Since the start I've written about Robert FX Sillerman a few times, yet none of his projects have ever seemed to come to fruition.

It's not that the projects were pies in the sky (ok.. maybe they were from a funding perspective); or that they were bad projects in bad locations – Sillerman and his Flag Luxury Properties just didn't have the experience.

Yes, that's correct, and that's the same thing that Sillerman stated – although I didn't make it sound as bad as he did.

I came across this story in the NYPost where Sillerman stated:

I think I have shown conclusively that I am not knowledgeable enough about the real estate business.

That's not to say that he had bad ideas – one idea, which consisted of building a huge Elvis themed resort on land his company owned on the Las Vegas Strip – directly across from MGM's CityCenter sounded like a slam dunk. I mean what else would be better in Vegas than a high quality Elvis themed resort from the person who owns Graceland and the rights to Elvis Memorabilia?

His second project was a resort to be built in Anguilla; this is how I first learned of Sillerman and Flag Luxury as the project was initially going to be a St Regis Resort, then a Baccarat Resort. Now the project is all but dead – construction has not started, and the golf course which was to be the centerpiece of the resort destroyed because Sillerman decided to stop spending $200,000 a month to water the course. Not only that but he claims he has put over $200 million of his own money into the project – much more than the original $15 million he had agreed upon.

I give Sillerman alot of credit for having the guts to stand up and admit defeat, something that's very hard to do especially in such high profile developments such as these.

There is no word on what Sillerman will do next, but it sounds as though his entire investment in the Anguilla property and the Las Vegas Strip property will be lost. The strip property was foreclosed upon a few months ago and the Anguilla property is going through the same property.

Most likely the strip property will be purchased very inexpensively by an investor and held onto for a number of years until the Las Vegas economy picks up – then the next biggest thing will be built. As for the Anguilla property, it sounds like that will go the same route.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Andrew Calvo is a Commercial Real Estate Advisor in New Jersey, who lives in Tinton Falls, NJ. This blog is about my passions - primarily hotels, commercial real estate, and development, etc.

Since I have been in High School I've had numerous jobs, but the field which has always interested me is Real Estate, Hotel Development and Construction. I consider myself a zealot in that area - I try to absorb as much as I possibly can, take the experiences that I learn, or read about and use them in my life. 

www.passionsofazealot.com