LAS VEGAS | Crown Las Vegas | 1,064 FT / 324 M | NEVER BUILT

[SportsWorld]

Originally Posted by fleonzo

This project won't happen......mark this date and comment and check back when I'm right!!!

Your comment is on notice.

[mdiederi]

I think about twenty other people already beat him to that comment and have earlier dates marked on their calendars.

Milam has over $45 million into this already, so I'm gonna follow the money. He actually has until April 2008 to get everything lined up, at which point he will forfeit the $45 million according to the land deal.

... Ha, I had the news on TV while writing this and they were reporting about the payment for the land and they said the site was still full of debris and graffiti from the old water park.

[mdiederi]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/...205425192.html

PBL buys another Crown - in Vegas

Vanda Carson
June 1, 2007


JAMES PACKER'S Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd is buying up some of the world's priciest casino real estate, plot by plot.

Yesterday it bought a stake in a Las Vegas venture that has building approval for the world's second-tallest tower.

The company behind Melbourne's Crown Casino and Perth's Burswood paid $US22.5 million ($27 million) for the option to buy a prime piece of land, the site for a casino and hotel development to be named Crown Las Vegas.

It is Mr Packer's second foothold on the hallowed turf in as many months, but the first to which he has put the Crown name - meaning he will have a presence in the world's two biggest gaming markets, Las Vegas and Macau.

The investment buys part of a derelict, graffiti-festooned remnant of the Wet'n'Wild theme park. The property developer with whom Mr Packer has teamed has approval for a 142-storey tower known as Las Vegas Tower - which would eclipse completed giants in Taipei and Toronto and rank second only to a 160-storey tower being built in Dubai.

The casino is ambitious even by Las Vegas standards, with shops, a hotel and apartments at a cost of nearly $5 billion to build.

PBL's portion of the costs under this model would be $1.5 billion. It is so tall that aviation authorities must give the final tick before the development can proceed.

But yesterday's investment means another design may be used. A spokesman for PBL said the joint venture had not yet decided on the design, or even how it would be funded.

Regardless of the final decision on the building, it will probably be ready to roll the dice by 2011.

"Future funding will be the subject of a further announcement," a Crown spokesman said.

The deal mirrors the $300 million PBL paid last month for a stake in the yet-to-be-built Fontainebleau Resorts casino and hotel development on a slightly smaller site next door, where construction began recently.

The deal with Texas property developer IDM Properties and a New York investment fund will not be completed until next year, when they are due to hand over the remaining $520 million purchase price for the 10.9 hectare site.

The $27 million initial payment buys a 37.5 per cent stake in the joint venture company.

Land prices in the area are rising fast, with sales reaching $38 million an acre at the well-established end of town. This development is at the less fashionable end of the strip.

PBL rose 51c to $21.70.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by mdiederi

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/...205425192.html

The property developer with whom Mr Packer has teamed has approval for a 142-storey tower known as Las Vegas Tower - which would eclipse completed giants in Taipei and Toronto and rank second only to a 160-storey tower being built in Dubai.

PBL's portion of the costs under this model would be $1.5 billion. It is so tall that aviation authorities must give the final tick before the development can proceed. But yesterday's investment means another design may be used. A spokesman for PBL said the joint venture had not yet decided on the design, or even how it would be funded.

Regardless of the final decision on the building, it will probably be ready to roll the dice by 2011.

2011?

I think by then more proposals will have come and died...

[mdiederi]

I think it will be open by then, but might look different or be a different height.

[aluminum]

Is this building too big for Vegas to become a reality ?

[LMich]

Originally Posted by mdiederi

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/...205425192.html

PBL buys another Crown - in Vegas

Vanda Carson
June 1, 2007


JAMES PACKER'S Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd is buying up some of the world's priciest casino real estate, plot by plot.

Yesterday it bought a stake in a Las Vegas venture that has building approval for the world's second-tallest tower.

The company behind Melbourne's Crown Casino and Perth's Burswood paid $US22.5 million ($27 million) for the option to buy a prime piece of land, the site for a casino and hotel development to be named Crown Las Vegas.

It is Mr Packer's second foothold on the hallowed turf in as many months, but the first to which he has put the Crown name - meaning he will have a presence in the world's two biggest gaming markets, Las Vegas and Macau.

The investment buys part of a derelict, graffiti-festooned remnant of the Wet'n'Wild theme park. The property developer with whom Mr Packer has teamed has approval for a 142-storey tower known as Las Vegas Tower - which would eclipse completed giants in Taipei and Toronto and rank second only to a 160-storey tower being built in Dubai.

The casino is ambitious even by Las Vegas standards, with shops, a hotel and apartments at a cost of nearly $5 billion to build.

PBL's portion of the costs under this model would be $1.5 billion. It is so tall that aviation authorities must give the final tick before the development can proceed.

But yesterday's investment means another design may be used. A spokesman for PBL said the joint venture had not yet decided on the design, or even how it would be funded.

Regardless of the final decision on the building, it will probably be ready to roll the dice by 2011.

"Future funding will be the subject of a further announcement," a Crown spokesman said.

The deal mirrors the $300 million PBL paid last month for a stake in the yet-to-be-built Fontainebleau Resorts casino and hotel development on a slightly smaller site next door, where construction began recently.

The deal with Texas property developer IDM Properties and a New York investment fund will not be completed until next year, when they are due to hand over the remaining $520 million purchase price for the 10.9 hectare site.

The $27 million initial payment buys a 37.5 per cent stake in the joint venture company.

Land prices in the area are rising fast, with sales reaching $38 million an acre at the well-established end of town. This development is at the less fashionable end of the strip.

PBL rose 51c to $21.70.

I'm confused. What percentage of this project is owned by Milam's IDM Properties, now? also, who is the New York investment fund involved, and what is the name of the joint venture company? I suspect most of this may not be worked out.

[mdiederi]

Originally Posted by LMich

who is the New York investment fund involved

York Capital Management. I don't know what percentage their share of the pie is.

I think those are Australian dollars in that article, but Packer has a little more than 1/3 ownership with this deal and will manage it with his existing gaming company.

The joint venture is called LVT1, or LVTI (with a Roman numeral) led by Christopher Milam's company IDM Properties.

Here's a Forbes article:
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/...fx3772665.html

AFX News Limited
Australia's PBL to co-invest in new Las Vegas casino with US firms
05.31.07, 12:25 AM ET

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL) said it has struck an agreement with IDM Properties, a Texas based property developer, and York Capital Management, a New York based private investment fund, to form a joint venture to build and run a new casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

PBL said the new establishment, to be named Crown Las Vegas, will be operated by gaming company Crown Ltd which is being spun-off from PBL.

PBL said it has paid 22.5 mln usd for a 37.5 pct equity interest in the new joint venture company, LVTI LLC.

It said equity contributions by all the joint venture partners have been used to pay an option fee for the land on which the casino resort will be built.

PBL said final details of the design and development of the new casino resort are still being worked on.

The Crown Las Vegas site is immediately next door to the Fontainebleau casino and resort, in which PBL recently announced it was acquiring a 20 pct stake.

bruce.hextall@xfn.com

[mdiederi]

Originally Posted by aluminum

Is this building too big for Vegas to become a reality ?

There are already bigger buildings in Las Vegas. It's the height that everyone is so aghast about ... that and the atypical design, which might be changed now.

[Steely Dan]

all of the people who have expressed their opinion that this tower is ugly or that vegas isn't "real" enough to deserve such a tower have made their points perfectly clear, there is no need to keep rehashing these extremely tired arugments every week. you've said your piece(s), continuing further with these arguments will amount to thread trolling. move along.

now, back to discussion about the development of LVT.

[RockMont]

And, after all that, are they even going to build the thing?

[mdiederi]

Here's a new story in the local paper.

Jun. 01, 2007
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Australian magnate to invest in LV casino

By ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Australia's richest man, James Packer, is bringing his expanding gaming company to the Las Vegas market.

Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd., which Packer controls, announced Thursday it has entered an agreement with the developer holding purchase options for the site of the former Wet 'n Wild water park on the Strip. Packer's agreement calls for him to invest money and operate the Crown Las Vegas casino on the site.

Christopher Milam, the Austin, Texas-based developer who is proposing to build an 1,888-foot hotel tower on the site, confirmed the partnership in an e-mail.

Crown Ltd., a newly formed subsidiary of Publishing and Broadcasting, will operate the casino.

Packer could not be reached for comment.

Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said Packer has yet to apply for a gaming license. He added that he recommends that new applicants apply a couple of years ahead of taking over gaming operations.

Publishing and Broadcasting owns and operates two casinos in Australia: Crown Entertainment Complex in Melbourne and Burswood International in Perth.

In May, Packer entered Asia's growing market by opening the $540 million Crown Macau Casino.

The development is a joint-venture partnership between Publishing and Broadcasting and Hong Kong-based Melco Entertainment. Melco is run by Lawrence Ho, son of businessman Stanley Ho, who owns several Macau gambling halls.

The partnership will likely draw attention from state gaming regulators during Packer's licensing process in Nevada.

MGM Mirage went before state gaming regulators in March to explain its partnership with Pansy Ho, Stanley Ho's daughter, in the MGM Grand Macau.

Packer, who has two more projects opening in the next three years with Lawrence Ho, could expect the same close scrutiny to ensure that Stanley Ho does not directly influence the son's operations.

"We will take a look at all his partners," Neilander said. "It would still be something that we would have to look at."

Stanley Ho continues to fight allegations that his casinos have been involved in organized crime activities including money laundering, drug trafficking and prostitution.

Publishing and Broadcasting paid $22.5 million for a 37.5 percent stake in LVTI, Milam's holding company for the Wet 'n Wild project.

New York-based private equity firm York Capital Management has also been named as a third partner in the project, but its investment stake was not available.

The investment firm did not return calls by press time.

Publishing and Broadcasting Gaming Chief Executive Officer Rowen Craigie said in a statement that Crown was looking forward to working with its new partners on Crown Las Vegas.

The investment money from both parties was partially used to make a $40 million option payment last week to Archon Corp., owners of the former water park site, an investor's note from Bear Stearns gaming analyst Joe Greff shows.

Milam and Archon entered into an option agreement in June 2006 of $450 million for the 27-acre site. The price was recently raised to $475 million to adjust for rising land costs.

Archon, which owns the Pioneer Club in Laughlin, is leasing the site as a construction area for the Fontainebleau.

This is the second investment on the Strip's north end for Packer, who has been vocal about his intentions to grow his gaming company worldwide.

Las Vegas-based Fontainebleau Resorts announced in April that Publishing and Broadcasting was investing $250 million to acquire a 19.6 percent stake in the company.

The $2.8 billion Fontainebleau mixed-use project is under construction and scheduled for completion in 2009.

Crown Las Vegas is announced as a 5,000-hotel-room project with 250,000 square feet of casino space and 625,000 square feet of shops, restaurants, convention area and other amenities.

Milam said he still awaits a Federal Aviation Administration ruling for the proposed 142-story tower.

The project is tentatively scheduled to go before the Clark County Commission in July but could be postponed if there is no FAA ruling by then.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the organization is seeking comments on the proposal from "several dozen people and agencies" including airlines, business organizations, pilot groups and other government agencies. The comments are due June 20.

A final ruling from the FAA is still several months away, Gregor said.

Milam said the building's final design will depend on the FAA ruling. No construction schedule has been announced.

Packer is the son of the late businessman Kerry Packer, who died in December 2005. The elder Packer, a legendary high roller and big tipper, is rumored to have won between $20 million and $40 million over several days at the MGM Grand in 1997 and tipped as much as $1 million at Bellagio.

Previously, Milam talked like as if he would sell the land if the height wasn't approved, but now with the new partners it sounds like he might lower the height if the FAA says so, and go ahead with construction.

[Empire Builder]

Well now that the design might be changed, is the original tower option still going to be discussed in July by the planning commission? If they don't change the height I can understand it will still need FAA approval, but with a different design the only thing we will have to wait for are the renderings ..... and despite what everyone on this thread thinks of the original design, I think we will all be very interested to see what they come up with

[mdiederi]

The FAA is expecting all their comments from concerned parties by June 20, so that gives them almost a month before the next planning meeting to come up with a decision. So we could possibly know by then if the other design changes aren't too extreme to have ready by then. I wouldn't be surprised if it got held over again, though.

[JDRCRASH]

I don't really like the design...reminds me of the Burj Dubai

[TheOldMan]

^^^^ The design was modeled after Burj Dubai. It would look weird in any other American city but in Vegas it fits right in. hopefully it gets built.

[LMich]

It seems more likely at every announcement that the design will change.

[Alliance]

That would be excellent.

[CoolCzech]

I really wonder why the developer doesn't do the obvious: declare his intentions to build up to the full 2,000 foot allowable limit. In a single stroke, he would pose a marketing challenge to the Chicago proposal, and reap all the associated publicity and marketing benefits.

I don't see how he avoided ANY difficulties with the FAA and whatever else by going with only 1,888 feet.

[LMich]

Or, like others have done in Vegas, he could simply being proposing the structure so high and lrage to get the attention he needs to have people buy into his proposals (looks like he's already got that), and then subsequently scale down the project.