Can’t afford a glitzy condo unit?

By Sam Skolnik

Thursday, March 5, 2009 | 2 a.m.

After downtown developer Sam Cherry finished building his two high-priced Las Vegas condo towers, SoHo Lofts and Newport Lofts, a couple of the buildings’ doormen asked him to consider building “a nice place downtown where we can afford to live.”

Cherry took their request to heart. Filling what appears to be a gap in the local housing market, he has plans to develop two downtown apartment buildings to provide workforce housing and to appeal to young professionals and artists who live downtown.

Last week the Las Vegas Planning Commission gave its approval for Cherry to build two four-story, 60-unit buildings. One is to be on the southwest corner of Casino Center Boulevard and Colorado Avenue, the other on the southeast corner of 11th Street and Stewart Avenue.

The apartments, which will boast corrugated metal exteriors and several “green” features including solar panels, are the first planned for downtown in some time, officials and residents say.

And the timing could work well — assuming the economy rebounds before too long. Cherry is hoping to break ground by the end of the year, and then to open by late 2010, when several city redevelopment projects are expected to be gaining momentum.

“Our goal is to have people live in downtown, work in downtown and walk to work,” said Cherry, the developer behind the first upscale condos downtown a few years ago.

He started a condo-building trend — one that’s been torpedoed by the economic plunge locally and nationally.

The condo market across the valley, including downtown, is hurting badly. As of a few months ago, buyers at four of the five condo projects recently completed or under construction in Las Vegas — Newport Lofts, Juhl, Allure and Streamline Tower — were finding it difficult, if not impossible, to get financing to close on their units.

Cherry said he didn’t expect another high-rise condo tower to be built anywhere in the valley for the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, there appear to be few if any apartments downtown like the ones Cherry plans to build. And with the recession deepening, how better to fill the need for housing downtown — especially for those who don’t need government assistance but can’t afford high-rise living?

“People really do have a desire to live downtown. What Cherry’s doing seems like the right move,” said Michael Cornthwaite, owner of the Downtown Cocktail Room.

“We went from flophouse motels and government-subsidized housing to half-million-dollar condos — with nothing in between,” Cornthwaite said. “We need these kinds of appealing, reasonably priced apartments.”

Doug Rankin, planning manager of the city’s Planning and Development Department, agreed that there’s been a need for rentals downtown, especially for those open to everyone but with modest leases.

“It appears the timing of this project might be good,” Rankin said. “Sam Cherry may be on the forefront of another new trend.”

L’Octaine Apartments, near SoHo Lofts downtown, received positive reviews after opening in 2005, and the 51-unit complex maintains a waiting list for renters. But those apartments are designated as Section 42 “affordable housing” units, for people whose incomes are below certain levels.

For example, according to Sean Mattingly of the Tom Hom Group, which developed L’Octaine, three people living in a one-bedroom apartment cannot have a combined income of more than $34,500.

Cherry said he hopes to qualify for a different type of federal Housing and Urban Development Department loan that does not disqualify residents who make too much money. Instead, he said, such a loan is designed for developers who build residences within urban redevelopment areas.

Cherry said the apartments he proposes will be about 500 square feet each and rent for market rate, likely $700 to $900 per month. Plans still need City Council approval, and the arduous process for HUD financing may take several more months.