Friday, Dec. 20, 2002 | 10:06 a.m.
Among private developments in downtown Henderson, only the blinking star above Eldorado Casino would be higher than a four-story apartment complex approved Thursday by the Henderson Planning Commission.
If the building is constructed as planned, it would be 50 feet tall, about 10 feet shorter than the Eldorado's star, which has spun since the early 1950s as a Henderson landmark.
The high profile planned for the new building is a harbinger of a future downtown for Henderson, said Denna Howell, acting director of the city redevelopment agency.
"Right now Water Street is essentially one-story, but the downtown investment strategy calls for multiple stories," Howell said. "The heights of buildings all over downtown need to increase to have that residential base to support commercial development."
The first step toward that new downtown is to start with 84 apartments for low-income seniors on 5.6 acres owned in part by Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson.
The $6.4 million project at 130 E. Pacific would eventually have 186 apartments and would provide affordable housing just a short walk from a city senior center, according to private non-profit developer, Nevada Housing and Neighborhood Development, or Nevada H.A.N.D. The building would replace two aging one-story apartment complexes built in 1942 that house about 40 seniors.
The complaints Thursday weren't about the purpose of the building, however; they were about the transformation of the Henderson skyline.
Nearby residents in a downtown neighborhood of mostly one-story, flat-roofed homes complained to planning commissioners that the proposed building would deprive their downtown back yards of privacy and sunlight.
And some Henderson Redevelopment Advisory commissioners have worried that the building could become a monolithic eyesore reminiscent of Soviet-era architecture. They also argue that low-income seniors will do little to attract new business to the struggling commercial corridor along Water Street and Pacific Avenue.
But the city Planning Commission approved the complex unanimously, granting a waiver for its excessive height, after being reassured that elevators will ferry residents to top floors and sprinklers will protect them against fire.
"With seniors coming here from all over the country, there has to be some sort of capitulation to the progress of seniors," said Linda Goldblatt, one of many seniors who spoke in favor of the project. Like others, she said the track record of Nevada Housing and Neighborhood Development bodes well for the Henderson complex.
The Henderson City Council is scheduled to take a final vote on the East Pacific Avenue project Jan. 21.
Cody Walker, downtown project manager for the redevelopment agency, said the project would be a boon to the struggling downtown and the City Council should support it.
"You go into Sam's Town and how many people are in there gambling that are considered low-income seniors? They still have money to spend," Walker said. "This will add density and it will upgrade the available housing for seniors downtown."
Some of the units planned for later phases could be built for market-rate sales to attract residents with more disposable income, said Michael Mullin, president of Nevada H.A.N.D.
"But our mission is building high-cost, affordable housing so that seniors can live in dignity rather than in less-than-attractive housing," Mullin said.
Mullin has built several similar public-private projects in Henderson by raising state, federal and private grants. No redevelopment funds will be used for construction.
A family of two can earn a maximum of $27,000 annually to qualify to rent a two bedroom apartment for $500 a month, Mullin said.
Tony Traub, a redevelopment advisory commissioner, said he hopes Nevada H.A.N.D. will consider changes in the building design.
"It reminds me of the architecture of the Soviet Union in 1958," he said. "It's awfully stark."
The first 84 units are planned in an undeveloped area between the two aging apartment units. Those will be torn down after new units are completed and seniors can move from the old units to the new units. Without the waiver of height, Mullin said, fewer units could be built and some seniors would have to be displaced.
Henderson Ventures, a corporation formed by Gibson's parents and several other investors, owns the land, the mayor said. The corporation was formed in 1959, according to state records.
According to disclosure forms submitted to the city planning department in October, Gibson maintains an 8.3 percent interest in the corporation, as does his younger brother David Gibson. Gibson said he plans to abstain from the City Council's discussion of the project and said he has not discussed it with city staff, the buyer or his brother.
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