Opening of single units seen as start for many

Erin Neff

Tuesday, March 21, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

The blasting wind clanged cymbals, tossed sheet music and blew the giant red ribbon stretched across Campaige Place's front entrance Monday.

The grand opening of the first new housing project downtown in years arrived quite fittingly on the first day of spring with hopes it would spur a rebirth of the surrounding neighborhood.

But the chilly gusts seemed symbolic of downtown's stormy redevelopment history and the partly cloudy forecast on the horizon.

"I admire people with guts," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. "You take a chance when you get involved in a project like this."

Campaige Place, on Eighth Street between Ogden and Stewart avenues, is the city's first single-room occupancy (SRO) project.

The $12 million, 320-room complex was developed by the Tom Hom Group of San Diego, which innovated the single-room efficiency type of affordable housing there.

The brightly hued building designed by world-renowned architect Rob Wellington Quigley is designed for minimum-wage earners who work in Fremont Street's hotels and casinos just blocks away.

Workers making less than $22,000 a year qualify for the fully furnished units that rent for $495 to $543 a month. Rent includes weekly linen change, housekeeping service, cable TV and phone.

Each room has a phone, microwave, refrigerator, two-burner stove, garbage disposal, full bath, color TV, air conditioning, bed, desk and two chairs.

The real difference -- each unit is just 168 to 224 square feet.

"It provides room to save, room to grow and room for all they need," Will Newbern, president of the Tom Hom Group, said.

The facility has a workout room, on-site laundry facility, mini-mart, a garden patio, rooftop deck and a computer station with Internet guides to local job training, transportation, health care and public services.

"There is absolutely nothing out of Washington that helps the minimum wage worker," said Tom Hom, the company's founder and chairman. "Those who can only afford weekly rentals find themselves in places that invariably end up to be flophouses.

"I call these the forgotten Americans," Hom added.

Two years ago when Hom and his developers came to Las Vegas, city officials were skeptical.

Could such small facilities be rented? Would 320 people living in one building cause security problems? Who would live there?

City Councilman Gary Reese, whose ward included the site of the SRO prior to this year's redistricting, went to San Diego to tour the Tom Hom Group's other facilities to try to answer the questions.

The 300-unit Peachtree Inn and the 192-unit Trolley Court are credited not just with providing safe housing for residents of San Diego. City officials there credit the Hom Group's projects with revitalizing a 16-block area in the Gaslamp Quarter downtown.

"I knew there was a need," Reese said. "I knew we had to have something like this, but my big concern was about the health and safety of the residents.

"I'm satisfied," he added. "If my mother needed a place to stay, she could live here."

Since construction on Campaige Place just finished, no tenants have yet moved in. However, company officials said they are confident the building will be completely leased within three months.

In fact, the Las Vegas SRO is being used as a model for Tom Hom's planned projects in Phoenix and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Reese was credited Monday with helping sell the SRO concept in Las Vegas. Hom said Campaige Place is "a fine example of the private sector and the public sector working together."

The city helped facilitate financing through tax credits and private activity bonds. Related Capital Company of New York and Fannie Mae raised $3.5 million of the tax credit and US Bank provided credit enhancement.

The Tom Hom Group has also been selected to develop a $6 million 50-unit mixed residential and retail project at Gass Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

"Campaige Place is not a flash in the pan for us," said Newbern, who named the facility for his two daughters.

Newbern said Campaige will soon prove a model downtown because of the 24-hour security, stringent guest policies, electronic key card access to rooms and gated parking lot.

"We're offering security and a place they can call home," he said.