Northwest growth helps residents stay close to home

By Jeff Pope

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | 2:19 p.m.

Steve Ross would like to see people stay closer to home.

The Ward 6 city councilman said economic and cultural developments in the past few years should keep northwest Las Vegas residents from driving far to find shopping and entertainment.

Ross touted the opening of the Centennial Community Center, library and phase three of the park in the past two years as signs that the city is trying to make the northwest a viable place to live, work and play.

He told business owners from his ward on Feb. 19 that the city needs to do everything it can to help small businesses be successful.

Ross and Mayor Oscar Goodman were keynote speakers at the State of Centennial Hills Update 2009 and Community Expo at Santa Fe Station.

"The backbone of our economy is not the banks and the big corporations, it's people like you and me that work for a living," he said. "It's people like you and me that put in 40, 50 hours a week trying to feed our families and pay our bills.

"Your businesses and your jobs are very important to the success of not only the city but, of course, the northwest."

In a room full of professionals, the economy naturally took center stage. Goodman promoted the Union Park development downtown and said NBA officials told him recently that if the city builds an arena, the league will place a pro team in Las Vegas. The arena would be part of an entertainment complex near the current city hall.

The city is also still meeting with companies planning passenger train routes from Southern California to Las Vegas, Goodman said.

"Anything we can do to bring people in here, we have to do," he said. "We have to everything in the world to make sure our tourism is successful."

While the northwest may not be a hot spot for tourists, it is positioned well to be the hub of development once the economy rebounds, said Randy Bridges, founder of AnnRd.com, which organized the expo.

The 900,000-square-foot retail project called the Streets of Montecito is comparable in size to Town Square but also will have a hotel. The developer, Triple Five Nevada, told area residents in November that the project at Grand Montecito Parkway and Deer Springs Way is still a reality. Ross said the company will begin "moving dirt" likely in the third quarter.

A new College of Southern Nevada campus at Durango Drive and U.S. 95 is also expected to spur growth in the northwest. Although no timeline has been set for construction, the plan is to include a commercial area on campus to help fund it.

For northwest residents that work in urban areas, the Regional Transportation Commission plans to open a park-and-ride lot at Durango and U.S. 95 this fall.

Residents can park their cars and board an express vehicle or meet up with carpool partners and is intended to reduce by half the time it takes to go from the northwest into downtown or the Strip.

In the city with the second highest foreclosure rate in the country, the northwest area took a major hit. The northwest has three of the ZIP codes with the most foreclosures.

But Bridges, who sells bank-owned homes for Liberty Realty, said that in 10 years as a Realtor he's never been busier than he was in 2008.

"There's still so many opportunities up here even with the slow economy," he said. "In this economy as the gas (price) is starting to go back up again, it's very important to try and do business in your community."

Bridges started AnnRd.com in 2006 as a free business listing site for the northwest residents. The site has since added listings in Summerlin, Henderson and North Las Vegas.

The expo featured 28 vendors from the northwest and was attended by 400, Bridges said.

Jeff Pope can be reached at 990-2688 or [email protected].