Aliante residents line up Tuesday to see renderings of Aliante Station during an open house at the Sun City Aliante Community Center. Photos by K.M. Cannon. Aliante Station General Manager Joe Hasson talks to Raul and Delia Aranda on Tuesday at an open house at the Sun City Aliante Community Center. Dozens of residents attended the informal meeting.

From her backyard facing northeast, Karolyn Shields can gaze out toward the Sheep Mountain Range across the Las Vegas Beltway through the sprawling Aliante development.

So when Station Casinos announced plans to build the $600 million Aliante Station in the North Las Vegas master-planned community, Shields worried that her mountain views might be disrupted.

Tuesday evening, she walked away from a neighborhood open house with Station Casino executives somewhat satisfied.

The casino's 200-room hotel tower will be nine stories, about half as tall as Station Casino's 17-story Red Rock Resort in Summerlin. But Shields also wanted more offerings from the hotel-casino, which is scheduled to open in 2008.

"I wish they would add some shopping," Shields commented after discussing the plans for Aliante Station with company executives at the Sun City Aliante Community Center. "Having a casino doesn't bother me, so I'm not too concerned about the project. I was worried about the height, and I'm OK with it for now."

Shields' sentiments seemed to be the prevailing thought Tuesday evening as neighboring residents viewed artist renderings and site plans for Aliante Station.

In addition to the hotel and casino portions, plans for Aliante Station call for an undetermined number of restaurants, several parking garages, a spa, movie theaters and a live-entertainment venue. Future plans allow for more restaurants, hotel rooms and a bowling center.

"It looks good," said Bill Dinan, a two-year resident of Sun City Aliante. "Hurry up and build it because I can save on gas."

Station Casinos spokeswoman Lori Nelson said the company mailed postcards to 5,000 Aliante and North Las Vegas residents inviting them to the scheduled three-hour open house. By 4 p.m., about 100 people were lined up waiting to enter the small conference room. The informal meeting remained packed for the first 90 minutes.

"This is an opportunity for us to get feedback from the local residents," Nelson said. "We wanted them to be able to talk with the development team and get an idea of what the plans are for the site. We're still planning on doing a traffic study for the location."

The 40-acre casino site, bordered by Elkhorn Road, Aliante Parkway and the Beltway, has been entitled as a hotel-casino since October 2002. A sign showing the site as a future hotel-casino has adorned the location since development began on the 1,905-acre Aliante community. Initial plans showed entrances to the property off Elkhorn and Aliante Parkway.

Station Casinos plans to break ground on the casino early next year.

Aliante residents visiting the open house were asked to fill out comment forms with any reaction or questions.

Aliante Station General Manager Joe Hasson said residents mostly seemed interested in having hotel rooms close by where they can house out-of-town guests.

Hasson, who spent the past three years as general manager of the company's Green Valley Ranch Resort, said the customer interest is similar to what he found at the Henderson casino.

"They want this to be a comfortable place to have dinner and see a movie," Hasson said. "We received some pretty good feedback."

Jim Choner, who has lived at Sun City Aliante for two years, said residents always knew the casino was coming. He said it was nice to see it begin to come to fruition.

"I haven't been too concerned," Choner said. "I think it's something all of us are looking forward to having."

Some Aliante residents may be switching their allegiance from other North Las Vegas local casinos once Aliante Station opens.

Lois and Sy Nielson, who moved to Aliante eight months ago from Riverside, Calif., said they enjoy going to the Cannery but will want to see if Aliante Station will have a similar appeal.

"We're actually excited," Lois Nielson said. "It will be nice to have something like this close by. The traffic doesn't really concern us."