The developer is Robert Zarnegin, president of Heritage-Nevadaand Probity International Corp., a Beverly Hills, CA-baseddevelopment firm. His exclusive negotiating agreement called forhim to have accumulated letters of intent to acquire 25% of theplanned 800,000 sf of commercial condominium space in a 60-storytower that would anchor the development.

The project's day-to-day manager, Bill Boyajian, a formerpresident of the Gemological Institute of America, tellsGlobeSt.com that 97 diamond and jewelry-related companies from 15different countries have signed LOIs for approximately 32% of thetower. "We had very aggressive pricing for the first 10 companiesand then we have obviously created a lot of publicity and haveratcheted up the price slowly and consistently such that the priceis now $800 per sf and will stay that way for a while," Boyajiansays. "The phone is not ringing off the hook, but interest has beenvery consistent."

Per the negotiating agreement, Boyajian says Zarnegin hassubmitted a draft disposition and development agreement and thatthe city is now reviewing. "We have submitted what we need to andnow there will be some back and forth over the coming few months,"he says. "A vote of the City Council to allow us to purchase theland is slated for January 2."