Cosmopolitan Resort Casino Foreclosure in Las Vegas

The developer of the Cosmopolitan Resort Casino, a $3.9 billion condo-hotel complex on the Las Vegas Strip, has been notified by its primary lender that it will begin foreclosure proceedings.

The move by Deutsche Bank AG, the lender on a $760 million senior loan, comes after the developer, Ian Bruce Eichner, wasn't able to finalize a deal for new financing amid the credit crunch. Mr. Eichner in late February cut a tentative deal with two of his other lenders, Global Hyatt Corp. and New York hedge fund Marathon Asset Management, for a possible rescue of the twin-tower project.

Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino is still a bustling, lively construction site with moving machinery and workers coming and going, according to the Las Vegas Business Express. Yet, the $3 billion megaresort project last month received a default notice from Deutsche Bank AG after payments on a $760 million construction loan came due the day prior. The notice additionally triggered technical defaults on another $175 million worth of debt.

Ian Bruce Eichner, the project's New York City-based developer, previously lost two Manhattan buildings to creditors in the early 1990s, including the 75-story CitySpire Center at 150 W. 56th Street and the 45-story Bertlesmann Building at 1540 Broadway Ave. Cosmopolitan's default notice came less than two weeks after the project's chief operating officer, Audrey Oswell, left the company for the under-construction Fontainebleau.