American Nevada, Del Webb unveil N. Las Vegas details

Jennifer Robison

Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2002 | 11:03 a.m.

Two big Las Vegas Valley developers revealed the name and other details this morning of their 1,905-acre master-planned development in North Las Vegas that many say will bring the fast-growing city more in line with the master-planned communities characterizing other parts of the valley.

American Nevada Corp. and Del Webb Communities, operating in a joint venture called North Valley Enterprises LLC, said they will bring thousands of new homes to the newly named "Aliante" in North Las Vegas, along with recreational and commercial amenities akin to those they included in such upscale master-plans in Las Vegas and Henderson as Green Valley, Green Valley Ranch, Seven Hills, Sun City Summerlin and Anthem.

"This is one of the most exciting days we've ever had in North Las Vegas," said Jacque Risner, the city's community development director. "We believe the type of product that's going to be developed is literally going to change the face of North Las Vegas.

"This will do for us what Green Valley did for Henderson. It'll take us over that hump and give us a full spectrum of housing options for our residents so that when they want to move up they can move up within North Las Vegas and stay within our boundaries."

Though North Las Vegas has experienced brisk growth and substantial new-home development in recent years, it must also contend with an urban core in which expansion has lagged behind that of the rest of the city of 134,000.

Named for the "gliding" birds in its logo, Aliante will eventually contain about 7,500 homes and 20,000 residents in two portions: the Primary Village and the Active Adult Village.

"The intent is to take the best of all the master-planned communities both here and around the country and incorporate them into this new master-planned community," said John Kilduff, president of American Nevada Corp. "The intent is to have it feel and be like a small town rather than a city. We want it to have that friendly environment with the scale and feel of a small town."

The two developers also named the four home builders that will be the first to construct homes at Aliante.

KB Home, Pardee Homes of Nevada, D.R. Horton and Pulte Homes Inc. -- which acquired Del Webb in May 2001 shortly after the developer formed North Valley Enterprises with American Nevada -- will build about 1,750 homes in nine neighborhoods for the first phase of Aliante's Primary Village.

Home prices in the Primary Village will range from the low $100,000s to the high $200,000s.

The Active Adult Village's first phase will include about 115 homes priced from the $130,000s.

The first homeowners at the community, which is bounded by Grand Teton Drive, Clayton Street, Centennial Parkway and Decatur Boulevard, are scheduled to move in early next year.

Aliante will also feature an 18-hole public golf course designed by Gary Panks Associates of Scottsdale, Ariz. The municipal course is scheduled to open in 2004 and will give preferred tee times and fee discounts to North Las Vegas residents.

The golf course is one component of 428 acres of land within Aliante designated for recreational and public uses. Linear parks, a walking-trail system and a 20-acre "nature discovery park" with a lake, waterfalls, woods and a dinosaur-dig themed playground are also planned.

Proposed plans also include two elementary schools and a middle school to be built by the Clark County School District, and the developers have also set aside sites for the development of a fire station and the possible development of a public library.

The community's information gallery, scheduled to be under construction in October, will overlook the nature park and offer a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf with both indoor and outdoor seating.

About 100 acres of the master-plan are allocated for commercial development, which will include 60 acres of neighborhood shopping centers and office parks in addition to a 40-acre hotel-casino.

Kilduff said construction start dates for the community's commercial components have yet to be determined, and will be based on demand as the community comes online.

The developers haven't named a hotel-casino operator yet, but Kilduff said American Nevada will develop the retail and office projects within Aliante. American Nevada's owner, the Greenspun family, has previously teamed with Station Casinos Inc. of Las Vegas on gaming projects.

The two developers purchased the Aliante site from the Bureau of Land Management in May 2001 for $47 million.

The North Las Vegas property appealed to American Nevada and Del Webb for two reasons, Kilduff said,

First is the scarcity of large parcels available for development in the Las Vegas Valley.

Second, Kilduff said a need exists "for the development of a master-planned community and that lifestyle in North Las Vegas."

The build-out on Aliante is about five years, with the first phase scheduled for build-out in about a year and a half.

The acreage is part of a total of 7,500 acres the BLM has marked for sale in North Las Vegas.

Risner said the city of North Las Vegas began working in the 1980s on shifting the property into private hands for development, but several obstacles prevented that from happening.

"Sometimes the time is just not right," Risner said. "Back in the '80s, when the city was looking at doing this, it was so far out and there was no infrastructure. To bring water, sewer lines and roads out would have cost a fortune."

Also, the BLM's decision to sell property directly to developers -- rather than exchange it for environmentally sensitive land -- was a factor in delivering the property to private developers, Risner said.

Though the BLM has no say in how the land it auctions off is developed, officials of the city of North Las Vegas have been vocal about their desire that the 7,500 acres contain Summerlin- or Green Valley-style master-planned communities.

And though the city of North Las Vegas wanted the entire 7,500 acres auctioned off in one chunk to one developer, Risner said she's pleased with the process so far.

"We would have preferred to do it all in one big chunk. There are economies of scale, and with one developer, there's a consistent look throughout. But the federal government is mandated to maximize the return on the property to the citizens (by auctioning the property off in pieces), so we negotiated with the what we thought was a win-win situation for everybody."

Auctions for future chunks of the property have yet to be scheduled.

The Greenspun family also owns the Las Vegas Sun.