Former drug haven gets a new look

Jace Radke

Thursday, Jan. 14, 1999 | 11:22 a.m.

Using federal grant money, the Buena Vista Spring Apartment Complex will open new units as part of a plan to create a drug-free community in an area that has had a high drug rate in the past.

A total of $75,000 was awarded to the apartment complex at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Carey Avenue, which was once featured in Reader's Digest as "one of the worst public subsidized rental complexes in the country."

Construction has been completed on 24 new townhouse apartments designed to offer quality living to working-class families.

"The complex had a lot of deterioration and crime- and drug-infested areas," North Las Vegas Councilman John Rhodes said. "The developers have worked to rehabilitate not just the apartments, but the actual neighborhood."

The complex will open a computer lab, job bank, library and offer health screenings beginning Friday.

In addition to the $75,000 used in the construction, the complex also received a $125,000 grant from the Low-Income Housing Drug Elimination Grant Program. These monies are earmarked for constructing a fence around the entire complex to prevent unnecessary traffic flow into the area.

The new apartments are the second phase of a three-phase plan to rejuvenate the complex, officials said. Phase 1 included a $5 million renovation of the old apartments in 1997. Phase 3 will include the development of independent housing for low-income seniors in a collaboration of Creative Choice Homes and Nevada Housing and Neighborhood Development.

Nearly $5 million will be allocated to build 56 senior apartments, Nevada Housing President Mike Mullin said.