Georgia James stands in front of an apartment at 2201 Fairfield Ave. that has a 30-day notice telling the occupant to vacate by Dec. 15. James is working with a Miami group that might pay $2.4 million for the lot west of the Stratosphere, with plans to develop a high-rise. Photo by JANE KALINOWSKY/REVIEW-JOURNAL Click image for enlargement.

Georgia James doesn't want to play the villain in the redevelopment of Naked City.

James, a real estate broker with Prudential Americana, had to slap notices on 20 apartment units at 2201 Fairfield Ave., giving residents 30 days to leave the premises after it was condemned by the city of Las Vegas.

The apartment complex on one-third acre is being sold for $2.4 million. It's among some $35 million in Naked City properties that James either has in escrow for various clients or pending approval to go to escrow.

"This area from Baltimore to Sahara (avenues) will all be high-rise," James said. "They could build nice apartments, but they're still going to have to worry about people looking down at basically trash."

With the $150 million Allure luxury high-rise condominiums under construction at Fairfield and Sahara avenues, the low-income neighborhood that lies in the shadows of the Stratosphere has become a focal point for investors who see the location as a prime target for redevelopment.

There's a stark contrast between upscale development such as Turnberry, Sky Las Vegas and Hilton Grand Vacation that are going up south of Sahara and the drug-infested, crime-ridden square mile just to the north. It's dotted with tiny houses that were built half a century ago and dilapidated apartment complexes.

"I can't do it because of ethics, but if I had an extra dollar in my pocket, I'd be knocking on doors around here," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said in September at a groundbreaking ceremony for Allure.

Properties aren't being condemned for redevelopment purposes, but because living conditions have become so abhorrent, it's the only remedy, Goodman said.

"The problem we're going to have to address, with property as valuable as it is down there and most of those homes being rentals, where will those people that are displaced go?" he said. "These folks do work, but for them to find affordable housing is going to be a challenge. I don't have the answer."

Aaron Dean, principal of San Diego-based Crestone Cos., offers a possible solution with single-resident-only units, which are 300- to 400-square-foot living spaces that rent for about $400 a month. He's built more than 1,000 of them in San Diego and proposes to build 285 units at the five-acre Salvation Army site on Owens Street.

"SRO is truly subsidized housing for the true blue-collar worker, the back-of-the-house worker that can only afford one month's stay at a time," Dean said.

The problem, he said, is that cities and counties don't have the money to subsidize such projects. Because rental rates won't justify land and construction costs, a $30 million affordable housing project needs about $8 million in subsidies, Dean said.

James, who came here from Montana in the 1960s with her three children and a trailer of belongings, knows how tough it can be to find an affordable place to live in Las Vegas, especially as housing prices continue to soar and put pressure on rental rates.

She posted fliers to help residents move. She knew of another apartment complex in the area that had been condemned and is open again after remodeling. Most of the units around there are renting for $400 to $450 a month.

"It upset people so much, but I can't stop them from condemning something that's not up to code," James said.

The real estate broker has worked the Naked City area for 11 years, selling some of the same properties four and five times. The area purportedly got its name from strippers who lived in apartments there and who would sunbathe nude to avoid tan lines.

James has assembled 13 parcels totaling 2.5 acres for a Miami group interested in developing a high-rise. She's also negotiating a $6 million deal for the condemned Monterrey Villas apartments on less than an acre on Tam Drive.

Closer to Las Vegas Boulevard, land is going for $8 million to $10 million an acre, James said.

Because land prices are so hefty, zoning has to be compatible with higher density and mixed-use development coming to that area, Goodman said.

"Certainly we're going to enjoy tax benefits of projects like Allure, but I don't want these places to be a Turnberry where the occupant is there one month a year," he said. "I want residents there 365 days a year."