Troubled Vegas Strip High-Rise Condos|Built Below Water Table, Buyers Say

LAS VEGAS (CN) - The troubled Cosmopolitan condominium high-rise development on the Las Vegas Strip holds a "dark secret:" its parking garage sits below the water table, and pumps "run around the clock to keep the hotel from filling with water, engulfing both cars and people," a pair of investors claim in Clark County Court.

"[T]heoretically, anyone entering the Cosmopolitan's parking structure could be flooded," Kyung and Chang Park of Los Angeles claim. "At any given moment, mere water pumps stand between the Cosmopolitan's patrons and the waters rushing under the Las Vegas desert."

Deutsche Bank, Nevada Property 1 LC and Nevada Voteco, named as defendants in the lawsuit and as developers and financiers of the Cosmopolitan, "never disclosed this dangerous condition to plaintiffs," the lawsuit states.

"In fact, although the Cosmopolitan is mere months from opening, defendants have failed to provide plaintiffs with any of the required disclosures that would assure them they are purchasing safe condominium homes."

The Parks claim they've been seeking the information for more than a year.

"The failure of the Cosmopolitan's pumps could also cause extensive water damage to neighboring structures, exposing plaintiffs to liability as the Cosmopolitan's condominium owners," the lawsuit says. "Because the Cosmopolitan sits on a pool of water, plaintiffs' personal safety as well as their financial futures could be in jeopardy."

The Parks' lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal dust-ups focusing on "one of the largest condominium/hotel developments in Las Vegas."

In February, a group of 39 condo purchasers claimedDeutsche Bank "perverted the class-action system" and "railroaded" buyers into an unfair settlement that netted $64 million worth of deposits.

They also claimed Deutsche bank was "playing coy" as to whether the project will even include condos at all.

A second lawsuit, which included as plaintiffs former "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" host Robin Leach, claimed that 500 investors were suckered into buying condos at the unfinished resort.

Leach and others claimed that they were misled into believing the high-rise would open by the end of 2008.

The project now is set for completion sometime in 2010.

In the most recent lawsuit, the Parks want to force the Cosmopolitan to "disclose all potential hazards and all potential liabilities related to the Cosmopolitan's underground parking and its foundation."

They also seek to "disclose all steps taken to mitigate all potential hazards and all potential liabilities related to the Cosmopolitan's underground parking and its foundation."

The lawsuit was filed by Sigal Chattah.

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