Earlier this month, Canadian developer Luxus Group and Henderson, Nevada-based hospitality investor Azure Resorts & Hotels broke ground on a building type not seen in the Las Vegas market since the Great Recession — luxury high-rise residential.

The Pinnacle Residences, expected to open in 2025, is the latest addition to the MacDonald Highlands, a gated 1,320-acre master-planned community in Henderson located around the DragonRidge Country Club. The 11-acre property will offer 171 condos across two towers, priced from $2 million for a two-bedroom condo to $25 million for a penthouse.

The community is located within minutes of the Las Vegas city center, and all condos will offer views of the Las Vegas Strip. Units will range from 2,300 to 7,300 square feet in size, with balconies or terraces ranging from 550 to 4,200 square feet for each unit.

Residents can choose their home finishes and may purchase a fully-furnished turnkey unit if desired. Smart home features, outdoor living and dining areas, private elevators and private garage space are also included, and penthouse and junior penthouse units will feature private pools and hot tubs.

Amenities at the property are meant to evoke the feeling of a “luxury wellness resort,” according to a press release shared with Multifamily Dive. They include a gym, spa, restaurant, wine bar, pickleball courts and resort-style pool with private cabanas.

The evolving Las Vegas luxury market

Pinnacle Residences is an unusual addition both to the MacDonald Highlands, a largely single-family enclave, and to the city of Henderson, where the vast majority of residential zoning is for single-family housing, according to city records. 

In fact, most of the overall Las Vegas market’s luxury residential sector has been dominated by single-family detached homes over the last decade, according to David Prokopenko, senior associate at real estate consulting firm RCLCO. At the same time, the achievable price points for multifamily rental and condominium communities have not been high enough to incentivize high-rise development — until recently.

“The job market [in Las Vegas] had historically been centered around hospitality and retail,” Prokopenko said. “However there has been recent growth in high-paying occupations with higher potential spending power for housing. Alongside the growth of higher-paying jobs, the in-migration seen as a result from the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new demand to the Las Vegas market.”

Long a second-home destination for Vegas residents, Henderson has experienced a huge surge in demand from affluent out-of-state buyers in the years following the start of the pandemic, said Prokopenko.

This, in turn, has presented a growth opportunity in ultra-luxury condo development, according to Jim Reilly, project principal for Pinnacle Residences at Azure Resorts & Hotels. 

“There are tons of people waiting to move to Henderson and there is little to no product,” Reilly said. “MacDonald Highlands in particular only has about 25 [single-family] lots left and very little in terms of completed home inventory.”

Pinnacle Residences’s target demographics include high-income professionals and empty nesters. “The opportunity to work remotely has presented an opportunity for people…to move to Nevada, Texas and Florida and continue their business without having to live in New York, California, and other high tax states,” Reilly said. “[And the empty-nester] demographic doesn’t want to go through the hassle of building a large custom home at this stage of their life. Many are empty nesters or soon to be empty nesters. They want to be able to lock and leave.” 

Prokopenko expects that many of Pinnacle Residences’ buyers will be seeking primary residences, while others will be motivated by the property’s value as an investment, owing to the market’s tax benefits and future growth potential.

“As new developments continue to reshape the greater area,” Prokopenko said, “the surrounding markets such as MacDonald Highlands, and premier developments such as the Pinnacle are positioned to continue capturing and supporting this growth.

Correction: An earlier edition of this story stated that Azure Resorts & Hotels was “London-based.” The story has been updated to reflect that this is not the case.