| RCG in the News
Nevada’s Retail Market
Remains Resilient Despite Economic Downturn
Tony Illia / Nevada Business Journal
April 2008 - Nevada’s population boom and resilient economy have kept retail demand high, despite a statewide housing downturn. The state economy was home to 1.29 million jobs in the final quarter of 2007, with 5,300 new retail positions created by the holiday shopping season. Nevada is forecasted to see a 5 percent job growth by the decade’s end.
“There is reason to be optimistic about Nevada’s long-term economic outlook,” said Bill Anderson, chief economist of the Nevada Dept. of Employment Training and Rehabilitation. “While the news of late has not been encouraging, a developing megaresort boom, coupled with a likely improvement in the housing sector is the reason for the positive forecast.”
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Chic, urban…and deserted
Shell of Henderson condo project symbolizes bust
Mike Trask / Las Vegas Sun
April 17, 2008 - At the end of Paseo Verde Parkway in Henderson, past the apartment complexes, the nice homes and the occasional dirt lot, sits something half-finished.
It’s the Las Vegas housing boom, manifest in the boxy, off-white form of Vantage Lofts. Just look south as you drive past Gibson Road on Interstate 215. You’ll see it sitting there, boarded up.
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Resales rise for high-rise luxury condos, data find
Price per square foot declines, observer says
Hubble Smith / Las Vegas Review Journal
April 14, 2008 - Apr. 14, 2008 - Luxury high-rise condo resales increased to 29 units in the first quarter from 24 in fourth quarter 2007, Las Vegas-based Restrepo Consulting Group reported. The number is up from 27 in the same quarter a year ago.
While sales are up, the high-rise condo market continues to show signs of weakness, Restrepo Consulting project director Elena Shampaner said.
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ECONOMY: Bad news mounts in housing
Clark County preforeclosures hit record in March
Hubble Smith / Las Vegas Review Journal
April 3, 2008 - April 3, 2008 - The number of Clark County homes that entered preforeclosure status reached a record 6,152 in March, up 52 percent from February and more than double the 2,813 preforeclosures in the same month a year ago, Sacramento, Calif.-based Foreclosures.com reported.
The county has 15,937 preforeclosures through the first quarter of the year, or 3.11 percent of its 512,253 households, the online foreclosure source reported.
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Territory breaks ground on Centennial Gateway II
Juliet Cos. nears completion of Lake Mead Crossing's first phase
Tony Illia / Las Vegas Business Press
April 1, 2008 - Territory recently broke ground on the final phase of its $92 million, 350,000-square-foot Centennial Gateway development at U.S. Highway 95 and Ann Road in northwest Las Vegas. The project is a joint venture with Schwartz Development and Olympia Development. Centennial Gateway premiered in fall 2006 with Walgreen's, Lay-Z-Boy and Barbecues Galore, among others.
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Downtown Las Vegas redevelopment
continues to undergo major changes
John Restrepo / CRE Realty Check
March 2008 - Mayor Oscar Goodman and the Las Vegas City Council continue to make the revitalization of downtown the centerpiece of the city of Las Vegas’ economic development efforts. Several of the city’s efforts have already begun to bear fruit, and the coming years are likely to bring even more dramatic changes. Below, are the highlights of downtown’s current and future major development and redevelopment activities as well as the state of the area’s residential and commercial markets at the end of 2007.
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Water needs spurs Apex developers to seek annexation
Brian Wargo / In Business Las Vegas
March 21, 2008 - A group of property owners with the development rights to most of the Apex Industrial Park have petitioned for annexation into North Las Vegas. That's the first step for water lines to be extended to a project that's yet to reach its potential and could help solve the growing scarcity of industrial land in Southern Nevada.
Negotiations have been under way for about 10 months, and city officials are talking with Clark County about an interlocal agreement that would allow the annexation to go forward, says Mike Majewski, North Las Vegas' economic development director.
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Resort condo sales prices remain strong
Single-family homes in valley sell for 88 percent less than average CityCenter condo
Tony Illia / Las Vegas Business Press
March 19, 2008 - Southern Nevada's luxury high-rise condo market recorded average sale prices of nearly $792 per square foot in January, reports Restrepo Consulting Group, a Las Vegas-based real estate research firm. MGM Mirage's $7.8 billion CityCenter had the valley's highest-priced condos at $1,492 per square foot. The 18.6 million square foot, mixed-use development is under construction on the Strip between Monte Carlo and Bellagio. A single-family home, by comparison, sells for around $180 per square foot or 88 percent less than a CityCenter high-rise residence.
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BankUnited blacklists 14 local condo properties
Florida bank bases its loan refusals on 'risk-based factors'
Tony Illia / Las Vegas Business Press
February 25, 2008 - Home buyers looking to purchase units at Sky Las Vegas, One Queensridge Place and Panorama Towers won't be running to BankUnited for a mortgage. The Florida-based bank has named those projects and others in a blacklist of 191 luxury condominiums across the country for which it will no longer write loans.
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Governor Appoints Three to Nevada Economic Forum
February 4, 2008 - Governor Jim Gibbons announced today that he has appointed John Restrepo, Linda Rosenthal, and Cathy Santoro to the Nevada Economic Forum, which is responsible for providing forecasts of the state’s general fund revenues for each biennium budget period.
The Economic Forum consists of five appointed members who cannot be employees of state government, including publicly supported institutions of higher education. Three members are appointed by the Governor, one member is appointed by the Senate Majority Leader, and one member is appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly to serve for a two-year term.
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Head of office, industrial property group outlines agenda for 2008
Tony Illia / Las Vegas Business Press
January 28, 2008 - Real estate is like a second language for John Restrepo. He runs a real estate research firm, Restrepo Consulting Group, that helps keep local decision-makers informed.
Now it's Restrepo's turn to serve as decision-maker. He was recently named 2008 president of the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Restrepo served on the board for 10 years.
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Vacancy rates climb in local office market
Hubble Smith / Las Vegas Review-Journal
January 25, 2008 - A year-end market review from Commerce CRG showed a 12.4-percent vacancy rate on 44.7 million square feet of existing office space in Las Vegas, up from 11.5 percent in mid-year 2007.
That doesn't take into account more than 1 million square feet of "sublease" space available, or space that is empty but under lease contract, said Ken Marrama, research and marketing director for Commerce CRG. He adds another 2.1 percentage points to the vacancy rate, taking it to 14.5 percent.
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Industrial market softens in fourth quarter
Tony Illia / Las Vegas Business Press
January 14, 2008 - The Las Vegas Valley's industrial market softened in the fourth quarter as vacancies rose and rents dropped. The trickle-down impact from a hemorrhaging housing market and accompanying credit crunch are taking their toll. Southern Nevada had a 6.1 percent vacancy rate in the fourth quarter, up over two percent from a year ago, reports Colliers International and Restrepo Consulting Group. Asking rents, meanwhile, dropped to 66 cents per square foot or 11 cents less than a year ago.
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Commercial sector might face own credit crunch
Brian Wargo / In Business Las Vegas
January 11, 2008 - Although the Las Vegas housing market struggled with a downturn in 2007, commercial development, even though it slowed, remained a bright spot for the local economy.
What does 2008 have in store?
A key to watch is the effect of the nationwide credit crunch in the housing market on the commercial sector, says John Restrepo, principal of Restrepo Consulting Group. Financing has been slowing for commercial projects.
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Lake Las Vegas properties change hands
Arnold Knightly / Las Vegas Review-Journal
January 9, 2008 - The Atalon Group has acquired the assets of 3,592-acre Lake Las Vegas for an undisclosed amount after the developer defaulted on a nearly $540 million loan last fall.
The move pushes out Transcontinental Corp. and its chairman and president, Ron Boeddeker, who had been directing the development project since 1990.
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