Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

redevelopment:

Recession slows growth of downtown North Las Vegas

NLV Redevelopment

Steve Marcus

Johnny Boston, owner of Boston’s Custom Tailor & Alteration, says he has been doing business in the same North Las Vegas shopping center for more than 33 years. He says more police patrols would help business.

Beyond the Sun

Welcome to Fabulous Downtown North Las Vegas: an area laced with landscaped boulevards, myriad shopping centers and attractive, plentiful dining and nightlife options. Bring the whole family!

That’s how city officials see their downtown in 15 years or so. They’d started to make it happen, at least in little ways — such as planning the park with the new city hall that will give downtown a place for events next year. Then the recession hit and, for now, the great vision is mostly just that, a vision.

Driving around, it’s hard to tell where downtown is, with the exception of City Hall. That’s something the city’s officials have hoped to change for years.

They envision a densely populated downtown with high rises and multi-floored retail spots that the city’s more than 200,000 residents will clamor to come to. Where today sit mostly-empty parking lots along busy, wide streets, such as Lake Mead Boulevard, officials envision wide, safe sidewalks full of bicyclists and pedestrians, and retail fronts along the roadway.

Where now stand big, boxy Strip malls and haphazardly placed specialty stores and repair shops, city officials see a bustling metropolis of city dwellers, leaving their cars parked in one location and popping in and out of coffee shops and restaurants.

Just as Henderson residents have open space to gather in for art fairs and farmers markets, North Las Vegas officials desire a downtown where citizens congregate for concerts or picnics in front of City Hall.

“We will have a more lively, pedestrian-oriented, easily accessible downtown area that will be a destination point,” said Frank Fiori, the city’s planning and development director.

“I think that what you will always hear is that people think that North Las Vegas isn’t a nice place to come to,” he said. “Which isn’t really true.”

A reinvented downtown would ideally provide options unlike those on the Strip or in downtown Las Vegas, Fiori said. With branded boulevards and housing fit for a variety of residents, it would market to locals and outsiders alike, he said.

But before the big changes take hold, the suburb will have to throw off its Nor’town image — a term often considered a slur. North Las Vegas is fighting to keep its own residents from shopping elsewhere with an advertising program titled “Go Local, Go North.”

Downtown is bounded to the north by Cheyenne Avenue, to the south by Owens Avenue, to the east by Pecos Road, and to the West by Interstate 15. Its center is the triangle formed by Civic Center Drive, Lake Mead Boulevard and Las Vegas Boulevard North — the location of City Hall and other municipal buildings.

In February 2009, the City Council approved a downtown master plan. Neighboring Las Vegas, it said, “is one of the best-branded and most easily identified cities in the world.”

But North Las Vegas likes to think it has something to trade on, too. “By identifying the unique characteristics of North Las Vegas, the city will reflect its own culture and residents,” the plan said.

“We see ourselves as blue-collar residents,” said David Oka, acting redevelopment manager for North Las Vegas.

The master plan was approved during the recession. Fiori said that poses challenges, but the city has to start somewhere. Even when the economy is good, he said, redevelopment takes time.

Over in Henderson, officials in 2000 approved a Downtown Reinvestment Strategy — a comprehensive master plan. The plan has been successful in some key ways, such as creating a distinctively branded area.

That’s something North Las Vegas officials hope to do, too.

So far, the city renamed an area on North Fifth Street, a recently rebuilt roadway, “Boulevard North,” and built new signs there. What is special about the signs isn’t necessarily how they look — it’s that there were none before.

The downtown, ideally, will be broken into five or six branded regions to display each area’s value to retailers. “Boulevard North” will be an enticing destination, city officials say, rather than a swath of streetspace.

It’s not redevelopment revolution — yet, said Robert Lang, director of Brookings Mountain West, a research group based at UNLV. But it’s a start.

Lang said the branding method has worked elsewhere. In Denver, for example, the LoDo district went from sketchy to ultra hip. In Portland, the Pearl District went from next to nothing to a destination.

There’s a lot in a name, Lang said. If retailers buy into a brand, residents likely will, too.

“North Las Vegas is big enough to have the issue of downtown redevelopment,” he said. “One of the qualities that you look at is the need to be organic in some way.”

The city needs to find a hook — a niche that no one else can fill, Lang said. It can do that by playing on its own history, or branding areas with things that locals can relate to.

“There’s a part of the market that seeks authenticity,” he said.

For example, he said, a “Hoover District” in downtown Henderson could be effective branding because of the city’s history of housing many workers while the Hoover Dam was being constructed. It could also play off its World War II defense industry role, he said. That’s exactly what Henderson does.

But redevelopment is a rough road these days.

City officials estimate that about one in 15 homes in North Las Vegas is in foreclosure. Although it slashed millions of dollars from its budget for 2010-2011, the city faces cutting millions more in the next fiscal year.

The redevelopment agency’s funding has declined significantly during the recession, mainly because the agency relies on tax increment financing, said Acting Financing Director Al Noyola. That means funding is based on the amount of property tax the city collects when property increases in value. When values drop, so does the agency’s revenue.

“It’s the same scenario you’ve seen across this whole valley and this whole state,” Noyola said.

The assessed value of North Las Vegas is about $4.7 billion, Noyola said. In 2006-07, the peak of the boom times, the assessed valuation was $9.1 billion, he said.

The redevelopment agency’s budget for this fiscal year is about $2.1 million, Noyola said. Last year, it was about $2.9 million.

Las Flores, a 352,200-square-foot commercial development planned to begin construction more than a year ago just asked for a two-year extension. In 2009, the developers sought a one-year extension. Both times, the extra time was granted.

If completed, the development would hold a 100,000-square-foot retail store and three buildings for restaurants. Las Flores represents the kind of core retail that will help redevelop downtown, Fiori said.

Private investment in the city will be a core component of redevelopment, he said.

Not everyone — including many local business owners — is optimistic about redevelopment. Given the city’s dismal financial state, it’s hard for some to keep their chins up.

“Downtown, there is nothing,” said Nancy Cain of Flower Art on Lake Mead Boulevard. “There’s no draw.”

Cain, who has lived in North Las Vegas since 1968, said she would never consider moving her store, mainly because it’s her home. She’s said she’s certainly not staying because of North Las Vegas’ business environment.

“North Las Vegas is trying, and they need to try a little harder,” she said. “They need to think about the business owners who are here.”

Cain said the city could help her by cracking down on street vendors who may not have business licenses. Owning a flower shop, Cain said she sometimes loses valuable Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day customers to carts along the roadway.

Cain said that anchor stores like Target or Smith’s would help bring in shoppers from other parts of North Las Vegas and keep more local people shopping in their own city.

Johnny Boston, who owns a tailoring business near Cain’s and has lived in North Las Vegas for 34 years, said more police patrols would make shoppers and owners feel safer.

Downtown North Las Vegas isn’t known for being safe, he said, and it’s congested.

“The thing about North Las Vegas is you have to have some sort of attraction,” he said. “I haven’t a clue. Where do you start?”

North Las Vegas Police spokeswoman Chrissie Coon said that about 32 percent of the department’s 911 calls come from the downtown area. This isn’t surprising, she said, because the area has a dense population and two major roads — Lake Mead Boulevard and Las Vegas Boulevard — running through it. Coon said the most common calls are for nonviolent incidents.

Mayor Pro Tem William Robinson, in his 27th year on the City Council, said he hopes revitalization will happen, but that the economy is making the turnaround difficult.

“We need clothing stores and shoe stores,” he said. “There’s a whole lot of stuff we still need.”

William Robinson

William Robinson

He said higher-end, recognizable retail and restaurants would lure people downtown. But he said, the real challenge will be keeping locals from going elsewhere to buy certain items or to go out to eat.

“We got homes,” Robinson said. “We now need the other amenities.”

Qiong Liu, director of North Las Vegas’ public works department, said one of the centerpieces of downtown will be the new city hall, across the street from its present location, 2200 City Center Drive.

The $131 million building will house all departments, which are now spread throughout five buildings on City Center Drive. It is expected to be completed in fall 2011, $10 million under budget. And it’s LEED Silver certified, meaning it meets certain standards for green energy.

Perhaps more important, she said, the city hall will feature a three-acre park.

“It’s going to be a focal point of downtown,” she said. “We can have concerts, farmers markets, or any community event.”

Those are events the city doesn’t have a home for now. Families also aren’t used to coming downtown at night, she said.

The goal, Liu said, will be to show downtown “in a new light.”

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