1.76 $18.3 million $65 million 2008

Size, in acres Sales price, September 2004 Agreed-upon sales price, August 2005 Year it was lost to foreclosure mit in early 2005 to demolish the motel, and Roth filed plans a few months later to develop a 26-story resort condo tower. That summer, court records show, he reached a deal to sell the parcel for $65 million, more than three times what he paid.

His plans came during the high-rise craze known as the “Manhattanization” of Las Vegas, when investors pitched dozens of towers during the bubble years. Most never got built, including Roth’s, and real estate pros have said it was not uncommon back then, amid soaring property values, for landowners to secure approvals for a high-rise project and then flip the site.

Meanwhile, countless projects from the boom years ended up in court, including Roth’s. SLEEPY STRIP

Rushton Development Group filed court papers in early 2006 saying it had agreed to buy the property for $65 million, but the deal fell through and it wanted a $975,000 payment back.

In spring 2008, as the market was tumbling, Metropolitan filed a lawsuit the day before the property’s scheduled foreclosure sale claiming it had learned about the auction only days earlier. The land was seized through foreclosure the next month, property records show.

Roth did not respond to requests for comment. Rushton could not be reached for comment, and Normandy, which acquired the site apparently as part of a bulk loan acquisition, did not respond to requests for comment.

The south Strip has resorts on the west side of the street, but the east side is much sleepier.

It has some retail and a few motels, as well as vacant lots, the abandoned White Sands Motel, the shuttered Laughing Jackalope tavern and the mothballed SkyVue observation-wheel project.

The Pollyanna site is empty, save for a billboard sticking out of the ground, and is guarded in part by a white, rusted fence, an apparent holdover from its motel days. Contact Eli Segall at esegall@re1iepjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follop @eli_segall on Tpitter.