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Welcome to the CityCenter Condo Deposit Group Forum

The group's goals include: (1) Creating a productive discussion forum
(2) Being a resource where owner's can get information on the CityCenter project
(3) Provide a mechanism to present a unified voice of the buyers to the seller
(4) MOST IMPORTANTLY, TO TRY TO ANSWER THE QUESTION, "WHAT DO THE OWNERS, AS A UNIFIED GROUP REQUIRE FROM THE SELLER IN ORDER TO MOVE FORWARD AND CLOSE THEIR CONTRACTS?"
All of the other key stakeholders involved in CityCenter have a voice - the bondholders, the shareholders, management, etc. To date, the buyers who represent billions of dollars in committments have yet to have a seat at the table. This group seeks to change that and come to a win-win solution with MGM.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

LV Sun - August 15, 2009 - CityCenter gives condominium buyers hope for price cuts

Las Vegas Sun
August 15, 2009


CityCenter gives condominium buyers hope for price cuts
REAL ESTATE:
CityCenter gives condominium buyers hope for price cuts


Soft condo market: A recent view of MGM Mirage’s CityCenter along the Las Vegas Strip.
By Liz Benston (contact)
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009 2 a.m.
CityCenter condos
Real Estate in Crisis
Sun Coverage
More stories about business and the economy
Buyers of CityCenter condos, grumbling about the drop in real estate values and other concerns, say MGM Mirage officials who were previously reluctant to discuss the issues are now reaching out to them. Buyers say they hope the talks lead to price reductions on existing sales contracts, which is their primary goal.
MGM Mirage officials, worried that some buyers will not want to close on their units, are also inviting customers to discuss their concerns about construction problems uncovered at CityCenter in recent months, potential discrepancies between the advertised and actual square footage of condo units as well as MGM Mirage’s plan to open some CityCenter amenities months after owners occupy their units, the owners say.
Buyers say MGM Mirage wants to fend off potential lawsuits by buyers attempting to back out of their contracts.
The escrow closing process will start in December and spill into next year. In response to word about polls and focus groups involving the buyers, MGM Mirage spokeswoman Yvette Monet would only say that the company “regularly communicates with CityCenter owners.”
Some buyers have sought price discounts from MGM Mirage on condos they purchased two years ago, when Las Vegas was booming. Others want out of their contracts, saying they can no longer afford to buy the units because of the poor economy and the lack of available financing.
During a conference call last week to discuss the company’s second quarter performance, CityCenter CEO Bobby Baldwin said the company is considering discounting condo prices and is mobilizing various financing tools to enable buyers to close.
Baldwin said the roughly 950 condo buyers at CityCenter are regularly polled about their attitudes toward the project.
“Most are very excited about what it is that we have developed there and look forward to purchase these units in some fashion,” Baldwin said. “Of course it’s all subject to financing and being treated properly as it relates to price.”
CityCenter broker Bob Hamrick said MGM Mirage and Dubai World, its partner in the project, will announce any readjusted prices by early September.
“We remain in the process of recalibrating prices to make it fair for existing owners and to make it compelling for further purchasers to buy,” Hamrick said.
CityCenter started selling units in January 2007, when the market was hot.
But the situation has changed, Hamrick said. “CityCenter remains a unique product that can’t be touched by anything else in Las Vegas,” he said, “but there are some realities we recognize, and we have to respond.”
Las Vegas attorney Mark Connot, who is representing some CityCenter condo buyers, said he’s glad MGM Mirage has recognized the decline in the price of real estate.
“I think a fair number of people have looked at this and say unless they get down to market value or close to it, people may walk,” Connot said.
Buyers say MGM Mirage’s more conciliatory approach stands in contrast with its stance in previous months, when efforts to seek price discounts were rebuffed by sales agents who refused to discuss the issue. Some buyers are seeking reductions of 30 percent to 50 percent.
Condo buyers have a Web site, citycentercondodepositgroup.blogspot.com/, to share information that could be used in future lawsuits and other complaints.
A similar Web site created by owners of condo units at MGM Mirage’s Signature towers has become a gathering place for unhappy Signature buyers, who have used information on the site to file or join lawsuits against the project and file complaints with law enforcement agencies.
Lowering condo prices could significantly reduce CityCenter’s return on investment from initial projections. The company’s revised $8.5 billion budget for CityCenter, which had peaked at $9 billion before the recession, assumes the company will collect only $250 million in condo sales proceeds on top of the $313 million in condo deposits collected from prospective buyers. MGM Mirage hoped to collect as much as $2.6 billion from condo sales. The company has sold about 55 percent of CityCenter’s roughly 2,440 condo and condo-hotel units. Based on contracted prices, the company has sold about $1.6 billion worth of condos.
Buyers will start closing on the units in December, beginning with the Mandarin hotel and condo tower, which opens Dec. 3, MGM Mirage’s Baldwin said last week. Units at Veer, the twin leaning towers fronting the CityCenter complex, are expected to begin the escrow process in January. Units at Vdara, the only condo-hotel tower on the site, are expected to begin that process in February, he said.
Some buyers say that although discussions with MGM Mirage are a positive sign, they are leery about having to sign confidentiality agreements or make concessions in exchange for a potential price cut.
Owners and real estate watchers say these meetings might become confidential, case-by-case settlements that pre-empt arbitration proceedings that are typically required to resolve disputes over real estate purchases.
Some observers say MGM Mirage might cancel sales of condo-hotel units at Vdara, where owners can receive rental income on their condos by putting them into a rental pool, because of weak demand for condo-hotels and the unwillingness of banks to finance them. Most condo-hotel towers in Las Vegas have been hit with lawsuits by owners who are disappointed at the revenue they are earning from their units, in part because of high management and upkeep costs that they contend were not disclosed in advance.
The depressed economy and competition from other condo-hotels such as Signature, Trump and Palms Place may force MGM Mirage to convert Vdara into a resort hotel and consider condo sales down the road, real estate experts say. MGM Mirage could divert Vdara buyers to Veer, for example, they said.
Hamrick called any suggestions of Vdara being converted into a hotel just a rumor.
In Business Las Vegas reporter Brian Wargo contributed to this story.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

READERS PLEASE NOTE:
2009 Class Action Lawsuit
Filed against MGM-Mirage City Center Broker of Record Robert Hamrick et al
in the State of California.
Superior Court of California
County of Santa Clara
Filed: January 2009
case # 1-09-cv-133357
Against Robert Hamrick, Shayna Goldstein and Global Property Networks
*PLEASE ALSO BE ADVISED:
This Class Action Lawsuit deals specifically with the illegal sales of more than three hundred (300) condominiums in Las Vegas by City Center's Broker of Record Robert Hamrick and his agent Shayna Goldstein.
Bobby Baldwin, Hamrick and most egregiously, the MGM-Mirage City Center Board of Directors and their corporate lawyers (Snell and Wilmer) are fully aware, and have (since 2006) been fully aware of these illegalities and have done nothing to protect Buyers at City Center against their Broker of Record Robert Hamrick.
This is the same corporate procedure and strategy (deception) used in the 2008 Lanni resignation. MGM did nothing to inform Shareholders that their con-man Chairman of the Board, Terri Lanni had lied for years about his credentials. Only when Lanni's perpertration of resume fraud had been "outed" to the Las Vegas press by an independent corporate investigator DID MGM take action. Same deceptive drill here just a different day.
Buyers of the MGM City Center condos' should call FORWITH upon Jim Murren , Bobby Baldwin(whom we all know is holding a losing hand at CITYCENTER buts want the Buyers to take the hit for him) and demand out of their contract based on the legal fact that Hamrick sold property illegally and should not be representing them in the transaction as a legally licensed Nevada Broker.
Bobby Baldwin and the executives should come clean and cashier Hamrick for the illegalities by himself and Goldstein in the State of California where they have never held a California license yet sold hundreds of Las Vegas condominium properties
the web page to look at the case in California Superior Court in re: Hamrick is:
http://www.sccaseinfo.org/civil.htm

Anonymous said...

the city center executives need to realize that the market value for their condos has collapsed and the prices on existing contracts need to be reduced by a minimum of 53%(the official las vegas drop in home prices from their 2006 peak to now) in order to sell them as quickly as possible without lawsuits, mediations, court involvements,arbitrations, delays, demands for deposit refunds, or complaints to government agencies or negative news in the media. if that is not an option for them, then they need to refund all buyer deposits and start their marketing all over again within the economic situation facing them now.

many mistakes have been made by city center--from hiring building inspectors/engineers who admit that they cannot read a building blue print(which caused all of the harmon condos being put at risk of falling down), to creating doubt as to the structural integrity of all of the buildings in city center, to being a half hour away from filing for bankruptcy, to not having their financing all arranged in advance, to having to delete the harmon condos from the development after building a beautiful model home for it, to changing the profile of the development from its original design, to adding one additional year to the construction completion date for the harmon hotel due to incompetent oversight, to not knowing that the hotel condo concept was just a failed passing fad during an extraordinary boom time, to choosing ugly urine yellow exterior building facade panels for the two smack at center veer towers, to using contracts that were completely one sided all in favor of city center and refusing to make even one minuscule buyer requested change, to having the sales staff stating that these condos are a great buy that will appreciate by the time they have been completed (if instead they had said these condos will fall in value by the time they are completed then no one would have bought).

so now city centre needs to take their losses by realizing that all that has happened are not the fault of the buyers with deposits but mgm mirage's own actual negligence for not asking "what if" type questions of themselves before starting such a huge development all at once, instead of in phases-- so that they would have been prepared to handle the problems caused by the bungling of the persons in their organization and the companies under their control.

under the force majeure clause inserted in each contract by city center--they would be excused from performing under the contracts by just exercising the force majeure clause--- if they for example could not have built the buildings for some reason that was out of their control (wherein they would have had to refund the deposits); however under the circumstances, the buyers must be excused from performing (and receive a refund of their deposits) for all of the things that have happened, including as well the fact that normal financing for condos is virtually unavailable(whats good for the goose is also good for the gander).
So, if city center does not want to refund the buyers deposits, then it should strongly consider lowering all prices by 53%, get the buildings filled up with buyers, collect the monthly homeowner fees, and management fees; instead of fighting the buyers and leaving the buildings empty and without the cash flow coming in, and with negative news headlines (none of which helps the buyers or city center).
we need city center to create a win win situation instead of a protracted ordeal many years long.

lets hope that the city center executives see all of their mistakes, accept their losses, and be guided toward a positive ending.

Anonymous said...

The only option that would make sense for Vdara is if its contract holders are given the option to transfer their deposits to purchase in Veer or Mandarin Oriental or otherwise refund their deposits in full. The reality is that it is nearly impossible to obtain financing on a condo-hotel unit. Those that end up closing will be very few. Price adjustments will spiral downward in an attempt to close more sales penalizing those that honor their contracts and further weakening property values of other units at CityCenter and other strip properties.

And from MGM Mirage's perspective, running a condo-hotel will prove to be a loss in the long run and is not a viable option for a successfully operating luxury hotel.

The condo-hotel concept was brought to Las Vegas by short term thinking on the behalf of the developer and will end up being a long term liability and ultimately a huge detriment to MGM Mirage.

Those executives that don't see this as the right thing to do, don't fully understand the condo-hotel concept and it's affect on cash flow and operations, as well as the long term negative consequence to CityCenter property values.

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Anonymous said...

Is anyone planning on legal representation? Has anyone had any success in finding good representation, share with us your thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Robert, is it possible to still join this class action lawsuit?

Anonymous said...

Why would the Vdara project be dead? The Mandarin is a hotel-condo project that will get completed. The Harmon would have worked if the economy survived AND if the builder didn't screw it up. Stopping The Harmon on the 15th floor (or whatever floor it is) is now a cost saving measure and probably a short sighted decision by a company that is flat broke and flat embarrassed over its many screw ups. But hotel with Condo is not a passing fad per se, it all depends on the management of the project and of course the availability of financing.

Regardless, I wish all involved good luck and hope the problems get resolved. I am an interested prospective buyer trying to make a decision, but likely will not buy a unit in the next 12 months. I may buy one after completion, or, buy one in the after market.

Anonymous said...

I am concerned thinking about closing on the Mandarin Condo in February. I am hearing that others during their walk review compare the quality of accessories to Target. My girl friend swears that the closet system is the same as a $19.99 closet package she saw at Target. Is this possible?

Anonymous said...

CityCenter Condo owners can get information about the class action lawsuit at www.CityCenterCondoLawsuit.com

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