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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 2:19 p.m., Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Credit market may affect 2 projects on Vegas Strip

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — One Las Vegas casino resort project may be a step closer to foreclosure, while developers of another are due to go before county lawmakers Wednesday amid reports they face trouble due to a shaky credit market and rising building costs.

Representatives of the Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino did not immediately respond Tuesday to reports that Wall Street investment house Deutsche Bank planned to begin foreclosure proceedings on the planned $3 billion high-rise casino and hotel.

Cosmopolitan developer and owner Ian Bruce Eichner said in January that his company, 3700 Associates LLC, was working with Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch to find new investors for his 2,998-room high-rise casino and hotel under construction.

That effort came after a $760 million construction loan from Deutsche Bank was declared to be in default on Jan. 16.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday if Eichner received formal notice of foreclosure or a final date.

Developers of The Plaza, a proposed multibillion-dollar casino resort modeled after The Plaza hotel in New York City, are due before the Clark County Commission on Wednesday.

On Monday, Plaza project executive Miki Naftali, president of the Elad Group, disputed reports that the development was on hold.

"We are forging ahead as planned," he said.

Wachovia credit analyst Dennis Farrell had said in a note to investors that Israeli sponsors Nochi Danker and Yitzhak Tshuva were postponing the project because of the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States. Farrell cited the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot.

The 3,500-room Plaza project is expected to cost $6 billion and open in 2011.

The Cosmopolitan is due to open in late 2009 between MGM Mirage Inc.'s Bellagio casino resort and the CityCenter casino complex.

Cosmopolitan officials have cited increased construction costs for an increase from a $2 billion price in 2006 to a current estimate of more than $3 billion.

But the company also said in January that demand for the condominiums was strong, with 84 percent of 2,184 units sold.

Perini Building Corp., the Cosmopolitan general contractor, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a Tuesday report that it would continue work on the project. Perini has been involved with the Cosmopolitan from the beginning, and signed a month-to-month agreement with Deutsche Bank in January.