Reposted by Starpoint Resorts

In the Shadows By Sean DeFrank

Forney Smith is on the roof of the Jockey Club, giving a tour of the Strip‟s first condo/time-share

resort on a late December afternoon. While pointing out the Bellagio fountains to the north and

describing the view of the Strip circa 1974, Smith is interrupted by a man shouting from a

balcony on the neighboring Cosmopolitan. “Man, is that place for sale? That place has to be

worth a goldmine!”

With the 52-story Cosmopolitan towering over it and situated just 5 feet away at the closest

point, the Jockey Club is hidden from view in some aspects, but in others has never had a greater

visibility.

Smith and his partner, Louis Schreiber, purchased 10 acres for the Jockey Club in 1972. The

partners built high-rise condos in Florida before coming to Las Vegas. Their development

originally consisted of 348 one- and two-bedroom condominiums; today it houses 78 condos and

270 time-share units in two 11-story towers on 1½ acres adjacent to the north side of the

Cosmopolitan.

Smith, who still works managing and maintaining the property despite having sold it in 1985,

says the Cosmopolitan‟s original developer, Bruce Eichner, was interested in the Jockey Club‟s

10 acres, but never made an offer. Deutsche Bank, the company that assumed ownership of the

Cosmopolitan in 2008, never offered to purchase it either, he says.

“When [Eichner‟s group] first bought the land to build the Cosmopolitan, they came and asked

me what I would do to buy the owners out here, and I told them how to handle it,” says Smith,

who served as a liaison between the two properties. “And they went back and put their numbers

together and said, „No, it‟s too expensive.‟”

Smith estimates it would have cost the Cosmopolitan between $400 million and $500 million to

buy out all the condo and time-share owners, with some of that coming in trade for new condos

at the Cosmopolitan. That deal would have been contingent on each individual owner being

willing to sell. (Representatives of the Cosmopolitan did not respond to requests for comment for

this story.) Cosmopolitan developers did purchase the 8½ acres surrounding the Jockey Club‟s

Ascot and Derby towers for $90 million in 2004.

Despite the close quarters, the relationship between the developments is amiable. The

Cosmopolitan paid more than $9 million in contractually required improvements to the Jockey

Club, including upgrading the fire-safety system, moving the lobby entrances for each tower,

repaving the north driveway and aesthetic improvements such as matching the existing marble

flooring. The Cosmopolitan also paid for valet parking at the Jockey Club for the last four years,

concluding Jan. 3, and dedicated 348 spaces on the third level of the five-story underground

parking garage for Jockey Club residents, complete with two private elevators that go to both

properties.

Because the Jockey Club‟s pool is now shaded by its taller neighbor, the Cosmopolitan agreed to

provide 75 passes daily to its own rooftop pool. The Jockey Club‟s two tennis courts now sit atop

the Cosmopolitan, as well.

“There have not been any major challenges,” Smith says. “They‟ve been really nice to work with

all the way through.”

That neighborly relationship prevented any discontent among residents of the Jockey Club,

which stands only 20 feet from the Cosmopolitan on its south side. In fact, many residents

welcome the amenities. Smith says he originally planned a third, 30-story tower for the Jockey

Club that would have housed a casino, showrooms, bars and restaurants, but back then the

Federal Aviation Administration balked at the height of the structure so it was never built.

“When they announced that they were building [the Cosmopolitan] at our owners‟ annual

meeting,” Smith says, “the owners were delighted and said, „We‟ve been waiting 25 years for

this.‟”

All 270 time-share units are scheduled to be renovated this year at a cost of about $6 million, and

Smith says the Jockey Club hasn‟t had a vacancy since 1993, removing any need to advertise the

property. He says the average length of service for current Jockey Club employees is 12 years,

giving them a sense of loyalty to their jobs. And thanks to modern computer-controlled operating

systems, the property‟s power bills are lower than they were in the late 1980s.

“I have great pride in that,” he says. “The property is in much better shape today than it was

when I built it in ‟72 and ‟73.”

For More Info Check Out: http://weeklyseven.com/news/2011/january/06/shadows