The POA's ownership appears to include most of the properties in the area bound by Sahara on the south, Las Vegas Boulevard and Main Street on the east, Wyoming on the north and Industrial on the west. The properties host industrial and commercial properties, many multifamily developments and a few single-family homes. Wright's property is a residential cooperative. Other properties in the area also are on the market through other channels, and some properties are not on the market at this time.

Given the September 2007 sale of 40 acres immediately across Sahara (top of the photo) for $20 million per acre to MGM, Wright figures the 100 acres the Naked City POA represents as a whole is worth at least $15 million an acre, though admits that a $10-million-per-acre offer likely would snare 90% of the POA. "I'm 66 and some of us (in the POA) are in our 70s. I know only a couple of young owners." Wright says. "Most of us are at retirement age and would like to sell out. It is a great opportunity for someone like Steve Wynn or Sheldon Adelson or someone from Dubai."

At least a portion of Naked City is now rumored to be the favored site for an 85-acre, arena-anchored mixed-use development by Real Estate Interests Group of Bloomfield Hills, MI, which previously had been looking further north. REI is reportedly looking closer to the Stratosphere in part because its new arena partner, the Cordish Co., has a relationship with Goldman Sachs & Co., which acquired the Stratosphere Resort from Ichan Enterprises earlier this year. Icahn reportedly still owns some key parcels north and south of the resort.

Wright says he posted the POA's listing to a major property listing Website on Thursday and on Friday morning found that it had been looked at 59 times, by owners and investors all over the US as well as from China, and brokers from as far away as Australia, Hong Kong, Quebec, the UK and all over the US. He says offers have already come in and that talks are under way with likely buyers, which isn't many.

"The truth of the matter is, this is not for anybody that needs financing," Wright says. "There are only a handful of people who can pay cash for this and it is absolutely the right market to scoop this up."

The area was known as Naked City in the 1940 and '50s when, prior to tanning salons, showgirls and dancers lived in the apartments in the area and would get their overall tans out by the pools," Wright tells GlobeSt.com. "When suburban sprawl began, the nudies moved outward but the name stuck, according to veteran cabbies."

Wright formed the Naked City POA by writing a letter to all 153 ownership entities in the neighborhood—-he obtained the list from Chicago Title—-and telling him about his idea. He told them he had formed the POA and interested parties could attend the first meeting on January 16.

"I was expecting maybe nine or 10 people to show up but we had 43 people, some of them representing multiple properties," he says. "There were people from Texas, Los Angeles, San Francisco as well as locally, and I told them we should try to come together and sell our collective properties as one seller to one buyer to help achieve a higher sales price and a quicker escrow. I volunteered to carry us as far as I could and that when I got in over my head, I would ask for help."

Wright, who will get a brokerage commission for his efforts, says there are several owners who are motivated to close escrow earlier, including 14 contiguous parcels (2.61 acres) with 95 apartment units on them, directly adjacent to the Allure Tower II site and another one on the north side that shares an alley with an Icahn-owned property. The Naked City Property Owners Alliance can be reached at .

Instant Insights /

100 Acres Bordering Stratosphere on the Market

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