Las Vegas Home and Design.

A&B Asset Management is our exclusive estate planning firm.  Their “boutique style” management and financial services have been proudly servicing clients since 1998.  One lesson we have learned from our experience is not only is the market dynamic, but so are the needs of our clients.  Our business objective is to properly and professionally serve these markets by offering first class investment advice on a broad range of security products and asset protection management.

Sahara Sports Entertainment is a results-oriented company with the ability to listen and address the needs and services of every client.  We are the Leader of our field and representatives of the company have been recognized on the cover of Black Enterprise, featured in Fortune Magazine, and honored as Nevada’s Business Woman of  the Year.  

For further information, contact our headquarters in Las Vegas at 702-870-3435 or visit our website at www.saharasportsent.com

6 May, 2008 | No comments

GLVAR reports higher home sales in March

11 February, 2008 | No comments

Condo-hotel project faces class action lawsuit

Buyers seeking returned deposits, damages, fees  

BY TONY ILLIA
BUSINESS PRESS

Pinnacle Las Vegas was recently slapped with a class action lawsuit by frustrated buyers. The proposed $740 million condominium-hotel development at Tropicana Avenue and Cameron Street was first announced in 2005. Three years later, however, the dirt site remains bare.

Green Cable LLC, in response, last month sued the project’s development team for breach of contract. It’s seeking at least $5 million in returned deposits, damages and attorney’s fees. The lawsuit alleges that buyers bought units with the understanding that Pinnacle would open by August.

The project has changed contractors three times in three years. Dick Pacific Construction, a unit of Pittsburgh-based Dick Corp., replaced Marnell Corrao Associates as builder in mid-2007. Both builders were preceded by Turner Construction Co. — the New York-based firm now working on the Juhl mixed-use project in downtown Las Vegas.

Dick Pacific, who came aboard last summer, is also a project partner. Turner and Marnell, by comparison, were at-fee, independent contractors. Dick Pacific declined to elaborate on its project investment and ownership share. It’s unclear whether the firm simply waived its construction fee in exchange for project equity, or, more significantly, is providing hard-dollar project capital. Calls to Dick Pacific Executive Vice President Norman Fornella seeking comment were unreturned at press time.

Pinnacle calls for two 36-story, faceted gold glass towers connected by three sky bridges. The twin skyscrapers, designed by YWS Architects, contain 1,100 condo-hotel units that allow buyers to rent out residences as guest rooms when not in use. The investment-driven concept allows home buyers to generate revenue from their units to help offset the purchase price. Project plans additionally entail resortlike amenities, including a three-acre wet-deck, restaurants, boutiques, a fitness center and a spa.

“Generally, we believe Pinnacle is an excellent project,” said Sam Schwartz, a principal in Green Cable LLC. “At this point in time, however, due to the construction delays the project has endured, the buyers I represent, including myself, believe it is in the best interests of all the parties that we go our separate ways.”

Schwartz’s real-estate brokerage firm, &Opportunities, represents 16 buyers who each paid 10 percent deposits for units priced from the $300,000s to more than $1 million. Their agreements contained addendums with developer benchmarks. Pinnacle, for instance, must deliver 306 purchase pacts or it can be found in default. It must also break ground within a certain time frame. The lawsuit levels an additional claim that the project site is contaminated with high benzene levels as a result of dropping ground water levels. The environmental issue has yet to be resolved, it adds.

“Our initial review is that this action is without merit,” said Cynthia LaVasseur, an attorney representing defendants, Pinnacle Las Vegas LLC and 4645 Tropicana Partners LLC. “We are going to file an action to dismiss.”

Dick Pacific, Falconi Group, Elysium Enterprises and Praxis Resources LLC are listed as the lawsuit’s other defendants. The Falconi Group, the project’s principal developer, is known locally for operating Acura and Honda car dealerships throughout the valley. The project’s 12-acre property served as an automotive sales site until October 2004.

Pinnacle’s current construction status is unknown. The project originally was scheduled to break ground in the fall of 2006 — a date that has since changed repeatedly. The most recent announcement, released in October, says groundbreaking will occur by midyear. Officials have yet to publicly announce a construction loan.

“Buyers definitely want to know projects are well-funded and successful,” said Bruce Hiatt, owner of Luxury Realty Group, a Las Vegas high-rise real estate specialist. “Buyers expect rapid progress, with the period between reservations and groundbreaking taking a year or less. It has become much more important today than a few years ago.”

Pinnacle’s progress, as a result, could prove problematic. New York-based Moody’s Investors Service last month warned that the construction and building industry default rate could reach 12 percent this year, with a possible 6 percent default rate in the hotel, gaming and leisure industries. Securities backed by subprime home loans seized up last summer as loans defaulted. Wall Street writedowns are consequently expected to surpass $100 billion, which may cause wary investors to shun commercial real estate-backed loans.

“The luxury condominium market is facing challenges with a slowdown in demand and number of projects in the pipeline,” said Brian Gordon, a principal with Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas economic research firm. “A longer presale phase generally makes it more challenging to generate sufficient sales to move forward in a declining market.”

25 January, 2008 | No comments

PRESIDENT/CONGRESS ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE

FHA/AFFIRMATIVE MARKETING

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley met with SNHBA yesterday at our office and brought with her information on the above captioned item.

The Stimulus Package is expected to have “quick” congressional action with anticipated passage within a couple of weeks.

Three items which have been included at this point (always subject to further congressional action) of interest to us are:    

▪        A one year increase in Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s conforming loan limits (from $417,000 to a maximum of $729,750).  The conforming loan limit is the maximum loan amount that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are permitted to buy.     

▪        It also includes a permanent increase in the FHA loan limit from the current $367,000 up to a maximum of $729,750. Note:  We have contacted HUD/FHA and offered our assistance on new loan limits, regulations, etc., and requested any information we can transmit to you.

▪        The legislation will also include other changes that immediately help families facing foreclosure refinance their loans and get the housing counseling they may need.  These provisions are still being finalized by the House Financial Services Committee.

11 January, 2008 | No comments

Lake Las Vegas properties change hands

Ritz-Carlton interest part of Atalon Group’s haul after loan default

By ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY
REVIEW-JOURNAL

The Atalon Group has acquired the assets of 3,592-acre Lake Las Vegas for an undisclosed amount after the developer defaulted on a nearly $540 million loan last fall. 

The move pushes out Transcontinental Corp. and its chairman and president, Ron Boeddeker, who had been directing the development project since 1990. 

The transaction gives Atalon an interest in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, nearly 400 acres of undeveloped land, a handful of businesses on the Strip and three golf courses, with a fourth in development. 

The Loews Las Vegas Resort, MonteLago Village Resort and MonteLago Casino are not affected by the transaction. 

Transcontinental’s default occurred after builders planning to develop the 400 acres failed to make option payments in September because of the downturn in the housing market. 

Atalon Chief Executive Officer Frederick Chin took over as president of the Lake Las Vegas operating companies Jan. 2, the company announced Tuesday. 

Chin and his business partner, James Coyne, have been consulting on the management of Lake Las Vegas for an investment consortium led by Credit Suisse since Transcontinental defaulted on the loans. 

Atalon is described as “a national operational restructuring firm that has experience in turning around financially troubled companies,” in a statement announcing the change. 

Chin said in the statement that the new ownership is committed to “a disciplined approach to business planning, budgets and controls.” The release said a “number of key staff members will stay on.” 

However, someone familiar with the operations said some senior management people in the development and marketing teams have already been laid off. 

It is also not known if other members of the Boeddeker family, who held various positions at Lake Las Vegas, have been let go. 

Attempts to reach Chin and the Boeddeker family Tuesday failed. A call to Lake Las Vegas was not returned by press time. 

Transcontinental began selling residential real estate at Lake Las Vegas Resort in 1993. The company started out selling only custom-home lots in the community’s SouthShore section, but the developer made the move to semi- custom and regular development around 2000. 

John Restrepo, principal of the Las Vegas real estate consulting firm Restrepo Consulting Group, said Lake Las Vegas is going to face the same challenges all residential developments will for the next couple years while the housing market corrects itself. 

“It is still a little isolated from the core of the valley, so it is still hard for people to live there who work here along the Strip, for example,” Restrepo said. 

Lake Las Vegas was conceived about 40 years ago by actor and sometime hotel owner J. Carlton Adair, who originally bought the land and water rights to develop what he dubbed Lake Adair. 

But Adair declared bankruptcy and another developer failed to complete the project before Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Transcontinental Properties bought it in 1990. 

Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or (702) 477-3893. 

7 December, 2007 | No comments

Obstacles gone for LV tower

County panel approves 1,064-foot Strip hotel

 

A proposal to build the tallest hotel tower in Las Vegas is no longer flying under the radar.

With the preliminary blessing of the Federal Aviation Administration, Clark County commissioners on Wednesday approved a proposal for a resort with a 1,064-foot tower at the north end of the Strip.

The approval gives developers of the Crown Las Vegas Resort Hotel & Casino authority to move forward with a scaled-down plan of their original proposal for an 1,888-foot tower, which would have been the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

It’s a big step forward for a proposal that’s been overshadowed by the planned CityCenter, Echelon and Plaza megaresorts. But it’s no less ostentatious in scope.

“I would expect you’ll start hearing a lot more about Crown Las Vegas now that this has approval,” said Bill Lerner, a Las Vegas-based gaming analyst at Deutsche Bank.

The current proposal calls for what developers say would be the tallest hotel building in the United States. The Stratosphere tower is about 100 feet taller than the proposed Crown tower but doesn’t have hotel rooms.

Crown would have as many as 5,000 rooms, a 250,000-square-foot casino, a 3,000-square-foot showroom, meeting space and retail.

Developers say the first phase could open as early as 2011 with another phase in 2013. It would be just south of the Sahara near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue on the former Wet ‘n Wild site.

The proposed $5 billion project is a joint venture between Texas-based developer Christopher Milam and Australian billionaire James Packer, who has casinos in Macau, Canada and Down Under.

“I think (Packer) wants to do something here in Vegas,” said Lerner.

Milam already has an agreement to buy the site for $475 million. Last year Clark County planning commissioners approved the plan for the 1,888-foot tower in concept, but only if the FAA was on board. The taller version didn’t fly with officials from the FAA and McCarran International Airport who felt it would conflict with air traffic above Las Vegas. That stifled enthusiasm for the project because it eroded confidence it would ever be built.

With developers and aviation officials in apparent agreement and the Clark County Commission on board, those hurdles are gone, Lerner said.

Concerns from neighbors and doubts about just how the project will proceed remain.

The revised proposal the county approved Wednesday is highlighted by one large tower centrally located on the site. The height restriction, more than 800 feet lower than the original proposal, could prompt developers to want more than one tower.

If so, it would make for a much different look.

“It could be crap. They could change everything,” said Harvey Gerber, who lives on the 29th floor of nearby Turnberry Place. “They could have buildings in front of your windows.”

Gerber was one of three Turnberry residents who spoke before the county board. None opposed the project outright. But they all said they hoped the developers would do their best to minimize the impact on local residents.

To that end, they sought conditions to prevent overnight construction, study traffic on Paradise Road and ensure Turnberry residents access into and out of their approximately 800-unit, multitower community. The commission attached conditions to their approval to ensure the neighbors’ voices are heard.

Las Vegas attorney Christopher Kaempfer, who represented the developers before the commission, said neighbors would have the opportunity to be heard should the proposal undergo changes.

“If we decide to do a second tower, we’d have to come back,” Kaempfer said.

By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL

 

3 December, 2007 | No comments

LAS VEGAS INTEREST-RATE ROUNDUP

Here are some common rates for popular financial products available in Las Vegas. Rates are as of Friday.

Loan type	Average rate	Highest rate	Lowest rate
48-month used car loan	7.14	7.54	6.89
48-month new car loan	6.85	7.89	6.15
Money market accounts	3.52	5.00	0.05
Three-month CD	4.17	5.11	1.09
One-year CD	4.47	4.95	2.03
Passbook savings	4.21	5.20	0.50
One-year IRA CD	4.46	4.92	4.11
$50,000 home equity loan	8.31	10.38	7.10
30-year fixed-rate mortgage	5.77	6.63	5.25
30-year fixed jumbo mortgage	6.69	8.50	5.75
5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage	5.51	6.75	4.88
Interest checking	2.22	3.92	0.05
SOURCE: Bankrate.com

3 December, 2007 | No comments

CITY POPULATION: Las Vegas now over 600,000

City estimates 1.9% increase

Though Las Vegas didn’t grow as fast over the past year as it did in previous years, the city still managed to push past the 600,000 mark, according to an estimate the city released Tuesday. 

City staff members estimated there were 602,697 people living in Las Vegas on July 1, an increase of 1.9 percent — about 11,100 people — over the city’s estimated population for the same day of 2006.

The milestone was expected. The city’s fiscal 2008 budget projected a population of 603,000.

“Within the last three or four years, Las Vegas has been among the 30 largest cities in the country,” said Margo Wheeler, the city’s director of planning and development. “It puts us in the company of other large cities in the country that we work with and learn from.”

Keeping track of the area’s booming population takes a lot of time and can be confusing for the outside observer, since the city’s numbers have been diverging wildly from estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau put Las Vegas’ 2006 population at 552,500 — not enough to crack the top 25 cities by population in 2006.

“Any high-growth city tends to be undercounted,” said Richard Wassmuth, a statistical analyst for Las Vegas. The discrepancy in 2006 was “about 39,000, so we’re getting up around a 6 or 7 percent difference now.”

Las Vegas calculated its estimate using dwelling unit statistics, an occupancy survey conducted each year by the U.S. Post Office and average household size.

The postal occupancy survey is unique to Clark County, Wassmuth said.

“We have such growth, we pay the postal service to do that every year,” he said. “We have the most updated information.”

Tracking the city’s population takes a lot of work, but the information is used for planning and funding decisions.

“Healthy population growth numbers not only speak to the city’s lure and attraction … they also play an important role in the allocation of both state and federal revenues,” said finance director Mark Vincent. “We need to ensure that the city receives its fair share.”

Though the figure is only an estimate, Las Vegas’ population is comparable to Boston, Seattle, Washington D.C. and El Paso, Texas.

Since 2002, Las Vegas’ population has increased by about 100,000 people, an uptick of almost 20 percent. From 2002 to 2006, the population increased an average of 3.2 percent annually. Population has more than doubled since 1990, when residents numbered about 286,000.

Las Vegas has about a third of Clark County’s 1.9 million residents.

3 December, 2007 | No comments

Real estate company files for bankruptcy

  

Prudential Americana Group, one of the largest residential real estate firms in the Las Vegas Valley, is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy so it can reorganize its debts while continuing operations.

The company, which had not filed the paperwork by press time Tuesday, has 1,200 sales executives operating under its auspices and has positive operating cash flow. Owner Mark Stark, however, said Prudential Americana Group — the seventh-largest real estate firm nationally in the Prudential network — needs bankruptcy court protection so it can restructure its debt.

“We are focused on business as usual,” Stark said. “This is a debt restructuring. We continue to grow market share.”

The bankruptcy filing will not affect the 3,000 exclusive listings that Prudential Americana has in Southern Nevada, he said. Stark estimated that the company is probably the biggest residential real estate company in the area, with a 15 percent share of all local home resales. Brokers who operate under the Prudential Americana umbrella also sell new homes and commercial real estate.

Prudential Americana is the second big Las Vegas realty firm to seek bankruptcy protection in recent months.

Jimmy Dague, president of Vision Properties doing business as Century 21 Advantage Gold, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August.

At the time of the filing Vision reported $1 million in assets and $1.8 million in liabilities. The company said it had $54.6 million in gross income in 2005. Vision reported its gross income fell to $40.3 million the following year and to $15.8 million in the first eight months of 2007. The brokerage’s Web site says it has 500 agents.

Prudential Americana’s problems started in October 2004.

Stark borrowed money to buy the company when residential real estate was booming and home prices were soaring.

Stark bought the 75 percent of the company he did not already own from his partners and Prudential Real Estate, the national franchisor. To finance the buyout, Stark borrowed $22.5 million from Salt Lake City-based Zions Bank, an affiliate of Nevada State Bank, and Peninsula Capital Partners of Detroit.

Zions, which is owed $4.9 million of $10 million originally borrowed in 2004, is in first position among the company’s lenders. Peninsula is an unsecured lender and was receiving only interest payments, pending a later balloon payment.

When he bought the company, Stark said he expected a slump in the local real estate loan market would follow the boom that sent home prices soaring, but he was stunned by the magnitude of the drop.

“I did not see a 67 percent downturn coming to the Las Vegas market,” he said, referring to the drop in existing home sales over the past two years.

Because of the real estate market, Zions pulled the trigger on a loan agreement provision and ordered Prudential Americana to stop making payments to Peninsula, Stark said.

Peninsula executives in turn pumped up the interest rate on their loan to 19 percent from an average of 15 percent, Stark said.

Prudential Real Estate, the national franchisor, offered to assume the Las Vegas real estate company’s debt, but Peninsula was unwilling to accept the company’s terms.

The national company intends to provide financing to Prudential Americana during the bankruptcy, Stark said.

“It’s probably a good strategy,” said Lanis O’Steen, who owns a residential real estate brokerage in Pahrump and is a business turnaround professional.

The real estate firm, O’Steen said, can ask the bankruptcy judge “to do what’s reasonable and maximize returns and recoveries for all of the creditors.”

O’Steen said the bankruptcy filing is further evidence that small businesses are getting hurt because of the popping real estate bubble. Small businesses are key economic drivers, O’Steen said, and their problems could lead to further economic declines.

Prudential Americana operates as an umbrella company for independent real estate brokers who agree to pay a flat fee or a percentage of their commissions for administrative, legal and other support.

Stark told about 600 real estate sales workers on Tuesday morning about the bankruptcy and plans to reorganize the company.

“We had a standing ovation of support from the sales executives,” he said.

Stark hopes the company will be able to emerge from bankruptcy protection in about six months.

“We’re a great company. We’ve been here a long time,” Stark said. “I want to be here another 100 years.”

By JOHN G. EDWARDS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

3 December, 2007 | No comments

LV homes relatively affordable, data find

California has eight of 10 priciest sites in U.S.

Las Vegas ranks as one of the nation’s more affordable housing markets in the 2007 Home Price Comparison Index by Coldwell Banker.

The average price for a four-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot home in Las Vegas is $362,188, on par with similar homes in West Hartford, Conn. ($365,000), and Provo, Utah ($363,975).  

Las Vegas is much closer to Killeen, Texas, the most affordable U.S. housing market at $136,725, than Beverly Hills, Calif., the most expensive market at $2.1 million.

Eight of the 10 most expensive markets are in California. Six of the most affordable markets are near U.S. military bases.

It comes down to the old real estate adage, “Location, location, location,” Coldwell Banker Premier Realty President Bob Hamrick said. People continue to move to Las Vegas for the lifestyle, new jobs and promotions and to raise a family, he said.  

“The real estate market in Las Vegas is different than a year ago,” Hamrick said. “Our market has experienced a slowdown in sales and an increase in inventory.”

Nevertheless, buyer opportunities abound, he said. Those opportunities will begin to disappear as home builders reduce their inventories.

Home Builders Research reported 766 new home permits in August, the second straight month below 1,000. The permit count is down 38.1 percent for the year at nearly 11,000.

“It’s going to get more affordable,” Debi Averett of Phoenix-based Housingdoom.com said.

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

« Next entries