Island will rise at Lake Las Vegas

Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003 | 8:51 a.m.

A developer at Lake Las Vegas has scotched plans for one of two golf courses in favor of building an island on the lake instead.

The Henderson City Council approved the change for Northshore at Lake Las Vegas Tuesday night during a special planning meeting at Henderson City Hall.

The island will rise on 60 acres that will offer condominiums, retail shops and a new resort hotel in the Hillside development, said Brad Nelson, representing Lake Las Vegas.

"We'd like to start either late this year or early in 2004," Nelson said.

It will take six months just to grade the island into shape, he said.

A total of 3,500 condos and about 2,100 resort rooms are expected to be built in two phases, he said.

A total of 2,000 units will be built in the first phase with some retail shops also planned, Nelson said.

The latest development proposed at Lake Las Vegas will add to the construction of the Village at MonteLago, which includes a 350-room Ritz-Carlton hotel, about 900 luxury condominiums, a 40,000-square-foot casino, a 30,000-square-foot day spa and 125,000 square feet of retail space.

The road near the Hyatt Regency resort will also be extended to handle extra traffic to the island, the council agreed unanimously.

The 496-room Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas opened in January 2000 at a cost of $150 million.

Councilman Steven Kirk said Lake Las Vegas continues to add new dimensions to its development.

"There's no limits at Lake Las Vegas," Kirk said before the vote. "First they created a lake and then an island."