What happens when you let a software engineer develop a high profile Las Vegas condo project? You end up with a non-completed mid-rise eyesore where the developer faces more than $30 million dollars in liens attached to his Las Vegas condo development.

Now developer and former computer dot-commer Alex Edelstein says he's looking for investors to help him finish the job. His lien holders, however, say he's no where to be found and won't return phone calls. There's nothing worse than a developer who doesn't know how to develop and that seems to be the case with the ManhattanWest project.

But Edelstein surely isn't the only one to blame for this yet another Las Vegas condo fiasco. It seems construction issues had become quite severe during the entire build - and no one caught them until ManhattanWest's project manager finally started to investigate, finding some 58 building code violations that hadn't been resolved in over 18 months!

With faulty structural concrete and an inadequate fire safety system that was installed by unlicensed subcontractors that did not meet code requirements, Manhattan West turned to E&E Fire Protection who then saw an easy score and (rather than make some modifications) decided to replace the entire system and is now owed about $3 million.

Then there's Hydro Pressure Cleaning, a company that charged the project $500,000 for seismic repair on concrete columns. $500,000 for a third party construction service!!!

And by the way, where were the Clark County building inspectors during all these violations? How could the project have come this far to begin with?

Now I don't blame Edelstein for not paying for sub-standard work or excessive bills, but it seems to me he should have performed a complete audit on what was going on with his development - a process that all the big timers do all the time.

With this kind of followup, I'm afraid it's going to be difficult for him to find the "bona fide" investors he's looking for to bring real offers to the table and get the money needed for project completion. I'm reminded of OJ looking for the "real killers"...

If you're one of those high rise condo or mid rise condo investors who bought into this ManhattanWest project (or the original Manhattan Project on the South Strip for that matter), please contact me for a special investment update. (name and phone number please)