LAS VEGAS, NV – The Las Vegas Sphere, a 400,000-square-foot, 18,000-seat, 360-foot-tall globe-shaped arena slated to be constructed on 63 acres of property located behind the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, is currently running over initial cost estimates. As a result, the ambitious project – helmed by developer Madison Square Garden Co. – may cost upwards of $500 million more than first projected, inflating its final price tag to as much as $1.7 billion, reports say.

Originally, Madison Square Garden Co. – in conjunction with partner Las Vegas Sands Corp. – had estimated the cost of the high-tech stadium at $1.2 billion, which was contrasted recently when the contractor of the project, AECOM, announced that costs are more likely in the range of $1.7 billion.

The discrepancy, according to reports, may come from the difference between initial budgeting and forecasting based on schematic designs available at the start of construction – ground was officially broken one year ago – and high costs that AECOM has noted they are encountering throughout the process of physically bringing the complex designs to life. Madison Square Garden Co. has reportedly stated that they feel this new $1.7 billion estimate is too high, and is “in the process of reviewing and challenging those assumptions.”

The Sphere will cater to musical performances and concerts, as well as potentially occasional boxing or MMA contests. Once completed, the interior of will feature a 180,000-square-foot ceiling with massive video screens for attendees to watch, as well as floor-based bass speaker system to appeal to concert and club-goers on evenings when electronic dance music acts take the MSG Sphere stage, giving the music venue a multi-genre and event capability. The Sphere is expected to be completed in 2021.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS,, NV – Matter Real Estate Group recently broke ground on the Matter Logistics Center, a $70-million, 725,000-square-foot industrial/warehouse project situated on a 41 acre plot of land that its developer noted will combine modern design with high functionality and will welcome both new and current businesses upon its completion in February 2020.

Located in North Las Vegas, only a few miles from the famed Las Vegas Strip and in proximity to both I-15 and US 95 – ensuring ease of access to all – Matter Logistics Center will serve as a high-tech home to numerous corporate clients and their businesses, according to Matter’s official statements. Its centralized location will make it a vital part of the region’s distribution and operations, as well as tourist and convention corridors.

There will be a total of five buildings on the site – varying in size and scope – that will offer a variety of amenities for tenants, including space for warehouses, distribution, showrooms, and offices, with available square footage ranging from 11,000 to nearly 480,000 square-feet. Units will feature docking and loading facilities that can be customized as needed for truck height and other specifications. There will also be plenty of space for vehicle parking and storage for trailers, reports say.

Matter Real Estate Group made headlines recently when they revealed plans for another high-profile mixed-use project in the Las Vegas area- the “Un-Commons,” located at Durango Drive and Interstate 215. A “Town Square” of sorts designed to cater to the needs of the tenants who live and work there, the Un-Commons will offer numerous exercise, relaxation, food, shopping, and entertainment options, all within walking distance of both an employee’s place of work and the project’s luxury apartment complex.

Matter also recently broke ground on Phase one of Matter Park at West Henderson, a 475,000-square-foot light industrial office/warehouse project, and is nearly finished developing Matter Park at Warm Springs, a 156,000-square-foot Class A industrial facility in North Las Vegas.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to reports, the Hard Rock Hotel of Las Vegas will close its doors in February 2020, after which it will undergo eight months of renovations and will emerge without its iconic name. Instead, it will be rebranded as Virgin Hotels Las Vegas upon it’s re-opening, a move that was originally announced back in March 2018 when the hotel was purchased by Virgin Hotels in partnership with a group of investment firms.

The previous plan called for the hotel to remain partially open throughout the renovation process, only to be closed for four months. However, those plans have been changed, and the hotel will now be closed throughout the entire renovation, according to a statement released by Richard Bosworth, President and CEO of JC Hospitality, one of the investment firms that now owns the Hard Rock Hotel in conjunction with Virgin.

We determined that a phased closing of four months, followed by a total closure of four months was not efficient from a construction process nor could we provide a hospitality service experience our guests deserve,” he said. “Therefore an approximate eight-month closure would be most efficient and ensure a timely opening prior to January 2021. We might be ready in October, but construction is an imperfect process. Until early February 2020 it is business as usual at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas. Virgin Hotels Las Vegas promises to be one of the most exciting, vibrant, and anticipated properties to open in Las Vegas in years.”

The hotel is slated to close in February 2020, possibly after the Super Bowl on Feb. 2 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Remaining entertainment and music performances scheduled for the Hard Rock before it closes include Brian Wilson and The Zombies, Cake & Ben Folds, Greta Van Fleet, Daughtry, Stone Temple Pilots and comedian Demetri Martin. 

Features of the property include the hotel tower, a 30,000-square-foot casino, Tahitian-style beach and swimming pool, a nightclub, six restaurants, three cocktail lounges, several retail stores, a spa, a poker room, and “The Joint,” a music venue. The property is located on 16.7 acres on the corner of Harmon and Paradise Road.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to reports, despite the fact that rental prices for apartments in the Las Vegas area have increased over the past 12 months more than any other major U.S. metropolitan area in the United States, the market is nonetheless still considered by experts as remaining quite healthy and affordable, especially compared to neighboring states such as California.

In a recently-released Zillow report, the median rent in Las Vegas for all property types was $1,435, which represents a 10 percent jump from the same period one year prior. However, local realtors are disputing this figure, noting that the median rental price is more around $1,100; this price is made possible by the fact that developers have been working long and hard over the past year to construct more apartments and condos to satisfy the rapidly-growing demand for affordable housing options in Vegas.

However, reports note, developers have not quite met housing demands as of yet; Clark County occupancy is currently at 95 percent, which is considered the hallmark of a healthy rental market, and further stability of the market would be ensured if more building was completed.

Experts say that Las Vegas’ prices are still considered a bargain, especially when compared to regions where rental prices have increased to points where the cost of living has become prohibitive, such as Seattle, Washington or California’s Bay Area.

Recognizing Las Vegas’ need to expand its rental options in order to further lower prices, developers have been hiring in droves in order to bolster their workforces; experts note that apartments can’t be built fast enough, and that the market has yet to completely recover from the lack of construction activity that took place in Vegas during the recession, a time when numerous projects where either abandoned or outright cancelled. 

Another factor that real estate experts say will be affecting the market in the near future is the impact that professional sports will have upon rentals in Las Vegas; once the Las Vegas Raiders NFL Football team begins hosting home games in the city at the start of their 2020 season, demand for rental units – which are typically cheaper than renting hotel suites for ten or more games per year – will likely increase even more as fans of the team flood the city on a regular basis.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to reports, Developer Lorenzo Doumani announced this week that ground will be broken in 2020 on his newest project- the Majestic Las Vegas, a non-gaming hotel to be constructed at 305 Convention Center Drive, the site of the former Clarion hotel which was demolished in 2015.

The Majestic Las Vegas, a project with a whopping $850 million price tag, is slated to be a 45-story high-rise consisting of 720 rooms with numerous amenities for guests, including all-purpose space for conventions and meeting rooms as well as restaurants and a wellness/medical spa that would be able to offer physical examinations as well as professional advice on diet and exercise.

Reports indicate that the projected ground-breaking for the Majestic is slated to for May, with work then quickly progressing with an anticipated completion date being set in the first quarter of 2023.

The Majestic Las Vegas project has been in the works for a number of years and was postponed several times while changing in scope and form; these changes were due to the rising costs of construction in the Las Vegas region at the time, necessitating changes in order to keep the project realistically affordable. 

The Majestic was originally announced by Doumani in 2004 as a 42-story condominium tower accompanied by Hilton’s Conrad Las Vegas, but was redesigned numerous times over the course of several years until Hilton – which had just been sold to the Blackstone group – pulled out of the project in 2007. Shortly afterward, Majestic Resorts filed a request for arbitration against Hilton and the undeveloped property was sold that year for $180 million.

In May 2019, Doumani received county approval to build Majestic Las Vegas on the former six-acre site of the nearby Clarion Hotel and Casino, which he had imploded four years earlier. The hotel will be located near the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Las Vegas Strip.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to reports, Bleutech Park Properties, Inc. recently announced a truly ambitious project that is slated to break ground in the Las Vegas Valley in December 2019 – Bleutech Park, a so-called “smart mini-city” that will combine cutting-edge tech with new design principles which the developer claims will influence future construction.

Its description certainly makes Bleutech Park sound like something out of “Star Wars,” or “The Jetsons” with the developer noting that the $7.5 billion project will feature renewable energy source-powered “net-zero” buildings, meaning buildings with zero net energy consumption; the total amount of energy used by the buildings on an annual basis will be roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site, reports say.

In addition, Bleutech Park will have automated multi-functional designs, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, robotics, self-healing concrete structures and more. Environmentally-friendly “green” technology will be at the forefront of design principles, including water purification, energy generation and storage, waste-heat recovery, and more. A network of “supertrees” is slated to help reduce imported water consumption by 95 percent.

With zero carbon emissions the project’s stated goals, according to reports, the outside surfaces of all buildings will utilize photo-voltaic glass, essentially turning them all into giant solar panels capable of generating significant amounts of electrical power.

The project is privately funded and is expected to take approximately six years for construction to be completed; once finished, it will offer mixed-use space combining worker housing, office and retail space, in addition to luxury hotel and entertainment options for residents and guests.

More details on the Bleutech Park project – which is expected to create more than 25,000 jobs – are expected to be announced shortly. But the degree of technology that is being talked about – much of the tech is still early in development, but progressing at a steady pace – could truly make Bleutech Park a beacon for community design for all developers in the future – if the project is successfully pulled off.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Long vacant and empty, the famed Moulin Rouge casino in Las Vegas may finally be set to receive a new lease on life by Las Vegas Moulin Rouge LLC, a company that has plans to purchase the property as a prelude to a proposed $1.6 billion revival effort.

The Moulin Rouge holds a place in history as the first gambling establishment to not exclude minorities of any ethnic group and while it was in operation, it was heralded as one of the most popular casinos in town. However, aside from a bi-annual mobile gaming event held in the facility’s parking lot in order to retain its permanent gaming license, the Moulin Rouge has otherwise been abandoned and dust-ridden for decades.

Several companies have proposed plans to revive the Moulin Rouge over the years, but Las Vegas Moulin Rouge LLC is the closest thus far to making those plans become a reality. First, the company would have to raise the capital in order to purchase the site – the current asking price is $9.5 million – then they would be required to provide proof that they would be able to provide the capital to carry out the proposed revival work, which the company has stated would be carried out in three phases.

The initial phase would consist of constructing a 25,000 square-foot casino, a 400-room hotel, an entertainment center, a convention center, and a variety of other features that would usher the Moulin Rouge into the modern age. Also, as a testament to the venue’s important place in local history, there are also plans to establish a 5,000 square-foot museum dedicated to the casino’s past.

The second phase would feature an expansion of the casino, convention center, and hotel, and the addition of retail and dining options, in addition to more entertainment options. Final amenities to be added – if available space allows – would be more retail space, business offices, and a 12,000-seat arena.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. As of press time, it remains to be seen if Las Vegas Moulin Rouge LLC can pull their ambition plans off, but if so, they will have helped to revive an important part of Las Vegas’ past.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to reports, Los Angeles transit officials are currently having official discussions with Virgin Trains USA in order to breathe new life into an oft-delayed project that would establish a railway between LA and Las Vegas.

Virgin Trains USA currently operates a similar railway in Florida that connects Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach; LA transit officials recently visited and toured the site to see how such a set-up could connect their city with Las Vegas.

Plans to create train service between the two cities have been circulating for a while; most recently, an older proposal was revived in 2018 that would have seen the railway built along the 15 Freeway. The project would be funded privately, but LA transit officials have stated that they would assist with an extension of the line into their own city.

Virgin Trains USA is currently in the process of seeking approval from state governments in both California and Nevada to procure tax- exempt bonds in the amount of $3.6 billion in order to fund the project’s beginning phase. Initially, Virgin had hoped to start work on the railway by 2020, but the latest estimates have pushed that date back to 2022 at the earliest.

A railway connecting LA and Vegas would prove beneficial to both cities, as each features a robust business climate that a dedicated train line would help grow. Establishing a direct means of fast and easy commute would help their overall job markets and provide a means for companies to recruit more widely to suit their needs. Currently, the 15 freeway serves as the most direct means of travel between LA and Vegas, in addition to air travel, which can be cost-prohibitive for most commuters. Train service, in contrast, would be very affordable.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – The former residence of developer Jim Rhodes, dubbed “The SkyFire Estate,” recently sold for the record price of $16 million, making it the second-highest sale price of a home in the history of Las Vegas.

Skyfire, a huge mansion clocking in a whopping 21,633 square feet, is located in the Spanish Hills community at 5212 Spanish Heights Drive on a two-acre plot of land. 

The house features eight bedrooms – including a 3,010-square-foot master bathroom with a two-story walk-in closet – ten bathrooms, a 15-car garage, and a 110-gallon infinity pool. SkyFire also boasts impressive, 360-degree views of the Las Vegas Strip, city, and surrounding mountains.

SkyFire features unique design elements, being made up extensively of curved exterior surfaces with many floor-to-ceiling windows. The mansion was sold quickly- it was only on the market for a single week before being snapped up by a buyer, who is remaining anonymous.

With its large price tag putting it in the record books as the second-highest residential sale price in Vegas history, that begs the obvious question- what did the highest-price house go for, and who did it belong to? Well, the answer is famous magician David Copperfield’s home in the community of Summerlin, which sold for $17.55 million.

Despite selling for a steep $16 million, SkyFire could have potentially sold for even more. The house was originally listed for a whopping $30 million in January with a different real estate agency, and then subsequently de-listed in April, only to be re-listed at $25 million a week before it sold. However, owner Jim Rhodes, in a hurry to sell and move on, lowered the price by $9 million, prompting an almost immediate sale.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

WASHINGTON – On July 31, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 points, making it the first time they have done so since the national recession in 2008. In addition, the central bank also ended quantitative tightening – a process of shrinking its balance sheet – two months ahead of schedule.

The interest rate cut changes the target benchmark rate to a range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent amid concerns of a possible slowing of the nation’s economy, citing “implications of global developments for the economic outlook as well as muted inflation pressures” .

According to a statement by the Federal Open Market Committee, business fixed investment is considered “soft” and inflationary pressures “remain low.” Job gains are considered “solid” by the Fed, with 224,000 added according to the June jobs report; unemployment currently is at 3.7 percent nationally, representing a slight increase.

The consumer market has shown continued improvement, however, with household spending increasing across the board.

Fed Chair Jay Powell initially did not indicate that there would be any further interest rate decreases in the near future, stating that the cut was simply a “midcycle adjustment” and that the economy was not in such a state of slowdown as to make necessary a longer rate-cutting cycle.

Powell’s lack of indication of future cuts drew the ire of President Donald Trump, who has been critical of the actions taken by the Federal Reserve recently as it pertains to the economy.

“As usual, Powell let us down, but at least he is ending quantitative tightening, which shouldn’t have started in the first place – no inflation,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “We are winning anyway, but I am certainly not getting much help from the Federal Reserve!”

It is perhaps this backlash from the President that caused the Fed to issue a follow-up statement, noting that it will “act as appropriate to sustain the expansion,” and that the committee will contemplate “the future path of the target range for the federal funds rate,” thus leaving the door open for potential future cuts.

Expectations were high in economic markets that the Federal Reserve would be making a 25 point cut, and some were even anticipating a potential 50 point cut.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.