The “f” word has reared its head again. Foreclosure rates are up across the country as homeowners are squeezed between falling home values and rising mortgage rates that have made keeping up with monthly payments a struggle for many. But now there are also big-time real estate developments taking a direct hit from the market slowdown and facing foreclosure proceedings.

Las Vegas’ Cosmopolitan Resort Casino is the latest big-time project (and we mean big, the resort is slated to have nearly 3,000 hotel rooms, most available for ownership as condo-hotel units) to face a money crunch. This month Deutsche Bank, provider of a $760 million loan to the project, started foreclosure proceedings after the development defaulted on the loan. The Wall Street Journal has reported extensively on the foreclosure, noting that two powerhouses of resort real estate development, tycoon Stephen Ross, founder of the Related Companies, and Starwoods’ W Hotel group, are vying to collectively take over the $3.9 billion project.

Interestingly, as the Journal reported, both Starwood and Related, have made unsuccessful forays into the Las Vegas condo-hotel market over the last few years, both announcing large developments in Sin City, only to cancel them due to the rocky real estate market or rising construction costs. The Cosmopolitan, in addition to its nearly 3,000 rooms (some 80 percent have been reserved by buyers), will have an 80,000 square-foot casino, 40,000 square-foot spa, 265,000 square feet worth of retail and dining space and the Vegas-appropriate three wedding chapels.

What does this mean for buyers who have put down 20 percent deposits on the 600 to 900 square-foot condo-hotel units that started at just under $500,000? At this point not much. They’ll likely face delayed construction. The bigger issue for buyers will be the state of the Las Vegas market when the building is complete. If prices continue to dip, as they have been, buyers may find their unit with a price tag that exceeds comparable new construction and opt to simply walk away from their deposit. But it’s not all doom and gloom. The entrance of a big resort player like Starwood may only bolster the case for the condo-hotel model in Las Vegas. The hotel giant’s attempt at investing in a super-sized project shows that among big developers, condo-hotels aren’t a tired concept.