Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Lake Las Vegas proposes island

55 acres of multistory buildings modeled after southern Spain's Andalucia region

A finger of land extending into Lake Las Vegas, seen at the top of this aerial photo taken in 2003, would become the eastern tip of a new island under a plan unveiled Tuesday by developers of the man-made lake. The project must be approved by the Henderson City Council. Photo by Jeff Scheid. Click image for enlargement.

They built a 320-acre lake in one of North America's driest landscapes and surrounded it with lush golf courses, high-dollar resorts and some of Southern Nevada's most opulent homes.

Now the developers of Lake Las Vegas are preparing for their next, nature-defying trick: a man-made island in the man-made body of water.

Construction of The Island at Lake Las Vegas, as it is tentatively called, could begin early next year. It will require the excavation of a half-mile channel to separate roughly 55 acres from the rest of the lake's northwestern shore.

Lake Las Vegas officials presented their tentative master plan for the island to the Henderson Planning Commission at a special workshop Tuesday.

Brad Nelson, chief operating officer for Lake Las Vegas Resort, jokingly told commissioners that their decisions could set precedence for similar projects in the future.

"I don't know that Henderson has another island, but you're setting the course if someone else wants to develop one," Nelson said.

No action was taken at Tuesday's meeting. Planning commissioners are scheduled to vote on the tentative master plan Nov. 18.

The project will require final approval from the Henderson City Council.

The island is expected to feature tightly grouped, multistory buildings linked by narrow streets and footpaths. The design is modeled after the Andalucia region of southern Spain, where white-washed walls and Moroccan-influenced architecture rise above the Mediterranean Sea.

Nelson said The Island at Lake Las Vegas would be connected to the "mainland" by two bridges that will carry traffic high over the water, allowing sailboats, electric water taxis and one of the lake's two yachts to pass underneath.

The channel would be at least 25 feet deep and up to 120 feet wide in places.

Two smaller channels are planned near the eastern tip of the island to create a pair of smaller landmasses for a hotel-casino and perhaps a wedding chapel.

A second hotel-casino also is planned, along with some commercial space, mostly for restaurants, bars and coffee shops. The bottom one or two floors of some buildings would house parking garages, but walking will be the encouraged mode of transportation.

The bulk of the island will be set aside for residential development, with housing units ranging in size from 400-square-foot studio condominiums to 5,000-square-foot, multimillion-dollar penthouses.

The target customers are the Ÿber-rich, the sort of people who might be in the market for second, third or fourth vacation homes.

Few people who buy in the development are expected to live there full time, Nelson said.

He wouldn't guess what an island home might cost. "We just know that this is a very unique setting, an island in a lake in the middle of the desert," he said.

Dan Shaw, chairman of the Henderson Planning Commission, sees benefits for those outside the very highest of tax brackets.

"It brings tourist dollars, it creates jobs, and it brings worldwide attention to the area," Shaw said. "I think it's great."

Construction of the dam that forms Lake Las Vegas began in 1989 and filled with water from Lake Mead by late 1994.

The island project is part of the resort's third phase of development, which includes about 1,000 acres north of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Daniel Rainey, vice president of development for the resort, said the island will require about a year of infrastructure work, including excavation of the channel, before buildings begin to go up there.

Some material removed to make the channel will be used in the construction of a fourth 18-hole golf course on the lake's north shore.

Rainey predicts the project could be completed in five years.