Thursday, June 28, 2007 | 2:48 a.m.
A developer donated 4 acres in Henderson worth more than $2.6 million as part of a plan to build affordable housing and help recruit teachers to the Clark County School District.
The LandWell Co., a subsidiary of Basic Management Inc., donated the land north of West Horizon Ridge Parkway and west of U.S. 95 to the Public Education Foundation. The nonprofit organization has selected UniDev, a national developer of workforce housing, to oversee the project that officials hope will spur other property owners to donate.
Foundation officials have hailed LandWell's donation as the first of its kind in the country to build workforce housing for public schoolteachers. The lack of affordable housing is one of the reasons the district has had a difficult time attracting and retaining teachers.
"I think it represents a potential breakthrough on future housing programs," Superintendent Walt Rulffes said. "I think it creates a model which can be leveraged for additional projects. Hopefully, it will further the interest of private entities and non-profits to partner when it comes to teacher housing."
There is a need for several thousand homes in the valley for teachers, said Judi Steele, president of the Public Education Foundation. She said the group's thrilled LandWell would make such donation to help with the teacher housing shortage.
"It sounds like a small drop in the bucket, but we believe it is the beginning of an exciting development in this valley," Steele said. "For people who are considering coming here, this shows that this community cares. It will make a difference. Nobody has done this, and we hope it sets a trend."
A feasibility study will determine how many units can be built on the site, but it's expected to yield at least 40 condominiums.
Ehud Mouchly, vice president and general manager of UniDev for California and Nevada, said with the land donation, the condos could be priced at least 30 percent below market costs. There will be other savings owing to the lack of advertising, low overhead and reduced financing expenses.
That may enable a starting price of less than $200,000 for some of the units, he said.
The donation was proposed by Mark Paris, president and chief executive of the LandWell Co., who serves on the foundation board. Paris said he understands the need for affordable housing to attract teachers and wanted his company to make a difference.
"I thought it would be worthwhile to have a beta site to see if it's possible for the development community, city, school district, foundation and others to come together to see if there is a way to provide quality housing for teachers," Paris said.
The site is an isolated undeveloped parcel that's part of the land holdings of Basic Management Inc., a privately owned holding company incorporated in 1952 to manage the common assets of the industrial plants within the BMI industrial complex.
Steele said the effort to bring more affordable housing to the valley was prompted by surveys from teachers leaving the district and others who rejected job offers. They said they could not afford to live in Las Vegas because it was too expensive to rent or purchase a home or rent an apartment, she said.
The foundation looked for solutions around the country and found them at universities which have done similar projects to help retain professors, Steele said.
"I don't see any reason why it can't work," Mouchly said. "It has worked well in California."
UniDev, which Clark County hired earlier this year to look study the feasibility of teacher housing programs for new and existing teachers, will be paid $60,000 by the foundation to conduct a feasibility study, Steele said.
Rulffes said he appreciates the involvement of outside groups in helping with the problem of affordable housing. He said some school districts around the country are buying apartment complexes for their teachers, but he said he doesn't believe it should be in the housing business. Rulffes tempered his enthusiasm by saying he hasn't seen a groundswell of interest for donating land but called the LandWell project a start.
"I think in order to make a significant difference we would need hundreds of units," Rulffes said. "I am not sure that kind of scope is practical in such a high land-value market. Land is crucial for this."
The foundation will work with the school district in setting up criteria to determine who is eligible to purchase the housing, Steele said. In the beginning, the focus will be on recruiting teachers, she said. The foundation will be able to build affordable housing in part because it can borrow money at a lower rate, Steele said.
The land will be owned by the foundation in perpetuity, Mouchly said. If and when a teacher sold their home to another teacher, they would receive their money back, plus the rate of inflation, he said.
"The land is owned forever by the foundation, and affordability is maintained as opposed to someone walking away with a lot of money in their pocket," Mouchly said.
Mouchly said it could take about a year to obtain entitlements in Henderson. Construction could start by the second half of 2008 and the condos would be completed in 2009, he said.
The property allows a mix of residential and commercial use, he said. It is bounded by the freeway and rental townhomes, he said.
Earlier this year, LandWell donated land for Opportunity Village, a nonprofit group that works with those with intellectual disabilities.
LandWell also owns 2,200 acres east of the industrial complex where it plans to build a master-planned community. LandWell has been looking for a builder or developer to acquire the site since Centex Homes pulled out of its deal earlier this year.Portions of the site have industrial contamination and require remediation.
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