MGM Mirage and Dubai World Form Joint Venture

August 22, 2007...MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World have signed an agreement for a $5.1 billion joint venture.  Dubai World will invest approximately $2.7 billion in MGM MIRAGE's CityCenter mixed-use project in Las Vegas and up to $2.4 billion in up to 28.4 million shares of MGM Mirage stock, representing an approximate 9.5 percent stake in the company.

The joint venture, CityCenter Holdings L.L.C., will be owned equally by MGM MIRAGE and Infinity World Development Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai World. Upon closing, the joint venture will own 100 percent of CityCenter, a self-contained "city within a city" that will include a 4,000-room resort casino, approximately 470,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space, 2,650 luxury condominium and condo-hotel units in multiple towers and two 400-room non-gaming boutique hotels, one which will be managed by hotelier Mandarin Oriental, upon its 2009 completion.

In connection with the joint venture, Dubai World will initially contribute approximately $2.7 billion for 50 percent of the equity in the project, while MGM MIRAGE will contribute the CityCenter assets which both parties have mutually valued at $5.4 billion, and receive the other 50 percent of the equity in the project.

If CityCenter is completed on budget and on schedule, MGM MIRAGE, which continues to serve as the project's developer, will receive additional consideration of $100 million. Upon the project's completion, the joint venture will pay MGM MIRAGE a management fee to operate the resort casino, the retail space and the Vdara condo-hotel tower.

"Dubai World was impressed with MGM MIRAGE and strongly believed in our business," an MGM MIRAGE spokesperson told CPN today. "This deal further validates that Las Vegas is a prominent development destination."

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City Approves Trump Condo Hotel in Soho, NY

Donald Trump wins again.  He will have his New York City condo hotel. After a year-long debate, the city finally approved his construction plans on May 7, 2007 for the 45-story Trump SoHo condo hotel located at 246 Spring Street.

The planned project, backed by the Trump and the Sapir organizations, would be the first hotel in New York in an area specifically zoned for manufacturing. The plans were approved despite protests that the condo-hotel violates the zoning of the site, which prohibits any residential usage.

"There's a specific and philosophical problem with it," City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. "Specifically, I think it's too large and out of context. Philosophically, I don't like the idea of having loopholes in manufacturing zones."

Trump originally applied for permits for construction in May 2006 but was rejected due to the presence of kitchens in the condo hotel, making the project seem more condo-like and, therefore, not enough hotel-like. A year later, after much public discussion with city officials and activists, Trump has finally been granted gotten the approval he was confident would come.

No word yet on when sales of the condo hotel units will begin, but you can read more about the proposed plans and see a rendering here, http://www.trumpcondohotels.com/properties/trump-soho.htm.

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Fontainebleau Plans $2.8 Billion Condo Hotel & Casino on Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS: Privately held casino resort developer Fontainebleau Resorts LLC announced plans for a $2.8 billion gambling resort on the Las Vegas Strip and said it had secured a key $250 million investment from Australian entertainment giant Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd.

Fontainebleau said that it planned to open the 3,889-room Fontainebleau-Las Vegas by late 2009. The property will mix condo-hotel units, suites and hotel rooms with a 100,000-square-foot casino, nightclubs, spa and convention space.

The company, majority owned by Turnberry group principal Jeffrey Soffer, quietly broke ground on the 24.5-acre site north of the Riviera hotel-casino in February and has kept its plans secret until today.

"It'll be a contemporary design and it will blend what's current and what will endure in contemporary art, striking design, world-caliber architecture, new technology and hip music," Fontainebleau chief executive Glenn Schaeffer told The Associated Press. "It's not about the past, it's about the future."

The development will include about 1,000 condo-hotel units.  Schaeffer said the plans showed confidence in the condo-hotel business model, which allows customers to buy residences and then have management rent them as hotel rooms for a share of the revenues when they are unoccupied.

Fontainebleau also is undertaking a $500 million renovation and expansion of a Florida hotel to create the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The revamp, which will double the number of rooms in operation to more than 1,500 and add a nightclub, lounge, "beachscape" and a new condo-hotel tower, is expected to be finished in mid-2008.

 

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Symposium on Financing, Developing & Operating Condo Hotels

Two-day Conference Offers Opportunities to Capitalize on the Rapidly Growing Trend of Condo Hotels

 

MIAMI, April 4, 2007 – Condo Hotel Center is pleased to announce the third annual Florida Symposium on Financing, Developing & Operating Condo Hotels (http://www.condohotelcenter.com/industry-news/in77.htm), taking place April 19-20, 2007, at the Hilton in the Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.  It is ideal for developers considering building a condo hotel or converting an existing hotel or resort into a condo hotel.

 

As the largest conference of its kind, the Condo Hotel Symposium brings together hundreds of luxury hospitality industry players, with over 100 speakers and 40 individual sessions, roundtables, and workshops.

 

Having established itself as the premier symposium for the condo hotel industry, this year's event will expand to feature the inaugural Destination Club & Private Residence Club Industry Symposium (http://www.condohotelcenter.com/industry-news/in107.htm) on April 18-19 at the same venue.

 

The 2007 conference will also feature an improved agenda that incorporates new topics designed to answer critical issues condo hotel owners and developers face. Popular sessions such as Condo Hotels 101, the First-Time Developer Plenary, the CEO/President Panel, and unique geographic roundtables will be brought back.

 

New sessions include:

 

• Evaluating market entrance timing: Is it a good time to enter the condo hotel market?
• Condo hotel conversions
• Mixed use: The non-hotel component
• Unbranded properties: Secrets for success
• Caribbean & Latin American markets
• Building the right team
• Marketing strategies

The symposium features an exhibit hall to be sponsored by more than 35 companies.  To meet the needs of the condo hotel industry, sponsors of this event provide services such as owner and unit financing, design and architecture, hotel branding, legal, consulting, property management, marketing and more.

 

The condo hotel seminar will also offer networking opportunities featuring the nation's top industry experts as guest speakers addressing the hottest condo hotel topics including:

 

• Buyer demographics
• Attracting foreign buyers
• Choosing a brand for your condo hotel
• Water parks in condo hotels
• Unit rental management
• SEC regulations for condo hotels
• Sales and marketing compliance
• Spas and fitness centers
• Bulk buyers
• Boutique condo hotels
• Conversion of existing hotels
• Financing options
• Amenity selection for condo hotels 

As with previous condo hotel seminars, Condo Hotel Center is offering a significant discount off the standard registration fee to its guests.

 

To learn more, or to register for this event, contact Susan Greene of Condo Hotel Center at 407-578-5528 or by email at Susan@CondoHotelCenter.com. Please be sure to include your full name, company name and phone number.

 

If your company could be interested in participating in the Condo Hotel Symposium as a corporate sponsor, advertiser or guest speaker, please be sure to mention that in your request, and the appropriate information will be sent to you.

 

Contact:

 

Susan Greene

Condo Hotel Center

407-578-5528

Susan@CondoHotelCenter.com

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Future is Bright for Las Vegas Condo Hotels

Las Vegas Sets Record for Visitors in 2006

  

Feb. 14, 2007 — Condo hotel developers continue to be optimistic about Las Vegas.  Why?  All they need do is look at the numbers.  Las Vegas attracted a record number of tourists in 2006.

 

Las Vegas had 38.9 million visitors in 2006, up slightly less than 1 percent from 2005.  The region managed to increase the number of visitors by boosting the occupancy rate to 89.7 percent, up half of 1 percent from the previous year.

 

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said casino companies and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority contribute to the higher visitation by working hard to fill hotel rooms during slow times.

 

Feldman said MGM Mirage, which has 36,000 rooms in Las Vegas, urges managers of smaller conventions to book rooms during slow periods and commit to multi-year deals.

 

"It helps us fill the gaps," Feldman said.

 

Convention traffic in 2006 increased 2.3 percent, to 6.3 million visitors, with a non-gaming economic impact of $8.2 billion, up 7.6 percent from 2005.

 

Feldman said maintaining high occupancy is a challenge every year as other destinations seek to divert visitors who would otherwise go to Las Vegas.

 

"There isn't anyone out there willing to cede business to us," Feldman said.

 

Occupancy rates in Las Vegas were 94.6 percent on weekends and 87.6 percent midweek. The overall occupancy rate has increased steadily since 2001, when it was 84.7 percent.

 

"There is not another market in the country that comes close" to Las Vegas, Feldman said of the rate.

 

The next closest market reported by the authority was Oahu, Hawaii, at 83.1 percent, followed by New York City at 82.8 percent.

 

High occupancy rates in 2006 also allowed hotels to charge more money for rooms. The average daily room rate rose $17 to $120. That was well below the $240 average room rate in New York City but higher than the $101 rate in Orlando, Fla. The average rate for the top 25 markets in the United States was $119, the convention and visitors authority reported.

 

"It is a bad thing for the customer," said Anthony Curtis of the room rate increase. "I guess it is a good thing for the operators."

 

He expects room rates to continue to rise as long as demand increases and hotel companies improve their techniques for rate yielding, a math-based pricing structure that fluctuates with demand. It is a concept similar to what airlines use to determine ticket prices.

 

"The really good news," said Joel Greene, president of Condo Hotel Center, a real estate brokerage specializing in condo hotels, "is that developers of area condo hotels under construction and their investors can feel confident that visitation to Las Vegas continues to grow and will help ensure that their rooms are kept filled and generating revenue."  He cited developments like the Vdara Condo Hotel in MGM Mirage CityCenter as an example of a property that will benefit from the steady demand for guest lodging.

 

Learn more about Vdara and CityCenter here,

http://www.condohotelcenter.com/condo-hotels/featured-properties/mgm-city-center.htm.

 

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Vero Beach Condo Hotel Opens Doors

The Vero Beach Hotel & Club, one of the area's first condominium hotels, has just opened its doors in Vero Beach, Florida.

The luxury property has been in the works for about three years.  It will have two phases.  The first phase has 50 suites, and the second has 29 more.  It is located on Ocean Avenue, north of Bobby's Restaurant & Lounge.

"The condo hotel trend is a convenient way to own a second home or vacation home, and not have a maintenance worry," said Julie Eubank, director of sales for Singer Island-based Heaton Cos., which owns and developed the property in downtown Vero Beach.

Prices for condo hotel units at Vero Beach Hotel & Club start at $795,000.  Owners can use their condo when they want and place it in a rental program when they're not there, sharing in the rent revenue it generates.  Room rental rates vary upon the season, generally ranging from $279 to $700 a night.

Read more about the Vero Beach Hotel & Club here.

http://www.condohotelcenter.com/condo-hotels/featured-properties/vero-beach-hotel.htm

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Ultra-Luxury Condo Hotel to Be Developed in Marathon, FL Keys

Feb. 10, 2007 - Miami developer Donahue Peebles has closed on the acquisition of the Key Colony Bay Motel for $28.3 million at mile marker 54 in Marathon.

 

He plans to create an ultra-luxury, residential condo hotel resort called Manoir Resort Villas on five acres with furnished, waterfront vacation homes, each with private elevator and roof terrace, priced from $1.8 million.

 

The Coral Gables-based Peebles Corp., which has a portfolio worth $1 billion, plans to convert the 80-room hotel into a 72-unitcondo-hotel.

 

"New York has the Hamptons, New England has The Vineyard, and Florida has the Keys," Peebles said.

 

Marathon has quietly attracted a jet-set crowd to its airport for decades. With Delta Airlines adding daily, non-stop service to Florida Keys Marathon Airport from Atlanta next week the secret will soon be out.

 

"With Manoir, I will deliver what's been missing from the Keys - a casual yet sophisticated, weekend getaway with unprecedented five-star amenities," Peebles said.  Construction will commence later this year with completion expected by mid-2009.

 

Each villa will feature interiors in keeping with the relaxed, seaside lifestyle, two or two and a half bedrooms, private elevator, gourmet kitchen, owner's storage and roof-top terraces offering panoramic ocean and gulf views

 

The property will include amenities such as multiple pools, spa and fitness center, restaurant and bar, concierge staff, housekeeping services, laundry and dry cleaning, valet and business services.

 

"We focus on a market that can support luxury," said Barron Channer, in charge of acquisitions and development for Peebles. "There is an upscaling trend that has been occurring in the Keys.

 

Marathon specifically is ideally situated in what we want to do. The airport, the golf course, the reef. It's really a well-positioned location," he said in June 2006, when negotiations began.

 

Peebles Corp. is known for luxury development. It's built or redeveloped the $230 million Residences at the Bath Club and $140 million Royal Palm Hotel in Miami Beach, and the $53 million Courtyard by Marriott Convention Center and $112 million 10 G Street NE office building in Washington, D.C., among others.

 

Want to know what condo hotels are currently available?  See featured properties here, http://www.condohotelcenter.com/condo-hotels/featured-properties.html

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