Beautiful Trump Las Vegas Condos for Sale - Built the Way Only Trump Can!
A Bit of Background on Trump Las Vegas &
Other High Rise Towers A Decade Ago
Given that it is an election season, it seems timely to devote a Blog Post to Trump's Condo Hotels in Las Vegas - The tallest Tower to grace our skyline, and some of Las Vegas' most luxurious high rise real estate just off "The Strip."
Prices from $265k for Studios and the low $500k's for 1 Bedrooms
Trump Hotel Condos can be placed in an on site Rental Program when not in use.
Our Team has been selling Trump Las Vegas Condos from the pre-construction stage. This gave us an insight into how the Trump Organization gets things done and how they build and run an organization. Vegas is not really Donald Trump's town. It is the town of the late great Kirk Kerkorian, the amazingly visionary Steve Wynn, Sheldon Adelson (Venetian & Palazzo), and Caesar's Entertainment. Donald Trump was the outsider, much as he is now in his run for President, entering an arena that was foreign to him.
Trump had no presence whatsoever when he entered the pre-construction condo market here in Vegas. He's a New Yorker. What did he do? First of all, he hired an experienced sales manager from what was at the time the very pricey & high end Lake Las Vegas Resort. At this time Centex was selling 450 sq. ft. condos for $1000 psf ( that you now can buy for 20 cents on that dollar!) at Lake Las Vegas. This sales manager was familiar with the agents who were successfully selling luxury real estate in Las Vegas & Henderson. 60 agents were handpicked to represent the pre-construction sales of Trump Tower.
The Stark Team was fortunate to have been 2 of the 60. The Trump Organization then divided us up into 3 groups of 20 and scheduled us for education sessions. We were given hand signed books of "The Art of the Deal", and that was that as far as selling techniques went. ( Donald Trump used a black marker and his handwriting is very spiky and bold - a powerful signature).
We were given floorpans - price ranges - and some insight as to why and how Donald Trump likes to build. Trump Tower has no balconies. Other Towers did. The sales manager explained why - went into details about the quality of materials and rare marble that would be used in construction, etc.
Then we were assigned to an in house sales rep. There were only about 3 of them as I recall and each worked with 20 agents. It was a very methodical ramping up of a sales force comprised of in house and local hand selected agents. Who supervised the Sales Manager?
Donald Trump brought in his high school buddy, who had no prior sales knowledge at all, but was a wonderfully nice guy employed by The Trump Organization in NY in another capacity, who Mr. Trump must have trusted to oversee his Las Vegas interests.
At this time, there was a flurry of pre-construction high rise towers going on in Vegas. The ones that got built: Sky Las Vegas, Turnberry Place, Metropolis, Panorama Towers, The Martin ( Formerly Panorama Tower 3) , and a slew - and I mean a slew - of those that never got built: Las Ramblas
(theoretically touted as a JV between George Clooney & The Related Group), ICON ( The Related Group), Vegas 888, Ivana Tower ( a wannabe disaster of a pump and dump land scheme by an Australian developer who partnered with the ex Mrs. Trump - he wound up leaving town within tail between his legs), The Majestic & The Conrad - (The Doumani Family - Old Vegas People - maybe we will see this resurface one day as the family still owns land on Convention Center Drive ), The Crystal Sands, and the list of failed projects went on and on.
To give our team a pat on the back - we placed NO clients in Ivana - common sense - the site was too small for the height of the tower without using sophisticated robotic cranes - ( that too was a successful pump and dump on land value - it is now a Walgreens!) - we encouraged all our clients to pull out of Crystal Sands once we read the Public Offering statement and saw talk about boat docs in there ( Florida developer didn't hire a Vegas lawyer to rewrite Florida offering - not a good sign) - we got quite good at ferreting out the amateur developers from the pros.
SKY Las Vegas was built and ran just a few months late. Quite good for a smaller developer.
Turnberry Place was built, but Turnberry Associates declared bankruptcy and shut down the epicenter of the entire project. The Stirling Club closed and went bye bye & there went the indoor pool, spa, gym, restaurant and outdoor pool. It remains closed to date. Imagine you buy a high rise condo and pay top dollar because of the amazing infrastructure - fine dining - weekend seafood and champagne buffet, sumptuous spa - and then it shuts down. Not a nice thing to do to people. Then Turnberry Associates builds the Fontainebleau ( now in the hands of Carl Icahn who bought it when Turnberry went bankrupt) - and blocks the views of the west side of Turnberry Place Towers 1 & 3 with their parking garage making these units somewhat functionally obsolete and tremendously devalued.
Metropolis was built - but the structure didn't resemble the renderings as the developer, A Dallas guy, ran out of money and left off the dome and skimped big time on the landscaping - sold units without baseboards, and funky electrical work. Buyers have since improved these units and they have some of the best views in the city of the WYNN Golf Course, the Strip, and the LINQ High Roller Wheel)
Panorama Towers 1 & 2 were built and by the time they got to #3 - the developers, Sasson-Hallier went BK, and lost the tower to Foreclosure - It is now THE MARTIN and was taken over by the construction lender, who plowed several million into amenities there and it is all sold & one of our favorite high rise towers in the city.
( In the photo above- you can see the beautiful marble tub surround & that extra Trump luxury touch in the integrated television in the bathroom mirror)
Trump built his tower on time - it was ready EXACTY when he said it would be, and when financing for hotel condos dried up during the loan crisis and great recession, although the tower was pretty much all sold, people couldn't close. Trump was stuck with a good many units that he held onto and maintained and this is the inventory that is for sale now. Trump did not skimp on materials - the finishes and lobby and pool areas are beautiful.
Furthermore, in Las Vegas, construction defect lawsuits are common place in high rise condos. Of the towers mentioned above, Metropolis was the subject of a Construction Defect lawsuit that is now "stayed". Turnberry Place, and Panorama Towers were the subject of Construction defect lawsuits that are now settled. SKY LAS VEGAS and THE MARTIN are currently involved in Construction Defect Litigation.
Trump Las Vegas has not been involved in any Construction Defect lawsuits.
We would love to show you these beautiful condos or any others. The Stark Team knows Las Vegas high rise real estate like the backs of our hands - we have sold each and ever tower from paper. We know what buyers are looking for and which stacks have what views and how the towers sell - Bottom up - Top Down. Our years of luxury real estate experience in Las Vegas is invaluable on your side of the transaction.
On the Trump note, our experience in dealing with The Trump Organization and Eric Trump and his knowledgable Las Vegas staff, has always been a win win situation for all parties concerned, foremost our clients. Trump knows how to build, and run an efficient organization. And as an outsider in the town of Las Vegas - he turned out to be a winner in the Las Vegas High Rise arena. And a man of honor. No skimping on materials, no shutting down of amenities.
And, there is that extra caring Trump touch - in the heat of the summer, when you get your car from the Valet, it is delivered to you with a nice fresh cold bottle of Trump Water in your drinking cup.
So there you have a little background on the pre-construction stage of Las Vegas high rise development. At present, and in the foreseeable future, there are no new residential high rise condo towers planned nor being built, and no more hotel condo towers under construction. Sales statistics show that prices have softened in the high rise market sector this past year, while home prices have risen.
The exception in the high rise sector has been zip code 89158 which is City Center - home to VEER TOWERS, THE MANDARIN ORIENTAL, and VDARA. At present, high rises (aside from CityCenter) are selling at prices that are below duplication cost. When compared to any other world class city we have very few high rise condominium buildings. This may be an opportune time to add a luxury pied a terre, penthouse, or hotel condo to your real estate portfolio for a buy & hold.
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