Thursday, April 16, 1998 | 10:07 a.m.
HENDERSON -- Mayor Jim Gibson and councilman Andy Hafen remember the old days when the neighborhood kids gathered on an unpaved lot off Lake Mead Boulevard and played baseball.
While the dirt lot hasn't changed much over the decades, time has taken its toll on the deteriorating neighborhood.
On Wednesday, the two Henderson natives met again on the seven-acre lot. This time it was to celebrate the groundbreaking for the Coast to Coast Hardware shopping center, the first significant project in Henderson's only redevelopment zone.
The 38,000-square-foot shopping center, which will include two restaurants and retail shops, is expected to generate an additional $67,000 in tax revenue for the redevelopment zone.
The money, which must stay within the 1,307-square-acre redevelopment zone, will go toward Henderson's No. 1 priority -- revitalizing its aging downtown.
"Water Street is one of our priorities," Brad Percell, a city redevelopment officer, said. "With the municipal complex, we've already made a $40 million commitment and that downtown area needs some help."
One of the city's goals is to spruce up downtown and make it pedestrian-friendly. Officials are also working on architectural guidelines and setback rules to make the corridor more attractive.
When Henderson first pitched the idea of creating the redevelopment zone to the community, residents strongly opposed it. About 1,200 of the 1,600 property owners in the zone showed up at the city's first meeting.
"I spent six months on the phone answering inquiries; they would show up at the office in groups," Percell said. "There is just some negative connotation that comes with redevelopment zones."
The redevelopment zone was approved in 1995, but it took two years before the first capital project was proposed.
"We wanted to get a plan in place and we kind of inched along trying to feel our way through the process," Gibson said.
With the Coast to Coast complex now under construction, Gibson and Percell believe more development will occur. They are also confident that the new shopping center will prompt adjacent landowners to clean up their property.
"We saw an area that needed to be improved and I think it will happen," Gibson said.
Residents who live within the redevelopment boundaries have also warmed up to the concept.
Irene Gasek and Helen Petite experience the downside of redevelopment. The city bought a stretch of homes in their neighborhood and tore them down. The two women, however, refused cash and demanded houses.
They both live in brand new homes, compliments of the city.
"We didn't want money. We wanted a house and we got a house," Petite said. "We're happy and we're the ones who fought it (the redevelopment zone) the hardest."
Percell said nothing definite is planned for Petite's neighborhood. He added that other projects have been proposed within the redevelopment zone, but he declined to elaborate.
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