LAS VEGAS (AP) - A week after his gold-plated luxury condo tower
opened in Las Vegas, Donald Trump said he hasn't decided on a
construction start date for an identical 1,282-unit second tower next to it.

The real estate mogul said he wants to close all sales on the first tower before the other building breaks ground. Sales have topped $1 billion so far, he said.

A slowing economy, tightening credit markets and rising construction costs also may delay the second tower.

"I want to see where the markets are at," Trump told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "The credit markets are the worst anybody has ever seen."

Trump plans to attend a ceremonial ribbon-cutting on Friday for the $1.2 billion, 64-story Trump International Hotel & Tower, which opened March 31.

The Strip resort joins sister properties in New York and Chicago as the founding hotels of the Trump Hotel Collection.

Trump locked in construction costs on the first project before breaking ground in 2005.

Gambling analysts said a second Trump tower could have a budget
60 percent higher than the original due to rising construction costs.

The first tower opened with a spa, a signature restaurant called
"DJT," a heated outdoor pool and 2,400 square feet of meeting space. Its suites range in size from 515 to 3,500 square feet. The resort has no casino.

The project, which Trump jointly owns with former New Frontier resort owner Phil Ruffin, was completed four months ahead of schedule.

Plans also call for construction of a $6 billion version of New York City's Plaza Hotel on a neighboring site.

Dan Wade, Plaza's chief operating officer, said he hopes excavation on the site will begin by the fall.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-04-06-08 1638EDT