Rhodes Ranch hotel-casino planned

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999 | 11 a.m.

A European-style hotel-casino featuring a 64-lane bowling alley, shopping center and movie theaters in the city's southwest could be approved by the Clark County Commission as early as November.

Plans for the 1,040-room hotel-casino in the quiet golfing community of Rhodes Ranch were submitted prior to a 1997 state law that cracked down on the amount of casinos infiltrating neighborhoods.

Clark County Assistant Planning Director Lesa Coder said the project is similar to the hotel-casinos built in the Summerlin area.

The planned 16-floor casino on Durango Drive between Maule and Arby avenues takes on a European flavor with the use of stucco, tile roofing, wrought iron fences and stone. And like many of the newer hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, the resort will emphasize shopping with a 95,000-square-foot "retail village." It will also have a fast-food court and an arcade and billiards room.

The hotel also will cater to both the average client and high-rollers with 96 medium-sized suites and 64 1,500-square-foot suites.

Richard Chambers of Rhodes Design and Development Corp. had little to say about his company's project today other than it is the "brain child of Jim Rhodes" -- the developer of the master planned community.

Chambers also was elusive when asked what type of clientele the hotel-casino hoped to target. When asked if the casino would cater to golfers, like the Resort at Summerlin, Chambers said "not really" and declined to elaborate.

The project went before the Spring Valley Town Advisory Board on Oct. 12 and was scheduled to be heard by the Clark County Commission last week. Board members delayed the design review until Nov. 3.

The county has not yet received any formal letters opposing the hotel-casino.

Town Advisory Board chairwoman Dorothy Kidd said there are few neighbors that live close enough to the project to be notified of the planned hotel-casino. Therefore, nobody protested the casino during the Oct. 12 meeting.

Kidd said because the 100-acre chunk of land near the future path of the Las Vegas Beltway was zoned for commercial and resort use, the project shouldn't have come as a surprise to many residents.

"I'm not a spokesperson for the project, but I think it's a nice project," Kidd said.

According to reports, county planners' only concern about the project is its proximity to a planned elementary school.