Hispanic center planned

Mathis Winkler

Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001 | 9:48 a.m.

Along Las Vegas or Lake Mead boulevards in North Las Vegas, it's not hard to find 50-cent taco stands or supermarkets that cater to the Hispanic community.

English-speaking store owners have put up signs, in Spanish, that reflect the area's increasingly Hispanic population, which ranges from 83.3 percent to 56.7 percent of residents in the surrounding neighborhoods.

About 37.6 percent of North Las Vegas' residents are of Hispanic origin, according to the Census 2000 figures. In comparison, Clark County's Hispanic population is about 22 percent.

But what's lacking in the city, or anywhere else in the Las Vegas Valley, is a central gathering place for the Hispanic community and those interested in its culture.

Arnold Stalk, a Las Vegas developer, plans to change that by building a $12 million Hispanic-themed shopping and events center on a vacant, 12-acre lot at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Belmont Street.

El Centro de Las Vegas, as the proposed 100,000-square-foot complex is called, would be "a place to get married, to shop, to see your attorney, to go for holiday festivals," said Stalk, who worked as Las Vegas' housing division director in the early 1990s before turning to the private sector to develop affordable housing projects.

Along with some North Las Vegas community leaders, Stalk hopes his project will spark a renaissance in the city's dilapidated downtown area by making it a destination for Hispanic culture.

Laura Coleman, who serves as one of the city's main cheerleaders as co-chairwoman of the North Las Vegas Community Steering Committee, said she is excited about the plans. She has always envisioned turning Las Vegas Boulevard into a "Latin quarter," she said.

"Let's work with what we've got and make it a destination," said Coleman, whose husband, Mickey, owns the Poker Palace casino across from the site of Stalk's project.

Plans for the master-planned center show space for a supermarket, as well as more than a dozen smaller retail shops, restaurants and a medical office building. Individual stores would be connected by landscaped walkways.

A main plaza, about 200 feet in diameter, would serve as a gathering point for Hispanic celebrations, concerts, weddings and birthday parties.

"This is a street scene," Stalk said, adding that he hopes to attract people with an opulent setting, similar to how Steve Wynn's attention-grabbing displays -- the pirates' battle at Treasure Island and the water fountains at Bellagio, for example -- lure people into Strip resorts.

"This is a way to get people day in and day out," Stalk said, adding that the complex would create about 250 jobs.

"That's the real deal of redevelopment, not a bank building that closes at 5 o'clock, or an insurance building or a courthouse," he said.

While Chinatown Plaza on Spring Mountain Road was not built in a predominantly Asian area, Stalk uses it as example as to what he wants to achieve in North Las Vegas.

He said the Chinese-themed shopping and dining center has attracted people from all ethnic backgrounds and has sparked similar developments in the surrounding areas. Although the original Chinatown center opened in 1995, just east of it a similar complex with pagoda-style roof sections is currently under construction.

Chinatown is also an area that Councilwoman Shari Buck brought up when asked about Stalk's plans.

"My hope would be that (a Hispanic-themed center) would be very inclusive and very attractive to all ethnic groups," said Buck, who also serves as vice chairman of the city's redevelopment agency, which will decide whether to approve Stalk's project.

Buck said that she had not met with Stalk to discuss his plans, but added that she would like to see a complex that celebrates Hispanic culture in the city's downtown area.

Councilwoman Stephanie Smith said she wants to wait until Stalk submits his plans to the city and moves further in the process of building the center.

"Speculation is easy, but actually going through with it, that's the challenge," she said.

Stalk, who has formed a joint venture on the project with Ray Koroghli, who owns the land, said he's currently in discussions with several Hispanic supermarket chains to anchor the center.

"I'm not in a hurry," said Koroghli, who has owned the land since 1996. "We want to be selective. We want to do something that will be very upscale. There are a lot of people that say, 'This is going to be in North Las Vegas?' "

Stalk said he is confident that he'll have private financing for the center in place by the time ground is broken, which should happen in about six months. Stalk and Koroghli hope to open the complex a year after that.

He has also proposed a similar center on Decatur Boulevard and Vegas Drive, but said that the North Las Vegas complex would open first.