Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.
The area east of the Las Vegas Convention Center, dotted with low-rent apartments -- many of which are dilapidated -- may soon experience the trend that developers have planned for other parts of town. The neighborhood may soon go up.
Bruce Langson, who has built for-rent apartments in Carson City, has plans for two condominium towers, topping 579 feet tall, on Sierra Vista Drive near Swenson Street. Three apartment buildings -- Sierra Apartments, La Mesa Apartments and Kona Loha Apartments -- will be razed to make way for the 47-story towers. Plans include 105,000 square feet of commercial space and 500 condos per tower. The project and a zoning change must still be approved by Clark County commissioners. "I've been working on this for almost two years," Langson said. "I want to make sure we build this properly."
Langson said his original plan was to rebuild the property -- now the site of decades-old apartments -- as a new apartment community. He said current appraisals of the land changed his mind.
"We can build better housing if we're able to sell it than build it down to a certain price level," he said. Langson's family has owned the apartment building at 594 Sierra Vista since his father built it in the early 1960s. The other two properties, 552 Sierra Vista and 560 Sierra Vista, are in escrow and are expected to close in November pending zoning approval, Langson said.
While Langson will be building up, the condos -- named Las Vegas Central -- will be geared toward Las Vegans.
"We are not focusing on marketing that would sell these to investors," he said. "We want primary residents in the buildings."
Prices will range from $139,900 for a 422-square-foot studio to more than $1.5 million for larger units. The largest units below the penthouses are 1,900 square feet. Most of the units will sell in the $350,000 to $450,000 range, he said.
John Restrepo, principal of Restrepo Consulting Group LLC, said even though the area's current image isn't the best, it's perfect for redevelopment.
"That's kind of a rough area -- it's traditionally one of the problematic ZIP codes in the valley," Restrepo said.
Despite those challenges its proximity to the Strip and Paradise Road and the type of product being planned -- a true mix of housing and commercial uses -- give the project more chance for success, he said.
"The smartest thing is they are putting in commercial uses," Restrepo said. "Many of these projects are just high-rise residential towers."
Langson said the commercial space will be used for retail, restaurants and some office space and will cater to residents and conventioneers of the nearby convention center.
"We will try to make the facility available to conventioneers as best we can, with a shuttle or a bridge," he said. "We will attempt to make it convenient for conventioneers and we do have meeting halls and display areas."
Many of nearby property owners have expressed their support of the project, Langson said, although some have expressed their frustrations that a neighborhood meeting was botched.
The neighborhood meeting took place last month, but the meeting time on the original notices had to be changed because county officials could not attend. A revised notice was sent out but some people did not receive them and it appeared that others actually received the notices in the wrong order, and thus showed up for the meeting at the original, and wrong, time.
"Nobody was there," said Paul Zizka, who with his wife own nearby apartment buildings. "We just wanted to find out information about what it is about."
Ash Zarabi, who owns a vacant lot near the proposed high rise, received a notice that the meeting was to be at 6 p.m. and when he showed up, was told the meeting was over. Zarabi lives in California and made arrangements to be in town for the meeting.
"I wanted to hear any problems the other neighbors might have," Zarabi said. "I have no problem; I'd like to see the community come up and look nice. I'm tired of trash everywhere and dumping."
Langson said the mix-up was the fault of his attorneys.
County planner Lebene Oheme said despite the miscommunication, there were at least 25 people in attendance. Langson -- who put the number of people in attendance at 40 -- said he was surprised so many people were interested enough in the project to show up to the meeting.
"We expected only a couple," he said.
Since that meeting Langson said several area property owners have approached him about developing similar projects. Restrepo said future projects for the area are dependent on the success of the current project.
"If he (Langson) is successful, success breeds more of the same," Restrepo said, adding that the neighborhoods bordered by Desert Inn Road, Maryland Parkway, and Paradise and Flamingo roads are prime redevelopment areas.
"It's going to take a couple of these projects for that area to be successful," he said.
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