Category Archive : Market Updates

It appears a transportation bill has just been signed for $45 million that will be used to study the idea of a high speed maglev (magnetic levitation) train travel from Disneyland to Las Vegas!  This money will go towards studying the impact on the environment and the overall cost of such a project.  If the plan goes forward, a trip to Disneyland from Las Vegas will only take 2 hours!  I know when my family loads up the car to take our traditional trip to Disneyland, it takes a little over 4 hours and that’s if we bypass the rush hour traffic in and around Anaheim, California.

With the spike in gas prices, this would be a welcoming option to driving from Southern California to Las Vegas.  This would also ease the traffic on Interstate 15 between Southern California and Las Vegas.  If this project goes forward, I believe it would increase the amount of visitors to the Las Vegas Valley which would mean more money being spent in Las Vegas which is always good for our economy!

Let’s just hope they really give this project a chance.

On May 18th, Lou Dobbs, CNN Anchor was the keynote speaker at the 2008 International Council of Shopping Center’s Real Estate Convention being held at the Las Vegas Hilton.  Mr. Dobbs spoke to tens of thousands of real estate professionals about the real estate industry and the economy.  He summed up the U.S. economic situation as “normal business cycle”.

Mr. Dobbs stated he anticipates a stronger national economy by years end and advised real estate professionals to “Hold Tight” until the economy strengthens.  Las Vegas has already shown signs that the local economy is strengthening with the increase in homes sold over the same month last year and the unemployment rate dropped in April compared to March 2008.  All positive signs that Las Vegas might be on a slow path to recovery.

The country is in a recession, Las Vegas Casinos are seeing earnings drop from years past, but yet MGM Mirage is still moving forward with their 8 billion dollar project, City Center. Las Vegas continues to reinvent itself even during economic downturns. Project City Center is a project that consists of condos, hotels, casinos and retail district sitting within a 76 acre area.  You can easily say that Project City Center is a city within a city.

According to City Center’s website:

“CityCenter is a cutting-edge destination, with an urban core that will blend world-class residential, hospitality, retail, gaming and entertainment elements into a synergistic hub of distinctive character.  The $8 billion CityCenter – the largest single privately funded development in U.S. history – will catapult Las Vegas to new status among the most sophisticated cities of the world.”

Project City Center will be the ultimate destination in Las Vegas and all future projects will be compared to City Center.

Update:  As of 2015, CityCenter has been re-branded as “Aria”.