1,900-acre development hinges on Monday decision

Mathis Winkler

Friday, Nov. 2, 2001 | 10:40 a.m.

Retreat canceled

The North Las Vegas City Council retreat scheduled for Saturday at Texas Station has been called off.

The future of a proposed master-planned community on 1,900 acres in North Las Vegas is likely to remain uncertain until Monday, when the developers have to pay a balance of $37.76 million for the land.

That's because the developers and city officials still haven't resolved several issues regarding the project. The developers have said that they need to come to an agreement before pumping more money into the project.

"We still have a lot of ground to cover," said Frank Pankratz, who oversees the Nevada operations of Del Webb Corp.

The North Las Vegas City Council retreat that was scheduled for Saturday at Texas Station has been canceled, freeing officials to work throughout the weekend to fine-tune a development agreement.

Functioning as North Valley Enterprises, Del Webb has formed a partnership with American Nevada Corp. to develop the land. American Nevada is owned by the Greenspun Corp., which also owns the Las Vegas Sun.

Phillip Peckman, chief operating officer of Greenspun Corp., said he expects discussions to continue throughout the weekend.

"We hope we close" the land purchase on Monday, he said, adding that both sides were doing their best to get things resolved.

"We're trying, (the city's) trying, we're still at it," Peckman said.

He declined to reveal any specifics about the outstanding issues regarding the project.

Earlier hang-ups, such as the spacing of trees along streets, the type of playground equipment and the type of parks, have been resolved, said Mike Majewski, the city's point man on the project.

"We're just running through the technicalities," Majewski said, adding that both sides are still negotiating over the timetable for the construction of parks and the planting of trees.

"That's not an obstacle that can't be overcome," he said, adding that ultimately the developers have to decide whether to move forward and pay the rest of the money on Monday.

The companies already paid $9.44 million to the Bureau of Land Management, which owns the land, after entering the winning bid for the parcel at an auction in May.

They will likely lose the money if they decide not to pay the rest of the price by Monday's deadline.

Peckman said the companies are still trying to figure out whether they can get an extension to pay the money. But Bureau of Land Management officials have said they won't grant a delay of the payment.

North Valley hasn't released a map of the proposed development, which would sit roughly between Centennial Parkway, Grand Teton Drive, Decatur Boulevard and Clayton Street.

Some aspects of the project are known, however. Del Webb plans to develop a neighborhood for people 55 and older on the site's northeastern corner, and American Nevada wants to build 3,822 homes and 988 apartments on the rest of the land.

A commercial center, which would include a 41-acre hotel-casino, is proposed for the intersection of the Las Vegas Beltway and an extension of Simmons Street.

The new community would also include three schools, a fire station, 384 acres of parks and open land.