One of the most popular topics on my blog – as well as the one topic that I continually get emails and comments on is the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Ever since the beginning of this year when W Hotels was rumored to be taking over the hotel portion from Hyatt Hotels while simultaneously the developer Bruce Eichner, seems to have lost control of the property to foreclosure news has been very slow to both the media and also people who have placed deposits on the property.

The story of the Cosmopolitan is so interesting to me that I actually went out and bought a book titled High Rise by Jerry Adler about another one of Bruce Eichner’s projects – 1540 Broadway in New York City. For those familiar with the Times Square area – that building now houses the Virgin Megastore.

In anycase, whenever news comes out about the Cosmopolitan I follow it closely..

Today’s news is from GlobeSt.com (the link won’t work after 7 days) in which they announced how a parking development waiver has been granted until mid-2010. (Huh?) But the article also had a trove of other information – while leaving out one major piece.

-An estimated 1,800 condo units are under contract out of a total of 3,000 condo units

-The property is now owned by “Nevada Property One” an affiliate of Deutsche Bank – so the property is now out of Eichner’s hands, and in the hands of Deutch Bank the original mortgage holder who foreclosed on the property

-The Related Companies has been brought in to oversee the end of the development of the project. So the initial rumor of Related purchasing the property has some validity in it.. I’m sure we’ll see Related fully own the property by the time it’s been completed, or soon after since they normally are not just construction supervisors. Plus, I doubt Deutsche Bank is going to want to own the property long term.

-The Perini Co’s who is the general contractor on the project since day one has been given a “Guaranteed Maximum Price Contract” which means they are guaranteed to get a certain price when the project is completed. So construction is currently in full swing – with 100% intent to completely finish the project.

-Originally scheduled to be completed in late 2009, the final completion date is to be mid-2010 due to the delays brought on by the foreclosure process.

-$1 billion worth of work is still to be completed on the project

While mentioning that it was to be a condo-hotel there was nothing said about the hotel operator of the project. Would it still be Hyatt? Is W going to be opening there? Or is it some other hotel operator?

I searched on Hyatt’s website for new properties and for the first time noticed that the Cosmopolitan was not listed as one of their future properties, suggesting that Hyatt is no longer part of the project. The other location where I have seen Hyatt listed was at the Cosmopolitan’s website – but today I see how the website has been removed and replaced with an message saying the Cosmopolitan and it’s website are currently under construction.

I think it’s still a good chance we’ll see a huge announcement in 2009 about the W coming to Las Vegas in the Cosmopolitan, and it will be a huge win for W, especially since their first Vegas project fizzled – this has the potential to be an even better location and an even better project for W, and will easily raise the status of the Cosmopolitan.

As I’ve promised many readers of the blog, I’ll keep you posted with future updates as I ahve them on the Cosmopolitan.

andrew@alconic-inc.com