By Jacquelynn D. Powers, Photographs: Gio Alma

magine the Strip as a real city, a microcosm of Manhattan lined with condominiums, shopping centers and, of course, hotels. Sounds farfetched? Developer and real-estate mogul Jeffrey Soffer doesn't think so. In fact, he's determined to forever alter the face of Las Vegas living into a more urban phenomenon, with the Strip at its core. And if anyone can achieve this transformation, it's Soffer, whose Turnberry Associates has been erecting condos and shopping centers—$5 billion worth—all over the country. And now that his company has turned its energy to this burgeoning market, it's only a matter of time before high-end residential towers line the Strip and its periphery.

Already Soffer has begun his quest to dot the landscape with luxury condos with Turnberry Place, an exclusive four-tower community that looms just behind the Strip. This lavish property offers amenities from the mundane (airport pickups) to the extravagant (personal butler service). In fact, residents often joke that they feel like high rollers without ever having to set foot in a casino. There's also the private Stirling Club where condo commandos can sip champagne, dance to the Baker Boys and rub elbows with the likes of Jack Nicholson and James Caan. "We don't just sell you an apartment," Soffer pitches, "we sell you a lifestyle."

And Turnberry Associates, which was founded by Soffer's father, Don, in 1967, is all about lifestyle building. The elder Soffer fantastically turned 785 acres of swampland in northern Dade County, Florida, into a vital and lucrative community called Aventura, with a world-class mall and the finest condos to house these voracious consumers. "My father has incredible foresight," says Soffer, 36, who joined the company in 1987. They also own hotels in Miami, Orlando and Nashville, shopping centers in Pittsburgh and Destin (on the Florida Panhandle), and 5,000 apartment units throughout these areas.

The move to Vegas, then, in the late '90s, was natural for Soffer, who really branched out on his own with this westward expansion. "We used to come here for the ICSC conventions once a year," he recalls. "We saw all of the dynamics in Las Vegas changing; it was becoming a real city. We felt that something like Turnberry would be well accepted. I knew we could sell it." In 1997, Soffer closed on the Paradise Road parcel, opposite the Las Vegas Hilton, and the first tower was completed in 2000. Currently they are building the fourth tower, and fewer than 60 units out of 740 are available for purchase. "When Turnberry is done, we'll have built over four million square feet of residential units," he notes. "It's a pretty impressive project" ...

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