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NEWS: 500-foot SkyVue Las Vegas Wheel planned for the Strip


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I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet that this is where Speed is going.

 

Fron a press release one page back and about a year ago

 

The Ferris-style wheel is part of a $100 million privately funded development that is scheduled to open in 2013. Plans also include a roller coaster, retail stores and restaurants.

 

One thing to note in the most current press release is that they never mention the Wheel is going verticle, just the shops and restaurants.

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http://www.lvrj.com/news/skyvue-s-financial-troubles-mount-187065001.html

 

Skyvue, the 500-foot Ferris wheel under construction on the south end of the Strip, has run into more financial problems.

 

MMC Inc., the contractor that has been building the foundations, filed a lawsuit in Clark County District Court late Monday to collect on $1.1 million in unpaid bills by foreclosing on the project.

 

All told, eight companies that have worked on Skyvue have filed liens for their work, including general contractor Ledcor Construction Inc. for $3.3 million, according to county records.

 

Skyvue developer Howard Bulloch said through a spokeswoman that his company is close to obtaining another loan from Shotgun Creek Investments that would cover all of the accrued debt as early as today. The size of the loan was not disclosed.

 

Shotgun Creek, headed by prominent Seattle businessman Wayne Perry, a part-owner of the Seattle Mariners, injected at least $9.5 million into Skyvue last year through different transactions, helping to pay off a mortgage when the project faced foreclosure in February.

 

J. Fraser Smith, a principal of Mendenhall Smith Structural Engineers, said his firm has provided several documents as part of the loan process.

 

"It's my understanding that it is close to happening," Smith said.

 

But he said his firm filed a lien for $763,000 because it was facing a legal deadline to establish the claim or lose it. He waited until then, he said, after originally hearing that the Shotgun Creek loan would go ahead by the end of December. William Wray, the attorney for MMC, declined to comment on a possible settlement of the case.

 

Bulloch said the only detail holding up the refinancing is original paperwork required from an out-of-town vendor by a title company.

 

All of the liens add up to $5.4 million, but it is unclear how much of that is overlapping. The MMC lawsuit requests repayment from both Skyvue and Ledcor.

 

Caesars Entertainment, meanwhile, has moved ahead with a competing giant wheel that will anchor its $550 million Project Linq entertainment and retail center behind the Quad resort, formerly the Imperial Palace.

 

Little visible work has happened for six months at the $300 million Skyvue, which would feature a two-story retail and dining building at its base.

 

Skyvue's construction crane was dismantled in September, but the company said at the time that another one would replace it in mid-October. There is still no crane on the site across the Strip from the Mandalay Bay resort, where foundation work and a pair of unfinished 247-foot pillars designed to hold up the wheel remain.

 

According to the Skyvue statement, a new crane will be put in place by midyear after wheel components from manufacturers arrive and are assembled on the site.

 

One of the critical parts, a 26,400-pound bearing that makes the wheel go round, was displayed during a Skyvue launch ceremony in May 2011. At the time, Bulloch said his acquisition of the bearing, left over from a wheel in Beijing that was never built, gave his project a substantial head start against the rival Project Linq.

 

The bearing is now back in Germany with the manufacturer, Schaeffler, "to be recalibrated and prepared for assembly with the axle," Skyvue said.

 

At the time the bearing was displayed at the site, Bulloch said the wheel would be in operation in late 2012. There is no current listing of a new target date.

982682885_ScreenShot2013-01-20at7_32_15PM.jpg.7180ffbb24ca6256bb6d3282ce816efb.jpg

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Holy hell. I don't understand why projects are developed and put into motion when the funds are not even there. It is like they are just rolling the dice and praying they will have the money to get everything completed. And, not to mention, banking on people doing work for free and not putting up a fight about it. What another joke in Vegas.

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^Why would anyone want to finish it? The north end of the strip is a ghost town.

 

Carl Ichan bought it and auctioned off whatever he could (the furnishings intended for it became the renovations of the Plaza Hotel in Downtown.)

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And a lot of other hotels as well. Buffalo Bill's got some of it, the "D" Downtown got some.

 

In many ways the older hotels totally benefited from it and got all new furnishings at dirt cheap pricing.

 

Unfortunately, I believe that this, Echelon, Venetian's unfinished tower and SkyVue will all become horrible eyesores for years to come.

 

I also think that Speed: The Ride will sit and rot in pieces for who knows how long.

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And a lot of other hotels as well. Buffalo Bill's got some of it, the "D" Downtown got some.

 

In many ways the older hotels totally benefited from it and got all new furnishings at dirt cheap pricing.

 

Unfortunately, I believe that this, Echelon, Venetian's unfinished tower and SkyVue will all become horrible eyesores for years to come.

 

I also think that Speed: The Ride will sit and rot in pieces for who knows how long.

 

Just imagine if Viva had ever started construction....

 

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/apr/23/station-casinos-banking-biggest-being-best/

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I saw this on one of my favorite websites about Las Vegas. I wonder how long it will take for this project to come to a halt again.

 

From: www.lasvegasadvisor.com

January 26, 2013 13:54 Better News for Skyvue: The troubled project that includes a 500-foot observation wheel got some good news this week, as three contractors released liens put in place over upaid invoices. While remaining liens are also expected to be lifted, the resumption of construction is still likely to be delayed for several months.

 

Here's a nice little write up in the Las Vegas Review Journal as well: www.lvrj.com/business/skyvue-project-pays-off-contractors-that-filed-liens-188472991.html

 

Skyvue project pays off contractors that filed liens

By Tim O'Reiley

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Posted: Jan. 26, 2013 | 2:04 a.m.

 

All of the contractors that slapped liens on the Skyvue giant Ferris wheel project now show up on county recorder records as being paid off.

 

Skyvue announced on Thursday it had covered all the claims and obtained releases on the liens. But they were not all posted the county's computer records until Friday morning.

 

Included in the release was $3.3 million claimed by general contractor Ledcor Construction. But the lien also included some of those for subcontractors.

 

In a statement, Skyvue said that clearing the liens was part of the process to securing construction financing to finish the 500-foot wheel and the retail center at the base. The site is across the Strip from Mandalay Bay.

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Well, now we know why construction was stopped on the SkyVue one. I was in Vegas end of Nov/beginning of Dec and I really didn't see anything going on. The Quad was getting a facelift, but I thought yet another wheel was going there. Oh well. It doesn't matter because I'm sure in a month (or maybe less) construction will stop and everything will sit there and nothing will ever happen.

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^There is. The other wheel is actually under construction behind Imperial Palace/The Quad at the end of the street that will eventually become the "open air shopping/dining" area between The Quad and Harrah's.

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^Oh ok. I guess due to all the construction going on in the front, I didn't notice anything else going on. Plus, when I'm in town, I tend not to stray off the strip too much. Maybe when I go back I'll take a better look, along with traveling down the strip further to check out the SkyVue wheel.

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I wish they'd demo Fountainebleu, it really kills the view from Stratosphere.

 

It's almost like the northern strip has ceased to exist. To me, it's now as much a part of the strip as the so called "South Strip" south of Mandalay Bay.

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