The development site is located at East Flamingo Road andSwenson Street, adjacent to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and1.5 miles from both the Las Vegas Strip and the Las VegasConvention Center. The seller is Lehman Bros., which gained controlof the project in October at auction for $55 million afterdeveloper Del American defaulted on its development loan, accordingto county property records. The outstanding balance on the loanstood at between $90 million and $100 million, one local sourcetells GlobeSt.com.

Earlier this year, Lehman retained the local office of CBRichard Ellis to liquidate the asset, which CBRE began marketing inApril. The marketing brochure does not list an offering price forthe building nearing completion, Bella Venezia I, but says $72million will have been spent to complete it. The units average1,290 sf and the parking ratio is approximately two per unit. Theoffer price for remaining land and entitlements is $44 million($2.75 million per acre), a big discount to its year-old appraisedvalue of $72.5 million ($4.55 million per acre) and approximately$10 million more than was spent to acquire it and prepare it fordevelopment.

The listing brokers are Geoffrey West, Jeff Swinger, SpenceBallif, John Knott and Michael Parks. West tells GlobeSt.com thatdespite the entitlements the property will support a variety ofuses including luxury apartments or timeshare units--likely resultsfor the building nearing completion because it was originallyintended to be condos and has higher-end finishes. Beyond that, thesite could support a non-gaming hotel or resort, or, due to itslocation next to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, studenthousing. In the longer term, condos may again become a viable playfor the property, West says.