MGM Resorts Sells 427 Condo Units at CityCenter Las Vegas for $119M

Bulk Condo Purchase Shows Vegas’ Recovery – Though Not Quite Yet 

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Last Thursday’s closing of a $119 million sale of 427 residences at Veer Towers in Las Vegas’ CityCenter project suggests that while the metro area’s luxury condo market hasn’t yet recovered, confidence is growing to the point where recovery isn’t too, too far away.

The twin 37-story towers, designed by Murphy/Jahn, each comprise 335 residences, including studios; one-, two- and three-bedroom units; and penthouses ranging from 500 to nearly 3,300 square feet. The 427 units just sold represent all but 11 units (all penthouses) of 438 Veer Towers units previously held as developer inventory. Veer Towers is now 98 percent sold out.

The buyer, Commercial Property Executive learned, was LVT Owner L.L.C., whose majority investor is Ladder Capital, of New York.

“We bought these condos in bulk on a reasonable basis. High-rise condos on the Las Vegas Strip are a supply constrained market, and the condos at Veer Tower are in a fantastic location surrounded by world-class amenities, including fine dining, casinos and entertainment,” Brian Harris, Ladder Capital’s founder and CEO told CPE. “Vegas is also one of the condo markets that has not yet come back, but we think it will.”

“The price per unit looks like it was a very good deal for the buyer,” Shelli Lowe, managing director of Integra Realty Resources – Nevada, told CPE, though she cautioned that she doesn’t know the price per square foot. “The prices on the Strip were as high as $1,300 at the Mandarin in the best of times. The Strip sales lately have been as low as $200 to $400 per square foot.”

The 67-acre CityCenter is a joint venture between MGM Resorts International and Infinity World Development Corp, a subsidiary of Dubai World. In addition to Veer Towers, its only strictly residential buildings, the project includes the ARIA, a 61-story, 4,004-room gaming resort; luxury non-gaming hotels including the Mandarin Oriental and Vdara Hotel & Spa; and Crystals, a 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment district.

When the sale was announced last Friday, Tony Dennis, executive vice president of CityCenter Residential, said the sale “comes at a time when the Las Vegas housing market is seeing sustained improvement.”

In addition, Bobby Baldwin, president and CEO of CityCenter, commented that “A sale of this magnitude allows us to now concentrate on the sell out of The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, our flagship residential property.”

Those condos, in the upper half of a 47-story tower designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, comprise 225 residences, including one-, two- and three- bedroom homes ranging from about 1,110 to 4,000 square feet.