Actually, it’s a Wyndham timeshare, the Desert Blue. It was announced in April 2008 and projected for 19 stories containing 281 units. It was budgeted for a 2010 completion at a cost of $117 million. Sitting atop 15 acres on Twain Avenue, across from The Rio, it was optimistically projected to eventually expand to 2,000 units – even though the Vegas condo bubble had well and truly burst by this point.
On (aptly enough) Friday the 13th of February, 2009, Wyndham reported a $1.36 billion, impaired-asset writedown. Four days later, it pulled the plug on Desert Blue, of which eight floors existed, in skeletal form. Wyndham Vacation Vice President of Corporate Communications Lisa Burby told the Las Vegas Sun, "We have temporarily suspended construction. This is a temporary situation. Desert Blue remains in our plans. It’s still a priority for us." Wyndham and other sources in the real estate industry were soon bruiting about a September ’09 resumption of work. Nothing materialized.
Almost three years after Burby’s bombshell, the "temporary situation" has taken on the look of permanency. Two construction cranes droop idly over the site, which is as devoid of life as the surface of the moon. Wyndham has until May 2013 to resume construction, thanks to executive clemency by Clark County’s planning board, and it could probably get another reprieve if it wanted: Prospective buyers of the site are unlikely and they’d have to finish or demolish the hulk that Wyndham has left – a pricey prospect, either way. It’s a sure bet that Phases II and III, which would have fully built out Desert Blue to 2K units, will never take place.
The truncated tower is too narrow to actually block Las Vegas Advisor Anthony Curtis’ view of the Strip from his office. Actually, Wyndham would probably be doing him a favor if it finished the building, which would conceal Imperial Palace.
The photograph of Desert Blue appears courtesy of Tony Illia.
