Public meetings set on business district plans in Summerlin

Scott Reeder

Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 | 11:30 a.m.

A town meeting will be hosted tonight to inform residents about plans to create a business district in the southern part of Summerlin.

"When this town center project is complete it will be the business center that will serve all of western Las Vegas. This is a very ambitious project," said Dale Erquiaga, director of marketing and community relations for Howard Hughes Corp., the developer of Summerlin.

The company is hosting a series of town meetings in preparation for asking the Clark County Commission for development plan approval.

All of the public hearings will be in the Willows Community Center, 2275 Desert Marigold Lane. The first meeting will be tonight at 7. The other meetings will be 10 a.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The 1,000-acre region for business development is bordered by Charleston Boulevard, Sahara Avenue, Hualapai Way and Desert Foothills Drive.

"The town center region is an exciting mix of commercial and residential development and is destined to become the heart of Summerlin, as well as the primary retail, employment and entertainment center for the west side of the Las Vegas metropolitan area," said Dan Van Epp, president of the Summerlin Division of the Howard Hughes Corps.

Among the features in the town center development will be a 1 million-square-foot mall along Sahara Avenue. Office buildings are already being erected along Charleston.

"We think this will be totally unlike anything Las Vegas has seen before," Erquiaga said. "This will not only be a retail area, but it will also be an entertainment area. A hotel and casino will likely be built in the area. There will also be things like movie theaters to go to."

He said he anticipates town center will be complete in five years. But the residential component of the southern part of Summerlin will not be complete for about 20 years.

Melissa Warren, a spokeswoman for the company, said the term "town center" is merely a working name for the area and a formal name will be developed at a later date. She noted that several other developments in the Las Vegas Valley also have town centers.

The town center concept is part of an emerging trend in community development, envisioned as an environment in which it is possible to walk from home to stores, entertainment, dining and work.

"The intensity and variety of land uses and activities will be greater within the town center region than anywhere else in Summerlin, or Las Vegas, for that matter," Van Epp said.