Tag Archives: Asia

It’s going from bad to worse for developer Andrew Lai and bankrupt land owner Spring Mtn. Wynn Investments:  Nobody bid on their prime casino land in Las Vegas. 

Despite only requiring a $1 million deposit and a minimum bid of $27.5 million for the prime 22-acre Las Vegas casino land site currently appraised at $174 million, or $7.9 million per acre, not one person was willing to take a chance and shell out cash at the May 16 auction. 

The dream of developer Lai was to develop and open in 2010 the Asian-themed Dragon City Casino and retail center, including a 31-story, 386-room hotel, employing at the facilities between 6,000 and 8,000 workers, appealing to middle-market Asian visitors to Las Vegas.

Even as the economy sputtered in 2008, in February Crowne Plaza still hailed the planned development, located on the prime property located at the edge pf the Chinatown district on Spring Mountain Road, a real gem, promising to bring “tens of thousand of visitors a year, making [it] a great location for an upscale meeting-savvy brand like Crown Plaza,” according to a statement last year from Gina LaBarre, vice president of brand management for the hotel chain.  But, a few months later, the economy was in the toilet and all plans were squashed. 

Now, the property is being split up with three of the nine total parcels on the site – amounting to 9.4 acres in the smack dab “filet mignon” center of the property, owned by the Community Bank of Nevada as collateral for prior loans (currently used as a staging area for the defunct Cosmopolitan) – going up in a foreclosure sale on June 26, as agreed in a prior deal reached with Spring Mtn. Wynn Investments.