Are developers underestimating?
Is the recent influx of canceled projects the result of underestimating construction costs or failure to understand the Las Vegas market?
Rod Martin, vice president of Majestic Realty, has difficulty understanding why so many projects are citing rising construction costs as the reason for developers nixing so many condos and mixed-use projects. In his opinion, it’s a weak excuse since construction costs, which have spiked consistently since 2003, should be easy to plan for IF developers were actually doing their homework ahead of time. There should be little element of surprise that would cause a project to stop dead in its tracks. Martin believes many failures are, in fact, due to a lack of understanding regarding the Las Vegas market and a failure to study construction cost pricing prior to starting a project.