Deadline nears for deal on 1,900-acre project

Mathis Winkler

Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2001 | 9:51 a.m.

Developers say a proposed master-planned community on 1,900 acres in North Las Vegas might be jeopardized if an agreement regarding plans for the project cannot be reached with city officials within the next two weeks.

American Nevada Corp. and Del Webb Corp., partnering as North Valley Enterprises, must pay $37.76 million -- the remainder of the land's $47.2 million purchase price -- by Nov. 5.

Phil Peckman, chief operating officer of Greenspun Corp., which owns American Nevada and the Las Vegas Sun, said American Nevada and Del Webb need to agree on the plans before the rest of the money is paid to the Bureau of Land Management.

"We hope to get this thing resolved," Peckman said. "We don't want to walk away from (the money) that we've put down."

North Valley Enterprises has already paid $9.44 million as a down payment to the BLM after bidding on the land at an auction in May. The partners complied with a bidding requirement that called for a preliminary agreement with the city within 30 days. If that deadline had been missed, the second-highest bidder, the Olympia Group, would have been granted the right to negotiate an agreement.

The bidding requirement stated that 20 percent of the land's price be paid immediately and the balance within 180 days -- Nov. 5. The requirement also stated that if final payment wasn't paid within 180 days, the down payment would be forfeited and the second-highest bidder would have the right to negotiate with the city.

The city's point man on the project, economic development manager Mike Majewski, expressed confidence that the remaining issues with North Valley Enterprises can be resolved but acknowledged that a development agreement might not be reached before Nov. 5.

Majewski said he didn't know how much longer it would take before the city's planning commissioners and City Council members could review the development agreement. Their review would come only after the city's staff had finished its review.

If the companies don't close on the land, the city would have to start over in its planning for a master-planned community on the 1,900 acres, which was part of a 7,500-acre parcel annexed from the BLM. The remaining BLM land will be auctioned in the future.

The developers need an agreement that lays out the scope of the project before they invest any more money, Peckman said, adding that the shaky economy in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks also complicated things.

"The economy isn't as strong as it was," Peckman said. "We're certainly going to have to take that into consideration if we close (the land purchase.)"

While Peckman said that company and city staff members are still negotiating about issues involving "large dollar amounts," he declined to go into the specifics.

He added that the company's lawyers had looked into the possibility of delaying the payment of the full purchase price, but so far that didn't seem possible.

"The likely scenario is that there is no way to get an extension (on the payment)," Peckman said. "If it could be postponed, that would be something that we're interested in. But you've got to play by the rules, whatever they are."

City Manager Kurt Fritsch said that he would sit down with company officials in the next couple of days to discuss issues regarding the project that have not been resolved.

But while he said city officials acknowledged the developers' desire to finalize an agreement by Nov. 5, the city's planning process on the 1,900 acres still had to be followed.

"We're not going to simply rubber-stamp a plan or plans that don't take care of the needs and concerns of the city," Fritsch said.

A potential backing off by North Valley Enterprises did concern him, Fritsch added.

"But certainly the fallback is that we have a second bidder out there ready to step forward (and take over the land,)" he said.

City staffers are in the final stages of receiving technical studies on traffic, water and sewer issues for the project, Majewski said.

Still remaining are issues including the project's development standards, such as the spacing and size of trees along streets and the types of playground equipment in parks, Majewski added.

The developers haven't released a precise map for the proposed community to the media. But some details are known about what's being proposed for the land, which is bordered roughly by Centennial Parkway, Grand Teton Drive, Decatur Boulevard and Clayton Street.

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

The community's commercial center would cluster around the intersection of the Las Vegas Beltway and an extension of Simmons Street. A 41-acre hotel-casino is proposed next to the Del Webb development.

A total of 384 acres of land would be set aside for parks and open space, including a web of linear parks and trails with pedestrian bridges or underpasses to allow residents to walk or bike anywhere without crossing streets.

The neighborhood would also include three schools and a fire station.