Las Vegas Business Press
By Buck Wargo Real Estate Millions
Published August 29, 2023
As site preparation continues, a $1 billion resort-style condominium project in MacDonald Highlands in Henderson has announced it has 48 contracts totaling $260 million and will go vertical with the project in December.
The Four Seasons Private Residences Las Vegas, the first high-rise built in Las Vegas since the Great Recession in the late 2000s, will have 171 residences and six standalone villas. Construction is expected to take about two years, which takes the project to late 2025 and early 2026.
The developers — Las Vegas- and Mexico-based Azure Resorts & Hotels and Canada- and New York-based Luxus Development — are working off a list of 210 reservations for the project, in which they partnered with Four Seasons to provide the name brand and luxury management services.
“The majority of our buyers are local at this point,” said Jim Reilly, president of Azure Resorts & Hotels. “Most are empty nesters or soon-to-be empty nesters that want to move laterally from a price perspective. They want to move into a turnkey luxury, branded and managed building with incredible Strip views and access to amenities. The other group of buyers we have are from out of state looking to move their primary residence to Nevada for various reasons.”
The contemporary residences will range from 2,300 square feet to 7,300 square feet for interior space and 500 square feet to 5,000 square feet in exterior space. Prices continue to adjust. The least expensive condo starts at $3.5 million for two bedrooms and goes up to $29 million for penthouses.
Kristen Routh-Silberman, the exclusive listing agent of the project and a Realtor with Douglas Elliman in Las Vegas, said sales “are running ahead of pace.”
She said they are able to show people the site now, and “everyone that has seen it has been way more than thrilled. They are blown away. The views are gorgeous and take your breath away. Everyone has said they have never seen anything like it and it has surpassed all their expectations. People can start to see how the buildings, and all the amenities are going to be laid out at the construction site already.”
Las Vegas condo market
While demand is growing for this new luxury high-rise project in the suburbs, concerns over the economy and higher interest rates, as with the housing market, have taken a toll on the high-rise condo market in Las Vegas overall.
Applied Analysis, which tracks the 21 high-rise buildings in Las Vegas, reported 397 closings through the first six months of 2023, a 55.6 percent decline from the 618 closings in the first six months of 2022. Second-quarter closings picked up to 235, up from 162 during the first quarter. They were down only 27.7 percent from the second quarter of 2022.
Applied Analysis principal Brian Gordon said the real estate market has been adjusting to new market realities over the past 1½ years, whether it’s commercial, homes or luxury condos. It continues to be affected by mortgage pricing and supply and demand, he said.
“Sales are lower than where they stood a year ago, but they still remain relatively impressive given some of the external factors that are taking place,” Gordon said. “Prices are continuing to adjust somewhat but on a relative price per square foot basis they have managed to track closely to where they stood a year ago. It’s not something you can argue across other sectors of the real estate market.”
There were 303 closings during the first six months of 2019 before the pandemic, which means sales were 31 percent higher this year in a higher-interest rate environment. There were 221 closings during the first six months of 2020 when the pandemic dramatically slowed the high-rise market.
During the second quarter, the average price of units sold was $545,960, down 10.2 percent from $607,925 in the second quarter of 2022. The price per square foot, however, remained stable at $490 a square feet between April and June compared with $495 per square foot in the second quarter of 2022, a decline of 1.1 percent.
As for the Four Seasons project in Henderson, Gordon said a premier-branded project in any market will tend to rise to the top, and it probably will outperform several other high-rises given the brand awareness of buyers.
“It’s a more suburban-style product in a premier master-planned community, and buyers that are either looking for a simplified lifestyle or a second home are likely to be attracted to what they’re planning to develop,” Gordon said.
Condo closings and prices
MGM Signature sold the most units in the second quarter at 59, up from 47 during the second quarter of 2022. The average price fell 9.7 percent to $386,350.
Palms Place sold the second-most units at 25, down from 29 in the second quarter of 2022. The average price of $344,200 is 11.5 percent higher than a year ago.
Trump Las Vegas had the third-most closings with 24, up from 23 a year ago. The average price per sale was $292,700, an 8.8 percent year-over-year decline from $320,804.
Turnberry Place was next with 17 closings, down from 23 a year ago. The average closing price was $1.01 million, up 9 percent from $927,191 a year ago.
Panorama Towers had 16 closings, down from 21 a year ago. Its average price of $660,844 was 12.4 percent higher than a year ago. Its price per square foot of $493 was 25.6 percent higher.
Turnberry Towers was next with 13 sales, down from 19 a year ago. The average price was $555,492, an 11.3 percent decrease.
Allure, Juhl and Veer Towers each had 10 closings. Juhl had 37 sales a year ago, while Veer had 34. Allure had 17 a year ago.
Veer had the steepest price drop of any high-rise that closed more than 10 units. Its average price was $602,200, a 17.2 percent decrease from $726,900 a year ago.
Among other high-rises, the Waldorf Astoria had five sales, down from 14 a year ago. Its average closing price was $2.5 million, up from $2.43 million a year ago. The price per square foot was $1,313, up from $1,266 a year ago, or 3.7 percent.
One Queensridge Place had eight sales with an average price of $1.65 million. A year ago, it had nine sales with an average price of $1.64 million.
Park Towers had one sale with a price of $1 million. It had none during the second quarter of 2022.
The Metropolis, Newport Lofts and Soho Lofts had no sales. The Vdara condo hotel at CityCenter had six sales after none in the second quarter of 2022. The price per square foot was $961, the second-highest in the marketplace after the Waldorf Astoria.
Listings to start the third quarter of 2023 declined 34.7 percent compared with a year ago at this time. There were 256 listings compared with 392 a year ago.
Sellers are asking more for their condos this year at just over $1 million compared with just over $836,000 a year ago, a 24.4 percent increase. The price per square foot sought this year is $647, a 2.3 percent increase over $632 a year ago.
Turnberry Place had the most units on the market at 32. That was followed by MGM Signature with 27, Trump Las Vegas with 25 and Veer Towers with 23.
The Waldorf Astoria with its 13 listings had the highest average price at $3.19 million and $1,486 per square foot.
One Queensridge Place had the second-highest average price at $2.76 million for its 12 units on the market at an average price of $664 per square foot.
TynanGroup is the Project Manager on the MacDonald Highlands Project.
