Charlie Palmer Hotel - Charlie Palmer Condo HotelCharlie Palmer Condos
City council okays negotiations for Charlie Palmer condo-hotelThe national spotlight is about to shine on Union Park. Celebrity chef Charlie Palmer has taken another step toward building an internationally-known resort in downtown. Developers of the Charlie Palmer Hotel received the go-ahead from the Las Vegas City Council Wednesday for exclusive negotiations to purchase more than three acres from the city. Council members also approved a parcel swap on the 61 acres which paves the way for the celebrity chef to build his boutique 426-room condo-hotel in Union Park. The council vote was unanimous, with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman calling the planned hotel a “flagship” for the downtown site. “This is a huge project,” he said. “This is going to bring great energy to Union Park.” The mayor, never shy about publicity, told the developers that they weren’t blowing their own horn enough about the Charlie Palmer Hotel. Goodman took care of that, however, praising the planned resort as a model for future Charlie Palmer developments “around the world.” The agreement between the municipality’s City Parkway V and Palmer’s local entity, Palmer City-Core Union Park Hotel, was approved for a 180-day period. The city is proposing to sell the 3.1-acre site at the heart of Union Park for $9.8 million, which works out to about $72 a square foot or $3.2 million per acre. The price was based on the difference between two fair-market estimates, according to Scott Adams, the city’s director of business development. Adams had estimated the project would cost at least $150 million to build and bring in $1 million-$1.5 million a year to the redevelopment agency upon completion. “I think this is a very good business deal for the city,” the director of business development told the council. Palmer’s company, Millcreek Hospitality, has formed a joint venture with San Francisco-based developer City-Core to build the hotel-condo and retail complex with a 10,000-square-foot spa, a “Hollywood-style pool” and two Charlie Palmer restaurants. The developers now have a prime parcel on the north end of Union Park to work with. The piece of land was originally earmarked for a sale to Union Park developer Newland Communities. Instead, the developer will buy a similarly sized parcel on the east side of Union Park. Both parcels are zoned for retail and residential uses. Rita Brandin, the vice president of Newland Communities, said her company wanted the Charlie Palmer project in Union Park as much as the city did. That’s why her company cooperated with the land deal. “We wouldn’t have been so agreeable to this land swap otherwise,” she said after the meeting. The Charlie Palmer Hotel doesn’t have design plans out yet. Now that developers know where their site will be, plans can move forward, Richard Kaufman, the president of City-Core explained. “This will be the first Charlie Palmer Hotel that you will see in different cities,” he said. There will also be plenty for locals to keep themselves occupied with after the hotel opens, Kaufman added. “It will be amenity-driven, a spa and a spa for the community,” he said. “We look forward to serving the residents as well as visitors. We are really overbuilding.” Groundbreaking should take place in 2008, according to city officials
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