Thursday, March 3, 2005 | 10:54 a.m.
Plans for a master-planned community on the Las Vegas Tribe of Paiute Indian reservation continue to progress with the announcement that the American Nevada Company will be involved in the development of the property.
The Las Vegas Tribe of Paiute Indians announced more than a year ago that it was reviving plans to develop a master-planned community on 3,800 acres of reservation land in the northwest valley. The land is located off U.S. 95, just north of Kyle Canyon Road.
At that time, the tribe of about 50 members teamed up with LasCal Development Corp. a California-based development company owned by Jerry Turk. The partnership also includes the Maloof family, owners of the Palms, and California-based tribes the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians, and the Pala Band of Mission Indians. The Paiute Tribe also has retained Las Vegas-based Construction Consultants Inc.
Turk, a former Las Vegas resident and former partner in the Fitzgeralds hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas, said American Nevada will take the lead in planning and developing the community.
"We decided to bring American Nevada in because of their experience in the Las Vegas Valley and in developing some of the best master-planned communities in the valley," Turk said.
American Nevada is owned by the Greenspun family, publishers of the Las Vegas Sun.
The community will be substantially residential and the possibilities of commercial sites and a casino are also being studied, said John Kilduff, president of American Nevada.
George Maloof, who runs the Palms resort, said the decision about whether to develop a casino hasn't been determined and is "up to the tribe."
"Before we get to that point we're looking at a master plan for the site" that will include residential and commercial buildings in a "community" setting, Maloof said.
"It's their land. They want to develop it at their own pace."
The LasCal partners also are pursuing a deal to develop a casino resort for the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians in San Pablo, which is near San Francisco. The controversial project has received approval from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger but has yet to be approved by the state Legislature. Turk manages a casino for the Pala tribe near San Diego while the Rumsey tribe had a pre-existing relationship with the Lytton Band.
The Paiute reservation currently has three Pete Dye-designed golf courses and a 50,000-square-foot clubhouse with a restaurant, lounge and pro shop.
A feasibility study is now being put together and is expected to be completed in the next seven months. At that time, the plan will be submitted to the Paiutes for consideration, Kilduff said.
If all goes well, construction on the community could begin as early as 2006.
Kilduff said the reservation's terrain and vegetation will be a major part of the master-planned community.
Kilduff said there will be a spectrum and range of residential product types, along with a significant amount of open space within the community.
"There will be clusters of housing products with substantial open space in and around those clusters," he said. "That is our current thought on the design."
The process of buying a home or developing a property on sovereign tribal land is slightly different from buying a house from a private developer.
Reservation lands are held in trust by the federal government for the tribes, meaning the tribes cannot sell the land outright. Long-term land leases, often 99 years, are worked out with homeowners or developers to build on reservation land.
"Really, the individuals that will live in this community will be treated no different than if they were not on Indian land," Turk said. "The issues we need to work out here are unique."
Because land costs will not be included in cost of the home, the houses will most likely be more affordable than what is now found in the Las Vegas Valley, Kilduff said.
While residential and commercial properties have been built on small scales on Indian reservation land for nontribal member use, the developers believe this is the first time such a large-scale development has been attempted.
One issue that needs to be worked out is what entity would provide services and how those services would be paid for, Turk said. Even though the reservation land is within Clark County, it is exempt from property taxes.
"These are the types of issues we need to work out," he said. "It's a very complex situation."
Turk said LasCal representatives will be meeting with city of Las Vegas and Clark County officials in the near future to discuss how services can be provided to the community.
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