The Ivana Las Vegas was a proposed 73-floor, 923-foot condominium high-rise, named after Ivana Trump. The project was initially announced in August 2004, as The Summit, and was to be constructed on the 2.17-acre site of the closed Holy Cow Casino and Brewery, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. Trump became involved with the project in June 2005, when it was renamed.
The Ivana Las Vegas was to feature 945 condo units, including a $35 million penthouse. The project would have begun construction in summer 2006, with a completion date of December 2008. The property was put up for sale in December 2005, after the project had been cancelled because of rising construction costs. The property later became the site of a two-story Walgreens store.
History
The Summit
The condominium high-rise project was initially announced as The Summit on August 19, 2004. The project was to be built by a company called Sahara Condominiums, with financing from Australian developers Joseph Di Mauro and Victor Altomare. Altomare had been convinced of Las Vegas' "developer-friendly environment" by Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman and city officials. The Summit was to feature 73 floors and stand 940 feet, and was to be built at a cost of $700 million. If built, the Summit would have been the tallest habitable structure in the Las Vegas Valley, and one of the tallest residential towers in the world. Di Mauro said the project would be financed by "internal and external funding," such as revenue from other businesses that he owned.
The Summit was designed by JMA Architecture Studios, and was to feature 960 condo units, with nine different floor plans to be offered. Entry-level units were expected to sell for $600,000 to $700,000. The Summit's lower-floor units would be fully furnished, and would be marketed towards people looking to buy a second home, giving owners the option to also rent out their unit when not in use. The top 16 floors would include 151 units ranging from to . A penthouse would also be featured, which Sahara Condominiums hoped to sell for over $35 million.
The building was to be constructed on the of land that was currently occupied by the closed Holy Cow Casino and Brewery and a small, multi-level parking garage, both located at the northeast corner of South Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue on the Las Vegas Strip. Di Mauro and Altomare planned to demolish both structures for the new high-rise. Di Mauro hoped to finish the permit process within three months and begin selling units by late December 2004. The Summit was expected to take approximately three years to complete. Sales offices for The Summit were set up in Asia and Australia to market the project. The project was expected to generate $1 billion in profit. By November 2004, the Summit's height had been reduced to 923 feet. Altomare said that month that the "Summit" name was only a working title, and that he would release a brand name for the project eventually.
The project was approved by the city of Las Vegas in November 2004. The federal government approved the 923-foot project now with 800 condo units in January 2005. By the end of the month, Altomare was in discussions with Turner Construction to build the high-rise, which was expected to take two and a half years to finish. Altomare said at that time that the project's construction would be financed by syndicated bank loans underwritten by presales of the condo units, which were expected to begin selling in late April 2005, with starting prices at $600,000. The tower's penthouse was priced at $35 million. Altomare believed that many buyers would be from out of state and from foreign countries. Altomare also said the project's official name would be announced after an agreement was made with a well-known, high-profile woman who would be willing to attach her own name and endorse the project.
Ivana Las Vegas
By June 2005, Ivana Trump, an ex-wife of businessman Donald Trump, had partnered with Altomare on the project, now named The Ivana. At 73 floors, Ivana Trump's condominium tower would have been taller than her ex-husband's planned Trump Hotel Las Vegas. Jack Wishna, a partner in Donald Trump's condo project, was skeptical that Ivana Trump's condo tower would be better: "Donald is a mega-developer who is so much more than just a name on a building. Other projects may use the Ivana name but no one will ever mistake it for a Donald Trump luxury project." Wishna also noted that another Ivana Trump project, located in Florida, also "went down the tubes." At that time, the tower was to begin construction in July 2005.