Will Ivana fold in Las Vegas condo deal?
By SHANNON DONNELLY, Daily News Society Editor
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Looks like Ivana Trump is out of the real estate development business - in Las Vegas, at least.
Word from Las Vegas is that the developers behind the project, a high-rise condominium to be called the Ivana Las Vegas, have listed the property on a real estate Web site.
Six months before the scheduled groundbreaking, Victor Altamore and Joseph Dimauro have stopped selling units and are asking $49 million for the property - two acres on the northern edge of the Las Vegas Strip.
All of this represents a big fat told-ya-so for Jack Wishna, who said from the beginning that project was badly planned, ill-timed and in a crappy location to boot.
Not that Wishna was completely impartial. He is, after all, the guy who put together the Trump International Hotel and Tower project for his buddy Donald Trump. And we all know how Trump loves sharing the spotlight.
The Ivana, a $700 million project originally set to open in December 2008, was planned as a 900-foot tower with an unlimited gaming license.
Sales have been suspended and all buyers are eligible for refunds, said Chris Sullivan, a Las Vegas real estate attorney who represents the landowner, Rinkai America.
No word on whether Ivana would remain connected to the project. If she backs out, she would be the second high-profile celebrity to do so. Michael Jordan canceled his association with the proposed Aqua Blue condominium when building plans were put on hold earlier this year.
That project site ended up sold to Chicago investors.
The Web site offering the Ivana site had "28 hits in the first minute," Sullivan said, adding that at least two buyers were "seriously interested."
Presumably, neither of those is Donald Trump, who's busy with his own Las Vegas project.
"We did send him an information packet, though," Sullivan said.
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