Unsightly businesses to get help with rehabilitation

Diana Sahagun

Monday, July 3, 2000 | 10:17 a.m.

The used cars lined up at the corner of Lake Mead Boulevard and Belmont Street in North Las Vegas shine brightly in the afternoon sun, but the car lot presents a dreary picture for shoppers.

A dilapidated auto repair shop sits off to the side with a faded sign proclaiming "Grumpy's Auto Repair." An old trailer, surrounded by colored banners flapping in the breeze, serves as an office.

It won't stay that way for long.

Richard Monson, the owner for 12 years, will be the first to take part in the city's redevelopment program. It will allow him to enhance the look of his business -- and get some cash back.

Under the Lake Mead Corridor Facade Rehabilitation program, if a business spends $20,000 to fix up its frontage, the redevelopment agency will reimburse up to $10,000.

Landscaping and planning guru Jim Veltman, best known for designing Summerlin and Town Center in Las Vegas, will design Monson's project, hoping to set the standard for the entire boulevard.

The program follows a national trend for redevelopment agencies to stimulate investment in business districts, resulting in attractive commercial areas.

Cities throughout California have similar projects, which offer no-interest loans or grants to businesses that take part in the rehabilitation of their properties. The city of Belmont offers 10-year rehabilitation loans with no interest, and the city of Davis offers 10-year, 3 percent loans for repair costs.

The program has been in place in North Las Vegas for four years, but the agency just began marketing it by going from business to business. At least three other businesses have inquired about the program, redevelopment manager Kenny Young said.

The other motivating force was the completion of landscaping along Lake Mead Boulevard in September. When the city widened Lake Mead in 1997, it agreed to take residential homes on the south side of the street, rather than the businesses across the street. In return, the businesses verbally agreed to improve their properties once the widening and landscaping were complete.

"It's an incentive because they get reimbursed at least half of the money, and that doesn't come out of their pocket," Young said. "We're willing to help them achieve their goals."

The agency has set aside $400,000 for the program this fiscal year, which began this week.

Businesses are eligible if they are in the city's two redevelopment districts: downtown and its easterly extension to Pecos Road along Lake Mead, or the north redevelopment area that encompasses Las Vegas Boulevard from Carey Avenue to Pecos Road and Cheyenne Avenue from Civic Center Drive to Van der Meer Street.

"We're hoping that when some of these businesses see that their neighbors are reinvesting, they will be inspired to do it themselves," Young said. "Hopefully it will be a trickle effect from business to business to revitalize that area."

Veltman said while he is known best for his large projects, this particular program caught his eye.

"That kind of work is just as important as the big projects," he said. "It's very important to get things going in this area, to set the standard."

Plans at the car lot include tearing down the repair shop, removing the trailer and building a 2,100-square-foot office building. Landscaping will be added around the perimeter as well as paving and lighting.

Veltman said he is weeks away from filing final plans for Monson, and construction will begin in a few months.

Monson said there have been several time-consuming steps to go through, but he would recommend the program to other businesses.

"It definitely will help clean up the whole area, make everything look better," he said. "It couldn't hurt." Diana Sahagun

covers North Las Vegas for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2320 or by e-mail at diana@lasvegassun.com