First it was the hotels. Many of Las Vegas’ original Strip hotels such as the El Rancho, Flamingo and Desert Inn were more like big ranches. They were spread out over several acres and you could drive right up to your room. Others, such as The Dunes and Caesar’s Palace, were several stories tall but being a true high rise was never the goal. But that all changed in 1989 when developer Steve Wynn came to town and built the Mirage Resort. He envisioned something much grander for Vegas and an incredible hotel building boom began. Today, the Venetian, Mandalay Bay, Bellagio, and the MGM Grand are just a few examples of the high rise trend in hotel-casinos.

The Boom Begins

Could it be that high rise condos would be far behind? Actually it didn’t happen right away. It wasn’t until Turnberry Estates unveiled the first of its three towers in 1999 that truly opulent high rise condo living took hold in Las Vegas. Although they sold well, it didn’t start a condo building frenzy. One reason is that land in and around Las Vegas was fairly cheap and plentiful. Why would you need to build up, instead of out? Well, that all changed in 2004 when Las Vegas became the hottest real estate market not only in the U.S. but in the world! Fueled by skyrocketing housing prices in California, that state’s residents, by the thousands, discovered the housing bargains in Las Vegas. For a fraction of the cost of California homes, people could invest in residential real estate. Many didn’t even bother coming to Vegas to see the available homes. They just phoned their real estate agents and ordered as many houses as they could afford. Long lines formed at new subdivisions and soon demand far outstripped builders’ capacities to provide homes. To try and keep up, builders scooped up all the land that was available at the Bureau of Land Management’s auctions. This quickly worked to drive up land and building costs, not to mention that an average of 5,000 people each month were moving to this job and real estate Mecca.