Ambitious condo complex planned for southern valley

Jennifer Shubinski

Tuesday, April 12, 2005 | 11:08 a.m.

Diversified Real Estate Group will unveil plans today for a $1 billion, 2,400-condominium development on Las Vegas Boulevard South.

The 50-acre project, called Urban Village, will include a mix of brownstone-style units and buildings up to 12 stories with studios, flats and lofts.

Today's announcement will include a ground breaking while heavy construction will begin in July, Jimmy Foster, director of marketing for Diversified Real Estate Group said.

The project at Las Vegas Boulevard South and Pyle Avenue, just south of Silverado Ranch Boulevard, is not the first Las Vegas project for the company. Diversified Real Estate Group is owned by Philippe Pageau-Goyette, who also is co-developer of Manhattan Condominiums, a mid-rise condominium project under construction on Las Vegas Boulevard South at Serene Avenue.

Pageau-Goyette along with the Downtown Redevelopment Group have also previously announced plans to build Club Renaissance, a 60-story, 705-foot condominium tower at the southeast corner of Casino Center Boulevard and Bonneville Street.

Construction would be completed in five phases with completion expected in about three years, Foster said.

The first phase is scheduled to include 464 brownstone-style units. Phase two will include 460 to 470 units along with 64,000 square feet of retail space, Foster said.

Units will range from 1,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet, with prices starting in the upper $100,000s to $1 million. A 17,000-square-foot, three-story fitness center and clubhouse is also planned.

Diversified Real Estate has Clark County approvals for its first phase, the company said. Financing is being provided by Tharaldson Financial Group Inc.

Foster said the buyers are expected to be locals who want to be close to the action.

The site is near the under-construction South Coast hotel-casino, another planned casino, planned malls and other neighborhoods.

"The south end will be the hottest part of the city in the next five years," Foster said.

He expects the lower price points to attract local professionals and said the project will include walking trails and dog parks.

"Every detail has been thought through," Foster said.

Architect Robert Fielden, partner at RAFI Planning, Architecture, Urban Design, which is not affiliated with the project, said despite the intentions of developers to attract local residents, many of the projects announced will end up in the hands of second homeowners from out of town.

Fielden said that very high-density projects, many of which will end up attracting second homeowners not associated with gaming, are misusing the valley's scarce land recourses.

"Some of these projects are taking on problems, they are taking advantage of the land that is available and resources that are available in this valley and not really using them to the benefit of the community," he said.

Fielden said people need to be aware of what they are buying into and whether it really satisfies their needs, especially if they are looking for a specific kind of community.

"There's so many of these going on, every day you open the Las Vegas Sun and there's another new project," he said. "They're trying to give them cool green architecture names when you don't know if they will provide that amenity and service to people buying them."