The Watermark, downtown Henderson’s biggest recent real estate development by dollars, is finally open after years of construction delays, contractor lawsuits, and a bankruptcy filing — but the seven-story project at 215 S. Water St. now has a brand-new owner following a foreclosure sale this spring. Next Wave Investors, a San Clemente, California-based real estate firm, acquired the mixed-use complex after it racked up more than $41.5 million in unpaid debt and other costs, according to Clark County records.
The project’s rocky path began with a ceremonial groundbreaking in spring 2021, backed by a $37.5 million construction loan from lender ACRES Capital, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. General contractor Gillett Construction started work on the site that same summer, but the relationship soured: the developers stopped paying Gillett in spring 2023, and construction ground to a halt by late that year. The bankruptcy filing later attributed the delays to issues and disputes with the contractor, permit delays, and disputed change orders, while overall project costs rose more than 20 percent, according to developer Tom Wucherer.
The financial fallout escalated quickly. Gillett sued the developers in early 2024 over more than $11 million allegedly owed for project work, and by the time the dust settled the contractor and its subcontractors had recorded over $14 million in mechanic’s liens against the property, according to The Real Deal. The developers, for their part, alleged in a court filing that the property suffered damage and other problems from construction defects caused by Gillett or its subcontractors — an accusation Gillett called fundamentally misplaced.
Bankruptcy and a Lender Takeover
With liens piling up and Gillett issuing a notice of foreclosure in May 2024, the developers — under the entity DTH 215 Venture LLC, a joint venture between Strada Development Group and 60 West — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy that June. The initial petition listed between 50 and 99 creditors and estimated both assets and liabilities in the $50 million to $100 million range, according to the same Review-Journal report. ACRES Capital, meanwhile, had already sued the developers that spring over an alleged loan default and sought immediate appointment of a receiver to take charge of the property…