A Four Seasons Lifestyle and a Vegas Skyline--for $500,000

In the opulent Stirling Club, members relax at an elegant piano bar, compete in a game of billiards while puffing on a Cohiba cigar or rejuvenate in the anti-aging Vinotherapie Spa.

In the Park Towers subterranean wine cellar, members of the private enclave are treated to tasting parties with guest sommeliers and dinners prepared by renowned chefs such as Gustav Mauler. Afterward, they can catch a film in a Hollywood-style screening room.

These particular decadences aren’t reserved for high-rollers in the Las Vegas Strip’s glittering megaresorts. They are everyday perks for a different kind of members-only club--the resort condominium owner.

“If you want a bottle of Opus at 2 a.m., you’re going to get it,” said Cindy DellaValle, Park Towers sales director. “It’s a Four Seasons lifestyle that’s very private.”

Developers are using spectacular views and proximity to the action coupled with hotel-style amenities such as round-the-clock concierge service to lure residents to several new luxury high-rise condominium resorts just off the Las Vegas Strip.

“We are selling a lifestyle,” said Jeffrey Soffer, developer of the $600-million Turnberry Place.

What many perceived as a gamble--the first upscale high-rise community to be built in Las Vegas in nearly 30 years--is paying off.

More than half of the 740 units in the four-tower project have been sold, Soffer said.

And only a few available condominiums remain at the $120-million Park Towers, co-developed by casino mogul Steve Wynn, who created the Bellagio and Mirage hotel-casinos, and real estate entrepreneur Irwin Molasky. Each owns one of the 84 residences in the 20-story towers adjacent to private gardens and tennis courts inside the Hughes Center, just east of the Strip.

Luxury condominiums are even luring Donald Trump to Sin City. The real estate and casino developer recently announced a partnership with New Frontier hotel-casino owner Phil Ruffin to build a 60-story, 300-unit condominium tower less than a block from the Strip.

“We are going to bring a level of quality design, construction, services and amenities in high-rise development that Las Vegas has not yet seen,” Trump said in announcing the $300-million Trump Tower Las Vegas.

Although it’s only steps away from 99-cent shrimp cocktails and free well drinks for gamblers, the high-rise lifestyle in Las Vegas doesn’t come cheap.

Condominiums at Turnberry Place and Park Towers range from $500,000 to $5 million-plus.

“It’s a very small piece of the pie,” DellaValle said of the potential buyer market. “It’s not about a price per square foot. It’s all about image and how it [the condominium] enhances your life and the lifestyle you want to lead. Lifestyle living is a want, it’s not a need.”

Developers know it takes more than impressive square footage and Corian countertops to attract buyers in the million-plus price range.

In addition to imported marble, Turnberry’s units feature private elevator lobbies, whirlpool baths and floor-to-ceiling glass walls that open to private balconies.

Then there are the perks one wouldn’t find in most single-family homes.

“Valet and porter service as well as concierge, room and limousine service provide the advantage of a totally luxurious lifestyle for our residents,” said John Riordan, Turnberry’s vice president of sales and marketing.

Park Towers’ residents enter the lobby under a dome that was hand painted by Russian emigre Genia.

Buyers include corporations, empty-nesters and second-home owners looking for a life free from yard work and full of convenience.

“Typically, you will find people in a high rise who want to retire yet lead an active lifestyle,” DellaValle said.

Andrea Tomich, a 35-year-old real estate agent, is trading her upscale home on the Red Rock Country Club golf course in the city’s western outskirts for Turnberry’s views, airport accessibility, security and maintenance-free living.

“I live by myself, so one of the most important things for me was security,” she said. “I travel a lot and I don’t have to worry when I travel, I just lock the door. A limo takes you to the airport and when you come home, they are there to pick you up.”

Tomich said her condominium is less expensive to maintain than her country club home, which was a 30-minute drive from the Strip.

“You have all the luxuries of life and incredible views from the tower,” she said. “When you wake up in the morning, your car is vacuumed. It’s hard to beat a lifestyle like this. It’s like being on vacation 365 days a year.”

Celebrities living at Turnberry Place include actor James Caan and stand-up funny woman Rita Rudner, who headlines at the New York-New York hotel-casino.

“We like living there,” said Rudner, referring to her husband and their dog. “We’re in a high-rise on the same floor I was on in a high-rise in New York.”

Socializing at Turnberry Place centers around the $40-million, 80,000-square-foot Stirling Club, which includes public and private dining areas, where members can eat off fine china and partake of a classic vintage from private wine lockers, an amenity also offered at Park Towers.

Nonresidents can join the club for a $5,000 initiation fee and monthly dues between $165 and $330 if referred by a member.

“I’m from Southern California, the Newport Beach area, and there’s nothing like it down there or in Las Vegas,” Tomich said. “When you enter the Stirling Club, everyone knows you and they greet you by name.”

Demand for such residences where valet attendants hand vacuum cars and the swimming pool misters spray Evian water remains to be seen, but at least one real estate expert believes the market for high-rise residences will continue to grow.

Steve Bottfeld, senior analyst for the home building industry research firm Marketing Solutions, points to the Polo Towers expansion on the Strip as evidence of the expanding timeshare market.

“That is going to continue to condition the market for the high-rise phenomenon,” he said. “Are we going to see a high-rise a week? No. Are we going to see four, five or six high-rises over the next decade or so? Probably, because it makes sense.”