The boom in high-rise condo projects in this city´s canyon of casinos known as the Strip has spawned its own new status symbol : the celebrity resident.
About 8,000 condominium units are under construction or about to start, according to SalesTraq, a Las Vegas real estate information company. It´s a building explosion fueled in part by speculators in the torrid real estate market here and the desire of buyers from California and Asia to own a piece of Sin City´s action.
But like everything Vegas does, this building bonanza comes with an extra helping of glitz: Developers are using Hollywood stars to make their projects stand out from the more than 100 residential skyscrapers proposed for Las Vegas.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire have purchased units at the Panorama Towers complex. Jessica Simpson has reserved a unit at Palms Place, the 50-story high-rise planned at the Palms Hotel and Casino. Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson has a spot at the Icon Las Vegas.
"I am sure these celebrities are getting very good deals," said Peter Dennehy, senior vice president of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors in San Diego. "It is a marketing thing. People want to live near the stars."
But some analysts wonder whether the market will be left with a Las Vegas-sized hangover in the form of a real estate bubble fueled by the large number of speculators - estimated to be as high as 40 percent - who never intend to live in the units they are buying.
The high-rise condo market has proved to be particularly sensitive to market gyrations, said Delores Conway, a University of Southern California real estate economist.
Las Vegas isn´t the only town that is going vertical. High-rise living, a long-standing tradition in New York, has spread to the likes of Boston, Denver, Miami, San Francisco and Kansas City, Mo. At least half a dozen new condo towers are planned for the Los Angeles area.
Nationally, the number of condominium and town home development construction starts jumped 38 percent to 120,000 last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And that came on top of a 23 percent gain in the previous year.
Many of the buildings are following the pattern of Miami, towers offering luxury-hotel-style amenities such as concierge service, valet parking, restaurants, fitness centers and spas.
