Andrew Lai will develop and operate the resort, which willinclude a 28,000-sf casino, three restaurants, three lounges, afull-service spa and outdoor swimming pool, as well as a fitnesscenter, business center, retail and meeting space. Lai tellsGlobeSt.com that the total project cost will be approximately $170million. Lai says he has financing from "overseas," but declined tobe more specific.

Covering approximately two acres on the northeast corner ofSpring Mountain Road and Polaris Avenue, Lai's Cogent InvestmentLLC acquired the four-parcel development site in mid-2006 by forapproximately $6 million before the county put a gaming overlay onthe area. A recent appraisal estimated the property's value at $28million, Lai says.

Lai owns the hotel property by himself but he owns another 30acres in the immediate area with Susan Krygiell, a longtime localbroker and investor who helped assemble the acreage and obtain thegaming overlay for the area. Krygiell tells GlobeSt.com they haveentitlements in place for 3,700 condo-hotel units and severalhundred thousand square feet of gaming and retail.