It’s pretty rare to meet someone these days who isn’t developing a condo project along the Strip. According to experts, all this verticality is going to be good for business.
From the LV Sun:
The Deutsche Bank study suggests that between 9,300 to 13,500 units will be occupied by visitors to Las Vegas who would have otherwise stayed in resorts and that number of rooms will easily be absorbed as the market grows.
“For the purposes of this analysis, we assume that the 4,500 luxury condominium units under construction will be developed as planned,” the report says. “Of the 32,500 proposed units that have also been announced, we have assigned a range of probabilities of development from 30 percent to 50 percent, resulting in an estimate of 14,300 to 20,800 coming to fruition.
“Furthermore, we estimate that approximately 35 percent of all units that are developed will be occupied by full-time residents of Las Vegas, while the balance will be occupied by the transient (visitor) segment,” the report said.
The authors say that even with new hotel rooms and condominium units driving the volume of rooms on the Strip to between 169,500 to 173,700 units — up from the existing 131,000 units — the additional supply won’t have a negative impact because condo residents will patronize restaurants and entertainment venues.
“Notably, we expect that the urbanization of Las Vegas will actually drive higher utilization of both gaming and nongaming amenities at Strip resorts,” the report said. “Indeed, we expect that the new condo projects could actually yield incremental market trips, beyond normal hotel stays, as patrons are likely to visit more frequently if they own a condo. Further, we expect that residents, both full-time and transient guests, will be regulars at nearby casino-hotel resorts, patronizing casinos as well as restaurants, retail and entertainment venues.”
Falcone said today that tourists who continue to stay in hotels may look for an upgrade experience and that visitors would “trade up” to higher-end resorts when they become available.
Las Vegas SUN: Report: Condos should increase casino visitation
This story has impacted me personally–the apartment complex where I live is turnign condo and, rather than fork out $500 a square foot for a 1-bedroom, I bought my own place. It’s a little off the Strip, but not totally inconvenient to the action.
It’s great to see hypothetical maps of Las Vegas with all of these proposed projects, when it seems obvious that many of them will never be built. It might make an interesting online exhibit, like this one for unrealized Moscow.