High hopes in downtown Henderson

Friday, Dec. 14, 2007 | 7:24 a.m.

There shouldn't be a problem flipping on the lights when City Tower, the much-hyped 15-story mixed-use project in Henderson, opens in two years.

But for the moment the city's aging downtown power grid can supply the complex with enough power only to begin construction, far less than will be needed when City Tower opens its doors.

The problem - and as civic problems go, this is a high-quality problem - is that so much is being built at the intersection of Water Street and Lake Mead Parkway in the fast-growing city that the power grid is overmatched.

It's just one of the challenges of transforming one of the valley's oldest sections into one of its freshest, the type with big-box plazas and high-rise condos.

"We just need to make sure when we open it we can light it up," said Arik Raiter, who is building City Tower. "Candles are out of the question."

Nobody has any worries that the city and Nevada Power Co. will find a way to provide City Tower with the power it needs by the time it's scheduled to open in 2009. It currently has enough to start construction early next year.

Originally, construction was to begin in October this year, but Raiter said the slow market - not figuring how to turn the power on - pushed back the timetable.

His project will be on the southeastern corner of Water Street and Lake Mead Parkway. The city already has taken steps to make the neighborhood a destination, launching a redevelopment effort that aims to make the original section of the former industrial city a trendy area.

It has added an amphitheater outside City Hall that hosts a weekly farmers market. Each month the neighborhood is home to Third Thursday, a showcase for the art galleries and small businesses along Water Street. Plus, a pair of recently opened mixed-use projects at Water Street and Atlantic Avenue have spruced up an area historically significant for the flat-roofed homes built during World War II.

More than $300 million in projects, including City Tower, are part of the 1,400-acre Downtown Redevelopment District.

Target will anchor the 73-acre Lake Mead Crossing shopping center kitty-cornered from City Tower. The corner also holds the St. Rose Dominican Hospitals' Rose de Lima Campus.

A block east a 2,200-acre development is planned for the former toxic waste dump near Boulder Highway and Water Street. That project calls for 15,000 residential units, three shopping areas and more than a dozen parks.

With all that development the city knew it eventually would need to find another power source. Its substation along Water Street was built to handle the Water Street of the 1960s, a place filled with blue-collar homes, but the Water Street of today is a far different, much more developed place.

Lake Mead Crossing, which has started construction, got the last of the available existing power. It will likely open sometime next year.

"It's a fairly normal issue," said Michelle Romero, redevelopment project manager for Henderson. "Nevada Power allots the power on a first-come, first-served basis. The Lake Mead Crossing project came in first so they got the remaining allotment. It was bound to happen with one of the developments."

Now the city and Nevada Power are exploring how to get power to the new location, Romero said. One option would be building lines from a substation near Sunset and Pabco roads.

Raiter said he's not too worried, though the problem did catch him by surprise. He said no planners mentioned the issue during the nearly two-year permitting process.

Before breaking ground, Raiter said, he wants to secure a few more major tenants to fill 16,000-square-foot floors of office space.

And by the time the first phase opens in 2009, a solution to the power shortage will be found.

"It's not uncommon," said Herbert Goforth, director of technical services and support at Nevada Power. New infrastructure is often needed in areas being redeveloped, he said. The cost is absorbed by Nevada Power consumers.

The City Tower buildings will be an impressive addition to Henderson. The completed project will include 160,000 square feet of office space, 40,000 square feet of retail space, a six-floor parking garage with 800 spaces, and 128 condominiums.

And everyone involved promises that those in the building will be able to use their microwaves at the same time.

"There's no question there's a solution," Raiter said.

And gas-powered lanterns aren't it.

Sun reporter Phoebe Sweet contributed to this report.