Developer planning W Hotels brand project on Paradise Road
June 26, 2007 - 9:00 pm
Developer Jeff LaPour plans to bring the W Hotels brand to Las Vegas with the 14-story, 230-room Aloft Hotel on Paradise Road.
Sandwiched between La Quinta Inn and Candlewood Suites, Aloft would be a “select service” hotel with an emphasis on design and style, LaPour said Monday during a tour of the 5.4-acre site.
“This is a brand new product by W Hotels,” he said. “We’ve got a brand new stylish boutique hotel with comfortable rates. We’re probably 30 percent below the market.”
LaPour said the hotel would appeal to Generation X and Y travelers who might normally stay at the Hard Rock or Palms hotels. W Hotels, a brand of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, was previously planned on Harmon Avenue in a joint venture with Edge Resorts, but the $1.7 billion project never materialized.
LaPour, principal of LaPour Partners, closed escrow on the land in April for $12.5 million and has begun demolition of the existing Kingston Court apartments. A ministorage facility is coming down next. Burke & Associates is doing the preliminary site work.
The Flamingo Wash that runs through the property will be “boxed” with a road over the top, reducing its width from 150 feet to 60 feet. Florida-based Del American overcame similar civil engineering challenges with the nearby 20-acre site for Vegas Grand, where the Flamingo and Tropicana washes converged.
First-phase construction cost is estimated at $40 million, LaPour said. He’s in the process of applying for building permits.
Aloft would sit along a row of hotels on Paradise Road that includes LaQuinta, Candlewood, Renaissance Las Vegas, Courtyard by Marriott, Residence Inn by Marriott, Best Western Mardi Gras and Embassy Suites.
Florida developer Don Peebles recently announced the $2.5 billion Las Palmas hotel and resort on a 13-acre parcel he purchased for $65 million, currently the Las Palmas apartments.
“I think everybody along this corridor fills a different niche for customers,” LaPour said.
“We’re kind of in the golden triangle between the airport, the convention center and the Strip, and I think Paradise Road is the next natural progression for off-Strip development in the resort corridor,” he said.
LaPour said Aloft is part of Paradise Place, a $200 million development that will have four boutique hotels with about 800 rooms. A second 200-room hotel, also by W, is to be called Element.
The hotel is designed by David Rockwell of the Rockwell Group and chef Jean George of Bellagio’s Prime restaurant is putting together a light menu for lunch and dinner, LaPour said.
LaPour is also planning a 125-suite, extended-stay hotel by Westin in the Summerlin community, near Town Center Drive and the Beltway.
He also redeveloped the Holsum Lofts project in downtown Las Vegas.