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.
By fall 2025, ACRES sent the developer a termination notice over several loan events of default. The two sides ultimately agreed the automatic bankruptcy stay on ACRES had terminated, and the developer agreed to cooperate with the lender and turn over the property to ACRES or a foreclosure-sale buyer. Bankruptcy judge Natalie Cox signed an order confirming that lender-developer agreement in 2025, court records show.
New financing kept the project alive. The developers closed escrow on nearly $27.9 million in additional funding from ACRES in February 2025, money intended to pay the contractor, complete construction, and cover operating expenses. Gillett said at the time that construction was officially moving forward now that the necessary funds were secured, though the contractor still claimed it was owed nearly $695,000 as of late December 2025. Construction finally wrapped in April 2026, and Cox signed an order closing the bankruptcy case the following month.
Foreclosure Brings in a New Landlord
Even with the building finished, the developers were unable to sell or refinance The Watermark to repay ACRES. Clark County recorded a notice of trustee's sale scheduling a foreclosure auction in January 2026, and the property went into foreclosure in late April. Under Nevada real estate law, commercial foreclosures like this are typically handled non-judicially through a deed of trust power of sale, a process that requires a recorded notice of default, a 90-day cure period, and public notice of the trustee's sale for at least 21 days before auction, according to Justia Law.
Next Wave Investors, which has more than $500 million in acquisitions and a portfolio of over 1,800 residential units across the western United States, emerged as the buyer. David Sloan of Next Wave said the firm was drawn to the apartments' modern-industrial design with exposed concrete, and described The Watermark as sitting in a nice area that is getting better. He added that the Water Street corridor is becoming more vibrant than ever.
What's Inside — and What's Still Empty
The finished project includes 151 apartments that are just over 70 percent leased, per Sloan, along with a rooftop pool area, fitness center, and billiards lounge. It also holds more than 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and second-floor office space — but none of that commercial space has been rented yet, even though the original developers hired leasing agents and fielded numerous prospective tenant inquiries before running out of runway. The original developers had acquired the site from the City of Henderson Redevelopment Agency in 2020, and the project was slated to be the tallest building on Water Street.
Next Wave now plans to bring in office tenants and food-and-beverage outlets to fill that space. The Watermark sits directly across from the America First Center, the 120,000-square-foot practice facility for the AHL's Henderson Silver Knights that opened in late 2020 through a partnership between the city and Foley Entertainment Group, according to the Review-Journal.
Part of a Bigger Water Street Push
Henderson officials see The Watermark's completion as a sign of momentum for the broader Water Street corridor, part of a Downtown Redevelopment Area the city established in 1995 to revive the historic townsite through tax increment financing and public-private partnerships. Debra March said Henderson was seeing the dividends of efforts to revitalize the corridor, while Wucherer said The Watermark fits in with the future of Water Street.
That future includes a growing list of nearby projects Hoodline has tracked along the corridor, including the $24 million Atwell Suites hotel that opened at The Pass casino in late 2024 and a new three-story café-and-cocktail building at 37 S. Water St. Strada Development Group has also separately proposed a 22-story mixed-use tower called The Waterfalls at the northern end of Water Street, on a site where a high-rise was cancelled during the 2008 recession, according to the Local Water Street District Guide.
Financing conditions across the industry have also shifted since The Watermark's troubles began. Multifamily commercial real estate borrowing nationally expanded significantly in 2025, with overall market debt volume up 36 percent compared to 2024, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data reported by Multi-Housing News. For The Watermark, the open question now is whether Next Wave can succeed where the original developers could not: filling more than 30,000 square feet of vacant commercial space in a corridor the city is betting will keep drawing people downtown.
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