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VEGAS INC EYESORE OR OPPORTUNITY? The unfinished Echelon sits vacant on the Las Vegas Strip. Mothballed properties can be profitable projecs for developers willing to take a chance, but they oſten come with headaches and hassles. Physical questions aside, back on track with Macy's as an anchor tenant. The project is slated to open in late 2014 with more than 125 stores and restaurants. Given the region's dry climate, Howard Hughes officials believe much of the steel can be used in the revamped center, com- pany spokesman Tom Warden has said. Las Vegas' dry air and low humidity help minimize sun damage at exposed construction sites, and rust can usually be sandblasted or scraped off. Rain, how- ever, can cause mold, corrosion and other problems. Mothballed projects typically are fenced off, sometimes with barbed wire. But people can still sneak in and cause trouble, possible injuring themselves, and thieves can ransack the place, UNLV construction management Professor Neil Opfer said. Opfer once was asked by a lawyer to help determine a building's value after ter pipes from it. "They probably caused $80,000 of damage for $1,000 of scrap," he said. "It's just amazing." | 12 NOVEMBER 2012 | there also are legal problems associated with tak- ing over a project. Buying a property out million to finish the project on Gibson Road near Horizon Ridge Parkway, with construction lasting six to nine months. He said it takes a "serious amount of due diligence" to take over a stalled project and ensure that the property is struc- turally safe. Investors could inherit a mountain of problems, he added. of bankruptcy court — where many Las Vegas projects wound up in recent years — can be messy. Creditors can delay the case with objections and lawsuits, and the property's sale must be approved by a federal judge. As the case drags on, le- gal fees mount. If the property is not bankrupt, still could have millions of dollars of liens from unpaid contractors. It's also highly likely the construction loan was never paid off, leaving another poten- tial multi-million dollar debt. it Vantage Lofts, a condo project in Hen- derson, was mothballed in spring 2008 and went bankrupt a few months later. Rothwell Gornt Cos. bought it out of bankruptcy court in February. The project has three buildings and 110 units. The original developers spent thieves stole the copper wiring and wa- more than $70 million on it and left one building 90 percent complete, another 80 percent complete and one more 70 percent complete, Rothwell Gornt prin- cipal Rich Crighton said. Three two-sto- The previous developer, Slade Devel- opment, lost the project partly because it "spent so much money making each condo unit like a custom home," Crigh- ton said. The glass-ensconced units were intended to sell for between $400,000 and $1.6 million. Crighton wouldn't say what his com- pany will sell the condos for, but noted that Slade's prices were "astronomical compared to what we'll do." When Slade pushed the project into bankruptcy, it listed $72 million of lia- bilities and $45 million in assets. Crigh- ton declined to say what he paid for the development but indicated sales price was a big factor. "The only way to make this work is 17 ry parking garages also were built. Crighton said his firm will spend $15 SUN FILE PHOTO (2010) for someone to go in and pick it up at the bargain-basement prices that our economy allows," he said. At the Calida Group, partners Doug Eisner and Eric Cohen have bought six unfinished projects. They include a 176-unit planned condo development in Henderson where only 40 units were built; a condo project in North Las Ve- gas, which was slated for 146 condos but had only 36 when it was abandoned; and vacant land at the District at Green Val- ley Ranch, where the developers plan to build apartments and a hotel. (The Greenspun family, owner of VEGAS INC, developed the Henderson retail hub through American Nevada Com- pany but no longer owns it.) Eisner and Cohen have looked at about 40 stalled projects and rejected all but a handful. Some developments, Eisner said, are simply "unsaveable." He said they don't focus exclusively on reviving troubled projects, but some- times those are the best deals. "Dealing with assets in distress was the most effective way at getting great locations the past few years," he said.