Condos, lofts proposed for downtown

Denise Cardinal

Thursday, May 7, 1998 | 10:01 a.m.

A prominent Las Vegas developer wants to build housing in downtown Las Vegas, according to Mike Forche, president of City Centre Development Corp., an arm of the city's redevelopment agency.

A feasibility study of downtown housing was conducted recently by the Concord Group for the developer, who Forche said chooses to remain anonymous until a specific project has been identified.

Marta Borsanyi presented the firm's findings to CCDC.

Concord identified three major types of downtown housing projects that would be successful: new condominiums built over existing buildings and parking structures, loft housing developed from converted office space, and an artist's village that incorporates retail, studios and housing in separate units.

Borsanyi said that these sorts of developments were destined for success because of a few key findings that Concord made. The most important was that there are 37,000 people employed in the downtown area -- 27,000 by casinos and 10,000 by governments or law firms.

After hearing the presentation, CCDC decided to find some potential catalyst projects that would be highly visible and stir interest in downtown redevelopment. One idea was to convert the Bridger Law Building into loft apartments.

No formal motion was made on the matter, but Forche said CCDC would stay in contact with the interested developer to get a project moving forward.