That’d be the St. Regis (aka "Stump Regis"), a $600 million, 270-unit condo tower sitting atop a Walgreens. Its full name is The St. Regis Residences at the Venetian Palazzo—Las Vegas. (As the VegasTodayAndTomorrow.com site observed, "I wouldn’t want to answer the phones there.") The project was abruptly halted in early October 2008 as owner Las Vegas Sands struggled – successfully -- to avert bankruptcy.
However, even with Sands’ coffers swelling with revenue from its casinos in Macao and Singapore, the company has been cryptic about on the future of the St. Regis. One obvious problem: The luxury-condo market in Las Vegas has totally cratered, leaving Sands with what would be (when and if completed) a very expensive boutique hotel.
"It would definitely be cheaper to finish it. It's pretty far along. They could potentially finish it and adapt the interior for alternate uses as they see fit," says Tony Illia, who covers the construction industry for the Las Vegas Business Press. "The foundation is done and the steel skeleton frame is at least two-thirds erected, which is pretty pricey."
A dissenting view is offered by Prof. David Shields, who heads up UNLV’s construction-management program. "Nobody knows," says Dr. Shields. "Until you do a complete analysis of the as-built condition and look at whatever structural retrofits are required," and then assess the cost of doing such retrofits, it’s pure speculation, he says.
Were construction resumed today and the original plan maintained, the St. Regis wouldn’t be finished until late 2012 or early 2013. A potential obstacle to tearing the stumpy tower down is that Sands obtained the underlying land by agreeing to incorporate a new Walgreens on the site of an old one. Since he occupies the ground floor of the St. Regis in a high-rent part of the Strip, it’s unlikely that the franchisee would take kindly to having his store leveled by Sands not once, but twice. It could also cost Sands a great deal of money to extricate itself from its contract with Barneys New York, another current occupant.
Even Sands President Michael Leven agrees with you that the St. Regis is an "eyesore." Last fall, he floated the idea of capping the existing five stories. "We might finish it off there," he said. It might look a little odd but it would remove a blight that’s been sitting there for well over two years, going on three.
