Trump breaks ground on Vegas hotel

updated 8:45 p.m. ET July 12, 2005

LAS VEGAS - Donald Trump broke ground Tuesday on a luxury hotel-condominium designed to be the tallest residential building on the Las Vegas Strip, and promised a second identical tower nearby.

The 64-story building — in gold glass with white trim and Trump's name at the top — will be built on a portion of the New Frontier hotel-casino property across from the newly opened Wynn Las Vegas resort and next to the Fashion Show Mall.

"We're going to be the top of the heap," Trump said as he arrived for the catered affair, which featured billionaire partner Phil Ruffin, owner of the New Frontier, and more than 150 guests including casino mogul and friendly rival Steve Wynn.

Trump said condos, priced from $600,000 to $6 million, sold out within a week. He said he expects to break ground soon for a second tower on Ruffin-owned land.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas is expected to cost $500 million and feature 1,282 luxury residential and hotel units, a spa and restaurants. It won't have a casino, but Trump said Tuesday that he plans eventually to build one elsewhere.

The Las Vegas project is patterned after the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York, where Trump also has several other luxury residential buildings.

The Trump tower is expected to be completed in early 2008. It won't be the tallest building on the Strip. The Stratosphere tower remains the tallest structure in Las Vegas and west of the Mississippi River, at more than 1,100 feet. The adjacent hotel-casino is 24 stories.

"I'm glad Donald's here," Wynn said. "Donald jazzes up the neighborhood."

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