Whispering Timbers brings new hope to blighted area

Erin Neff

Friday, July 28, 2000 | 11:12 a.m.

West Las Vegas residents are hoping the third try brings the charm needed to breathe new life into an oft-plagued housing site.

A one-time barracks for Nellis servicemen gave way to public housing apartments and eventually to crime and blight that left a 40-acre swath off Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards vacant.

On Saturday the public will get its first glimpse of the future -- the first major single-family home development to rise in the plagued area since the neighborhood's first homes were built nearby in the 1950s.

Whispering Timbers, a $26 million development by former City Councilman Frank Hawkins' company, will open five model homes ranging from $96,990 to $122,990 during a 10 a.m. ceremony.

"This is really important because it's the third resurrection," said Shari Wong-Culotta, spokeswoman for Community Development Programs Center of Nevada.

The 208-unit development features 2-, 3- and 4-bedroom homes with 2-car garages. A block away the 56-unit Sunset Park apartments has brought the first new residents to the area and across the street city-issued grants funded two new houses on "infill" land.

The numbers don't appear impressive, given the massive projects approved routinely in the booming northwest and southwest parts of the Las Vegas Valley. But reclaiming even one vacant block in West Las Vegas has significance.

"In that community you have had people coming in and making promises that weren't always met," said Dora LaGrande, Community Development's mortgage coordinator. "One of the keys is to bring gentrification into this community."

The promise looks bright as 58 homes at the gated Whispering Timbers have already been claimed.

"We're dedicated to helping individuals attain economic self-sufficiency," said Hawkins, a former pro football player who parlayed his athletic career into politics and later development.

His company provides pre-qualification assessment, credit advice and a 16-week course that instructs clients about every aspect of the home-buying process.

"Our goal is to sell houses," Wong-Culotta said. "But there is a huge educational process."

LaGrande said she thought home ownership will help the new residents moving in to West Las Vegas to feel like part of the neighborhood and care about its future.

"Pride of ownership kicks in and helps build pride in the community," LaGrande said.