lake las vegas

Affordable Luxury: The Opening of Ravella At Lake Las Vegas

Dolce Hotels and Resorts' newest property, Ravella at Lake Las Vegas, opened its doors on February 11th. Ravella is a 349-room-and-suite resort, situated on the shores of the largest privately owned man-made lake in the country. Located 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip on the site of the former Ritz-Carlton® at Lake Las Vegas, Ravella offers kayaking, boating and fly fishing, and the nearby SouthShore Jack Nicklaus golf course. Ravella also features a 24 treatment room, 30,000-square-foot Mediterranean-inspired spa, salon and fitness center, 39,000 square feet of meeting and social event space, Las Vegas's only over-water chapel called La Capella di Amore, as well as multiple lounge and dining experiences. Ravella guests may also access two marinas, near the Village Lake Las Vegas, an enclave reminiscent of colorful lake communities in Italy and France.

Guests will experience a redesigned lobby that serves as a social gathering spot. Its nearby Firenze Lounge spans three distinct activity areas for guests --to relax with something to eat, and/or plug in their laptop, and/or socialize over coffee or cocktails. Ravella guests also have privileged access to The Village Lake Las Vegas and can bill restaurant meals to their hotel rooms. Focused on affordable luxury, Ravella's room rates start at $120 per night. Nevada residents also enjoy a 25-percent locals discount with valid Nevada ID.

In addition, Ravella's environment provides a colorful backdrop for corporate retreats, a vital part of the Dolce Hotel and Resort's corporate identity. Large-scale meetings, weddings and lakeside events are palnned, and can be easily accommodated. Brides-to-be will enjoy the La Capella di Amore, Ravella's over-water chapel located on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. There's also a Florentine Garden, Tuscany Courtyard; and private beach with waterfall.

Tags: Dolce Hotels and Resorts, Jack Nicklaus SouthShore, La Capella di Amore, Lake Las Vegas, Las vegas, Ravella At Lake las Vegas, Ravella At Lake Las Vegas Hotel Opening, SouthShore Golf Club at Lake Las Vegas, Southshore Jack Nicklaus Golf, The Spa At Ravella, Village Lake las Vegas

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The Evolving Re-Vision: Lake Las Vegas And The Ravella Hotel

by Susan Kime (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments

My colleague, Deidre Woollard, recently wrote in Luxist about the opening of the Ravella Hotel at Lake Las Vegas. I found the article to be intriguing, as I knew the recent history of Lake Las Vegas, and also interviewed -- three times -- Ron Boeddeker, owner of Transcontinental Corporation, the developer/visionary who conceived this grand idea.

The new Ravella Hotel At Lake Las Vegas is located on the site of the former Ritz Carlton Lake Las Vegas that bankrupted in May of last year. To many, the Ritz Carlton bankruptcy seemed like the terminal blow to the original vision of Lake Las Vegas, the last Gordian knot in a string of bad news and bankruptcies. But the opening of the Ravella, and especially from Dolce, hotel managers and operators who specialize in meetings and conferences, seems relevant and positive in the forward evolution of Lake Las Vegas.

Mr. Boeddeker's original vision was to re-create a Lake Como-like, Mediterranean enclave 17 miles from the Las Vegas strip. Multi-million dollar residences would be built along the lake, there would be fine hotels, excellent food, substantial golf courses. It was a vision that had legs, and Mr. Boeddeker's unusual expertise -- his University education combined civil engineering and ( of all things) theology -- pulled it off, for awhile. He was one of the few developers who could simultaneously envision a 320 acre lake in the middle of a desert and know how to create it from a practical engineering standpoint. In the grand home of great developer visions, this was one of the most expansive. The dark side of such a vision, and one that Mr. Boeddeker would have surely acknowledged were he still alive, was the importance of a recession-resistant economy needful to the overall health of the concept.

But the economy was not recession-resistant, and even with celebrities buying houses, exceptional hotels and golf courses in active use, Lake Las Vegas reflected the economy's downturn. Transcontinental defaulted on $540 million in loans in fall 2007, and went into foreclosure. The development was acquired by the Atalon Group in January 2008, only for it to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection six months later. And this was just the beginning:

Tags: Atalon Group, Deutschebank, Dolce Hotels and Resorts, Lake Las Vegas, Ritz carlton Lake Las vegas, Ron Boeddeker, The Ravella at Lake Las Vegas, The Ravella Hotel, Village Hotel Investors

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Former Ritz-Carlton At Lake Las Vegas To Reopen As Ravella Hotel

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The former Ritz-Carlton at Lake Las Vegas will be reopened under a new name. The luxury hotel was shut down last May and it was announced back in December that Dolce Hotels would be taking over. The hotel will reopen on February 11 as Ravella. The 349-room luxury hotel takes its name from the Italian town of Ravello, fitting as the resort destination, 17 miles away from the Las Vegas strip, features a manmade lake surrounded by an Italian-style village. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that other businesses in the area are hoping that the reopening of the hotel will bring more guests back to the area.

The hotel now has a redesigned lobby as well as new dining and spa options. There are 349 rooms including 33 suites and two presidential suites with European-style furnishings, oversized spa-style marble bathrooms, upscale bath amenities and luxurious bed linens. The Firenze lobby lounge offers area for guests to relax and socialize and a library adjacent to the lobby fireplace provides a large table with computers for those who wish to catch up on work. The central lobby café will transforms throughout the day to meet the needs of guests serving everything from coffee and breakfast food to late night desserts and an open-air bar and lounge area will serve cocktails and meals. The hotel also has a partnership with local restaurants in the area that includes preferred reservations and the option to bill Village meals to their guestroom at Ravella.

Ravella is now accepting reservations for its opening weekend but some wonder if people will come back to the resort which has lost two out of three of its 18-hole golf courses and the Casino MonteLago, the community's only gaming establishment, which shut down in March.

Tags: dolce hotels, lake las vegas, ravella

Former Lake Las Vegas Ritz-Carlton To Come Back To Life

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The latest turn in the saga of Lake Las Vegas promises new life for the former Ritz-Carlton resort. Dolce Hotels and Resorts has been announced as the new manager of the property. The 249-room destination resort located 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip shut down last May. Dolce Hotels and Resorts specializes in meetings and hosts approximately 30,000 events and four-million group clients throughout its 27 properties in North America and Europe.

The resort is on15 acres of the master-planned Lake Las Vegas development. The development has struggled to find its footing in recent years as Las Vegas tourism has contracted. Lake Las Vegas is designed to resemble an European village with clay tile roofs and arched doorways. The property has 32,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, a 30,000-square-foot spa and fitness center and several restaurants and lounges. It also has Las Vegas' largest and only over-water chapel, as well as beautiful gardens and courtyards that can be used for private affairs. The property adjoins MonteLago Village.

"We look forward to managing our first Las Vegas property and working with the Lake Las Vegas community to help revitalize this charming destination," said Steven A. Rudnitsky, Dolce president and chief executive officer in a press release. The hotel should be re-opened in early 2011.

Tags: lake las vegas, las vegas

Lake Las Vegas Ritz-Carlton Set To Close

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments

More bad news out of the Lake Las Vegas development. We've been watching the resort area slowly implode since last June and now USA Today's Hotel Check-In says that the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas will shut down at the start of May putting around 400 people out of work. The 348-room resort is owned by Village Hospitality, an arm of Deutsche Bank which has decided to case funding the hotel.

It's the latest blow to an area that has been hard hit in the recession. The resort destination, 17 miles away from the Las Vegas strip, features a manmade lake surrounded by an Italian-style village. It started off with grand fanfare as a quiet luxury alternative to the high-powered glitz of the Las Vegas strip. Real estate boomed and several different hotels settled in. But in the developer, Transcontinental Corp., lost the property in foreclosure after defaulting on $540 million in loans and the new owners of Lake Las Vegas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008. The Reflection Bay Golf Course at Lake Las Vegas closed last August leaving just one course, the private SouthShore course in Henderson, available for play. The Lake Las Vegas real estate market remains clogged with multimillion homes. The resort area faces many challenges including a still-slumping Las Vegas tourism market, a second home market that refuses to rebound and a water bill that runs into the millions jacking up the homeowners association fees.

Tags: lake las vegas, LakeLasVegas, nevada real estate, NevadaRealEstate, real estate development, real estate developments, RealEstateDevelopment, RealEstateDevelopments, ritz-carlton

Credit Suisse Sued Over Resort Failures

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Should a lender be held accountable for a resort's failure? A class action suit may bring one answer. The Wall Street Journal reports on a suit filed by property owners at four resorts. The suit accuses Credit Suisse Group AG of predatory lending. The $24 billion suit was filed on behalf of over 3,000 homeowners and investors and includes Beau Blixseth, the son of former Yellowstone club owners Tim and Edra Blixseth. Yellowstone Club is one of the properties named in the suit, the others are Ginn Sur Mer in the Bahamas, the Lake Las Vegas resort in Nevada and the Tamarack Resort in Idaho. So far all of these properties except for Ginn Sur Mer have wrestled with bankruptcy. The plaintiffs have lost more than $8 billion in their investments.

Court papers accuse Credit Suisse and related corporations of wire and mail fraud, racketeering, money laundering and conspiracy all in the name of coercing developers to take out huge loans. The suit also takes on real-estate adviser Cushman & Wakefield Inc., saying that the firm aided the bank by creating property appraisals that inflated the value of the properties for sale. The suit says that the bank knowingly drove up the value of the properties, made massive loans and then charged exorbitant loan fees that it knew the resorts wouldn't be able to pay. The suit alleges that all this was done so the banks could take control of the resorts.

Tags: credit suisse, Credit Suisse Group, CreditSuisse, CreditSuisseGroup, lake las vegas, LakeLasVegas, tamarack resort, TamarackResort, yellowstone club, YellowstoneClub

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Tales of Woe At Lake Las Vegas

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments

In good times when money is flowing and everything's coming up roses sometimes the impossible seems not just doable but necessary. A manmade lake surrounded by an Italian-style village in the middle of the desert starts to sound not like some sort of fevered heat fantasy but like a smart business decision (and you can even throw a floating ice rink on that lake for good measure). But the development at Lake Las Vegas is starting to look like a stock market mirage. The LA Times has a great piece assessing the damage and chronicling the decline of a neighborhood that has been home to Celine Dion and a Ritz-Carlton.

The trouble began last year as Las Vegas real estate continued to sink. The developer, Transcontinental Corp., lost the property in foreclosure after defaulting on $540 million in loans and the new owners of Lake Las Vegas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last summer. The Ritz-Carlton owned by Village Hotel Investors LLC, also filed bankruptcy and was been sold to new owners and one of the area's golf courses has been abandoned. The Ritz-Carlton remains open is offering a variety of deals that include free nights and special rates.

Source

Tags: development, lake las vegas, LakeLasVegas, las vegas, LasVegas, nevada

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MonteLago Village Golf Package

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Just because you are in Las Vegas it doesn't mean there aren't seasons, they are just a bit more subtle than in other places. When I last checked out the MonteLago Village Resort at Lake Las Vegas they were bringing out the floating ice rink for winter. Now with spring coming it's golf time. Their unlimited golf package starts at $214 per person and offers the choice to play at one of two golf courses; the Jack Nicklaus-designed Reflection Bay Golf Club or the Tom Weiskopf's Falls Golf Club. The package includes a one night stay and as much golf as you can handle at either course on the same day. The package runs from March 7 – May 24, 2008.

Source

Tags: golf, lake las vegas, montelago

Villina a Volanta, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

No decor to critique in this one, just one huge house. Villina a Volanta is the biggest home in Lake Las Vegas that I have seen so far. it is nearly 20,000 square feet with nine bedrooms, library, huge theater, exercise room and one huge wine cellar. The home has views of the lake, golf course and mountains. Elaborate bells and whistles include an old English style pub room and a rotunda with a fiber optic night sky. There is even a ballroom with a performing bandstand stage. Outside there is a bool area with waterfalls. The price of the home, $14.5 million, also includes memberships to South Shore golf, harbor, yacht, and beach club.

Gallery: Villina a Volanta

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Tags: estate of the day, lake las vegas, LakeLasVegas, luxury real estate, nevada real estate

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Rockefeller Center Too Crowded, How About Lake Las Vegas?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Last week I mentioned that Las Vegas has become one of the hot destinations for the Thanksgiving holidays. If you are looking for a touch of a traditional holiday experience of a skate around an ice skating rink, Lake Las Vegas offers a unique twist on the old favorite, a floating skating rink This is the fourth year that MonteLago Village and Lake Las Vegas Resort have constructed floating ice skating rink in the middle of the desert. The Rockefeller Center-sized rink floats on the 320-acre Lake Las Vegas, near the shores of MonteLago Village and is open to skaters of all ages. The resorts use an ecologically safe glycol mix to freeze the surface water of the lake. The rink uses 110, five-gallon buckets of water and a 12,000-pound freezer to help keep the ice cold, and it can accommodate up to 60 skaters at a time. The rink is open from November 16, 2007 through February 17, 2008. MonteLago Village Resort offers a Holiday Skate, Stay & Shop package that includes one-night accommodations in a luxury condominium, ice skating and skate rentals and starts at $64.50 per person, based on double occupancy.

Source

Tags: holidash, ice skating rink, lake las vegas, las vegas, montelago, vacation

Lake Las Vegas, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Many of the houses surrounding Lake Las Vegas in Nevada have a Tuscan fantasy look to them. This one steps out of the mold a bit with a brightly colored exterior that sets it apart from the beige homes surrounding it. The four-bedroom home doesn't sit on much land but it does have its own private boat dock. The interior has a pleasing modernity although the kitchen is a little smaller than most would like. The wide windows above one of the bathtubs are also disconcerting since it looks like the peeping would be easy (the house on the right is very close).. It does have a great outdoor space for hanging out by the lake. In other bathrooms the vanity and sink seem to have been lavished with attention while the tub and toilet look like the Home Depot special. It is listed at $10 million but Zillow's zestimate has it at $4,151,592. I predict it might eventually sell for closer to Zillow's guess than the list price.

Gallery: Lake Las Vegas

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Tags: estate of the day, lake las vegas, LakeLasVegas, nevada real estate

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Lake Las Vegas Gets New Timeshare and Fractional Options

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Lake Las Vegas Resort is expanding by leaps and bounds. Already home to a Ritz-Carlton, the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort and the charming MonteLago Village Resort, the resort will now have a 200-Unit Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare resort and a 50-Unit Waldorf=Astoria fractional project. The project will be developed on a 17.5 acre lakefront parcel overlooking the 17th hole and the 18th tee of the Jack Nicklaus-designed Reflection Bay Golf Course. The Waldorf=Astoria project at Lake Las Vegas Resort is the first fractional lodging product to be developed by Hilton (we mentioned the creation of this brand last year). Development of the project is currently in the design phase, with groundbreaking targeted for early 2008 and an opening date projected for fall of 2009.

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Tags: hilton, lake las vegas, LakeLasVegas, nevada, waldorf-astoria

Love at Las Vegas $100,000 Package

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Here we go again, another luxury Valentine hotel package. This one doesn't jet you around the world. The Love At Las Vegas romance package at the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas includes a two night stay in The Ritz-Carlton's 2,400 square-foot Presidential Suite, a limo ride from the airport, helicopter ride to Lake Las Vegas with champagne, gondola ride, Cristal Champagne and gourmet picnic basket upon arrival and two private dinners one in your room and one about a Lake Las Vegas yacht. Other treats include a private butler, Prada Beauty spa treatments, personalized bath robes and monogrammed pillow cases. The package costs $100,000 but most of that is spent on the $50,000 shopping spree at Neiman Marcus and a $5,000 line of credit at the MonteLago Casino. The package is available starting February 1.

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Tags: lake las vegas, luxury, nevada, ritz-carlton, romance, valentine's day

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