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LEIGHTON Holdings has won its biggest Asian development, a $US1.3 billion ($1.75 billion) contract to build the City of Dreams casino and hotel complex in Macau for the James Packer-backed Melco group. The project in the Las Vegas of Asia will have four deluxe hotel towers, ranging from 4.5-star to luxurious six-star accommodation, serviced apartments; an "underwater-themed" casino with 450 gaming tables and 3000 poker machines; a luxury retail arcade; and a world-class performance hall. News that Leighton would be undertaking the construction would provide a measure of confidence for investors in Mr Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd as it would ensure that the major project is completed to Western-style building standards at a time when the company has substantially increased its exposure to the Macau casino business.
For the next three years, based on a budget request recently approved by the Florida Board of Governors, campuses like Florida State University and Florida A&M University only will get money to complete construction projects already in the pipeline. .
RISMEDIA, October 13, 2006David Lereah, NARs chief economist, said the housing market is showing signs of life and that sales may be leveling out. Many potential home buyers who have been taking a wait-and-see attitude or taking their time and being methodical in the search process are being enticed by lower home prices, Lereah said. Given a positive economic backdrop of lower interest rates and job creation, we expect sales activity to pick up early next year.
Existing home sales are forecast to be fairly stable in the fourth quarter and sales for all of 2006 are expected to drop 8.9% to 6.45 million still the third strongest year after consecutive records in 2004 and 2005. New-home sales are forecast to fall 17.3% this year to 1.06 million, the fourth highest year on record.
Engineering results this week will likely determine whether the city's first residential hospice will proceed with or without a basement. Beth Ellis, executive director of the Dr. Bob Kemp Hospice, said construction crews at the site of Bob's House, a new $4.2 million hospice at Stone Church and Upper Wellington, have come across ground rock about 1.5 metres (five feet) below the surface at some spots on the property. They were hoping to dig down at least 2.7 metres (nine feet) before they begin pouring the foundation. Ms. Ellis said the higher than expected ground rock means the project may proceed without a basement if it's determined there is too much rock in the way. She noted blasting or increasing the height of the hospice is not being considered as that would add another $200,000 to the construction cost, something the non-profit organization can't afford.
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