(Originally published October 10, 2005)Las Vegas — Actor George Clooney is the latest to announce a Las Vegas hotel-condo project, but his $3 billion Las Ramblas may receive more attention than most.The film star's official relationship with Las Vegas began with the movie "Ocean's Eleven." In it, he played a role taken by Frank Sinatra in the original 1960 movie. And like Old Blue Eyes, Clooney is about to establish a more permanent relationship with the city as resident hotel project partner.A joint venture with nightclub developer Rande Gerber and real estate developers Related Las Vegas and Centra Properties, the project will encompass 11 highrise towers with a 300-room hotel, 1,326 hotel-condo units, 2,764 condo units and 19 bungalows.Gerber's company, After Midnight, which created The Whiskey Bar chain and a series of hotel bars in conjunction with Ian Schrager and W Hotels, will develop restaurants and nightclubs as part of a 144,000-square-foot entertainment and shopping complex.Named for Barcelona's most famous promenade, Las Ramblas will focus on an open-air pedestrian boulevard featuring broad paths for strolling, as well as areas for outdoor eating and lounging. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2006 on a 25-acre site just off The Strip on Harmon Avenue and be completed in phases until about 2014.What sets Las Ramblas apart from all the other high-rise hotel-condo projects under way in Las Vegas?"It's a fully integrated project with condos, condo hotels, performance venues and restaurants all in one," said Jorge Perez, president and CEO of the Miamibased Related Group. "Although named for Barcelona's most famous street, this will not have a theme. Themes are for resort casinos. Instead it will embody a pedestrian urban lifestyle."The project's hotel will incorporate 30,000 square feet of meeting space on its second floor.Other facilities will include a 35,000- square-foot spa and health club and a special movie-screening room for screenings by the variety of actors the hotel is expected to attract.