Council approves land for health clinic in West Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 | 2:42 p.m.

Construction will get under way next month on a new medical facility that will provide reduced-rate services to the uninsured and bring about 80 jobs to a Las Vegas business park, thanks to action taken Wednesday by the Las Vegas City Council.

The council unanimously approved selling a 2.42-acre site in the city’s Enterprise Park to Nevada Health Centers Inc., which plans to construct a two-story medical office facility at 1888 Stella Lake Street.

"It's an absolutely beautiful project," said Mayor Oscar Goodman, who attended a recent groundbreaking for the planned Martin Luther King Jr. Health Center and Administrative Offices at the site. "It will add a lot of prestige."

Nevada Health Centers is a statewide nonprofit corporation that provides care for about 50,000 low-income residents at about 20 locations in the state.

Construction, which will be completed by SR Construction based on a design by Ben Girardan, an architect with 10 Nine Design, is expected to cost about $14 million. About half of that will be funded by a grant from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act; the rest will be paid for through a combination of the group’s own cash and fundraising efforts over the rest of the year.

Bill Arent, director of the city’s economic and urban development office, told the city council that Nevada Health Centers chose the city's Enterprise Park location for the new approximately 30,000-square-foot facility. The facility will feature a family practice, pediatric care and obstetrics/gynecological services.

Arent said it will relocate 73 jobs now in the community to that facility and will create eight new full-time jobs.

Arent said his office is working closely with Nevada Health Centers to hold a job fair in September and will work with Las Vegas City Councilman Ricki Barlow so that people in the community are aware of the job opportunities there.

The city is selling the vacant property for $348,480, which is a 40 percent discount from what the property was appraised at fair market value, which was $600,000, Arent said. The jobs and the economic enhancement to the community more than make up the difference, he said.

“They’re building a 30,000-square-foot facility, they’re creating eight new jobs and the economic impact well exceeds the discount on the fair market value,” he said.

He also estimated that the project will create 39 construction jobs.

Barlow asked what safeguards were in place to protect the city if the project did not go forward.

Arent said the agreement calls for the city to be able to buy back the land for the same fixed price as Nevada Health Center paid for it.

Construction on the project is expected to begin in May, according to Thomas Chase, Nevada Health Centers CEO.

Chase told the council that he expected construction to be finished before Nov. 30.

"We've got a very aggressive plan driven by both the architect and the project manager," he said.