Turnberry spawned Vegas luxury condo market

Roughly ten years ago Turnberry Associates jetted into town and bought some land in the north end of the Strip, on Paradise by the Las Vegas Convention Center. It had already carved itself a stellar reputation as a luxury condominium developer over in Miami, so valley observers knew what they were up to. The locals were quick to point out, though, that they had chosen a poor location for their project.

Despite the friendly advice the firm built the Turnberry Place on the parcel, an enclave of four 38-story towers with a total of 720 units. As word spread, it soon turned into a favorite among the luxury condo-affording crowd back in Florida and elsewhere in the country, even abroad. Consequently, they had no trouble selling the units. With that it became the undisputed catalyst for the present boom in luxury condo development around the valley.

Since then the company has erected the Residences at MGM Grand in a joint venture with MGM Mirage. It is now finishing up Turnberry Towers by the Las Vegas Hilton that consists of two 45-story buildings. And it has under construction the Fontainebleau Resort at a cost of $2.9 billion, a project that also includes about 1,000 condos, in addition to the normal mix of services and features common to Vegas entertainment palaces.

Some experts here are lukewarm about the near-term viability of the luxury condominium explosion, citing that the units simply are over-priced. Turnberry's top executive disputes that. Southern Nevada's economy is relatively stable, the city has plenty of international appeal as a destination resort and when the local population matures, it'll seek more vertical housing, he adds.