Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Las Vegas sells land at Symphony Park for assisted living center

Symphony Park in downtown Las Vegas

Tom Donoghue/DonoghuePhotography.com

Symphony Park, including the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, in downtown Las Vegas on Sunday, March 4, 2012.

Symphonay Park

Downtown’s Symphony Park is getting a new tenant after the Las Vegas City Council approved a $5 million land sale to a real estate company planning to build a skilled nursing and assisted living center.

The issue: The council considered a development agreement with California-based Citra Real Estate Capital to build the center on 3.3 acres at the park.

The vote: Approved unanimously.

What it means: The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and Discovery Children’s Museum will have a new neighbor at Symphony Park starting in 2016.

Developers will spend the next two years building the facility, which is expected to include 116,000 square feet for skilled nursing and 146,000 square feet for an assisted living complex, retail shops and medical offices.

Economic and Urban Development Director Bill Arent described the $71.3 million project as one of the largest downtown in recent years.

The skilled nursing facility would be geared toward physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, among other services, said Citra representative Michael Saltzman. The assisted living center would generally house patients for about 30 days at a time.

Combined with retail and office space that will serve the broader downtown area, Saltzman said, the project follows a national trend in the medical industry where developers are clustering different types of services at a single location, creating a “continuum of care.”

The parcel sold for $5 million today had been appraised as high as $11.5 million. Citra will receive a discount for some site improvements it will have to make before construction can begin, bringing the net sale price down to $3.5 million.

The value of the property has more than doubled since a 2011 appraisal, a growth that may not be sustainable, Arent said.

“I don’t know if any builder would build in Symphony Park at those values that the appraiser determined,” he said.

The project is expected to generate $781,000 a year in property taxes, Arent said.

The council warmly received the project, which has been in negotiations for more than a year.

“I believe this is going to be a wonderful amenity for downtown and is much needed for the entire community,” said Councilman Ricki Barlow, who represents the area. “I can’t wait for it to be on the way.”

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