DECONSTRUCTED: Deutsche’s soggy jackpot


Deutsche Bank’s foray into the gaming industry is beginning to resemble a scene in a bachelor-party-gone-wrong movie.

It ended up the owner of the Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino development after developer Ian Bruce Eichner

Cosmopolitan
Resort & Casino

turned over the keys. Now the construction site has encountered a problem as it digs a six-storey underground parking garage – a gusher of water.

The project now requires a round-the-clock pumping system and container walls after builders bumped into a subterranean aquifer.

In the meantime the bank is doing all it can to rescue value from the project, including reportedly offering condominium buyers 74 percent of their deposits to walk away. The outlook for the long-term profitability of the resort is unclear – Las Vegas is adding new hotel rooms at a rapid clip but gambling revenue is down significantly.

The Cosmopolitan is going to cost a lot more to build than was originally expected. A 2005 estimate pinned the development price tag at $1.8 billion. The current estimates are now $3.9 billion. And settling for ownership of Nevada’s largest swimming pool is not an option.