"Everybody has been real excited about the Harmon Corridor and[this acquisition] gives us the ability to control the experiencethere," Edge Group president Adam Frank tells GlobeSt.com. "Webelieve to create a great experience you really have to master planwhole area to give it an identity and a character while stillhaving enough breadth of product to appeal to different segments ofthe market."

The plan is to complement W Las Vegas by developing the sitewith a large central casino and retail hub surrounded by a numberof different hotel brands that spill into the hub. In addition,Frank says the master plan will include pedestrian connectionsbetween the two developments and possibly with the Hard Rock aswell, which Peter Morton is in the process of selling to Morgan'sHotel Group. The project likely will get under way before W LasVegas is complete, Frank says.

The now defunct Las Ramblas project by Related Las Vegas andCentra Properties was approved for 4,400 hotel, condo andcondo-hotel units in 11 high-rise towers, a 40,000-sf casino,shops, a spa and various eateries. The developers cited risingconstruction costs and slowing sales as reasons for selling thesite. Centra reportedly spent $85 million or $3.6 million per acreassembling the various parcels of land that included the 996-unitHarbor Island apartments 56 additional fourplex units.