Developer plans condos in high-risk area near downtown

Jennifer Shubinski

Friday, April 1, 2005 | 11:10 a.m.

A developer has plans for a condo tower north of downtown Las Vegas but the location may present some challenges, a local expert said.

Seattle-based Northwest Resource Management Group said it plans to build a 25-story, 414-unit condominium tower named Cielo Vista along with 32,000 square feet of retail space at the southeast corner of Washington Avenue and Veterans Memorial Drive, just west of Cashman Field.

Steve Hartley, partner with Northwest Resource Management Group, said this week the company filed project plans with the city of Las Vegas. The project still needs to come before the planning commission and city council for approval, scheduled for May and June, respectively.

If approved, the condo tower would be the first Las Vegas project for Northwest Resource Management Group. The company has developed single-family residential in California and an 11-story building in Seattle, Hartley said.

"The single-family market in Vegas is crowded with players," he said. "We came into downtown Las Vegas to look around and saw that the market had changed. We thought it was an opportunity for the product that we're offering."

John Restrepo, principal of Restrepo Consulting Group LLC, said the neighborhood is a high-risk area. The area, north of U.S. 95, sees little new development and is an aging area of town.

"It does take a developer with experience in these types of locations," he said. "It will take very experienced, very well financed developers. It's not like building something on the Strip."

Hartley said the company goes into a metropolitan area that has good growth, and then works on the outer rim of that area, enabling the company to provide a less expensive product.

Hartley said the company closed on the 2.8-acre site Tuesday for $1.2 million. Records at the Clark County Assessors Web site do not yet reflect a sale.

Hartley said the low land price would allow the company to sell units 1,000 square feet to 2,000 square feet for $295,000 to more than $500,000. If approved by the city in June, Hartley said he anticipates construction beginning later this year.