East Las Vegas golf course transforming into affordable housing development
A city-owned golf course in east Las Vegas will be transformed into mixed-use housing development with more than 1,500 units, including hundreds of homes for sale at market value and rentals with a percentage of them reserved for lower-income residents
The City Council on Wednesday approved the $17.5 million sale of the Desert Pines Golf Club and affirmed land-use entitlements for the 95-acre course, clearing a significant hurdle for the project to move forward.
The sprawling community is being developed by McCormack Baron Salazar and the nonprofit Urban Strategies Inc., both operating under Desert Pines Master Development LLC.
”We focus on a quality, mixed-income approach,” said McCormack CEO Vincent Bennett. “Resilient housing is key, but also places where families and children can be resilient.”
He said the firm had developed in 24 U.S. states for a half-century.
The vision for the project started to come together in 2022 when “the future of the golf course was in question,” Councilwoman Olivia Diaz told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “And all of our minds came together and we started hammering out this vision.”
Diaz, who represents the ward that encompasses the golf course off Bonanza and Pecos roads, said the land will “provide all kinds of housing opportunities for our community.”
“It will provide workforce training and education opportunities, as well,” she added.
The community will house a College of Southern Nevada training center and offer 10 acres for recreation, and room for commercial space, according to city officials. An early education campus also has been proposed.
Councilwoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong said the project gives her hope for her Ward 5, which includes the under-developed Historic Westside.
“People are afraid of the words affordable housing,” she said. “They think it’s going to affect them disproportionately.”
‘Uplift the community’
A total of 400 homes will be put up for sale and about 1,100 will be offered for rent, according to McCormack Baron and Salazar, which committed to reserve at least half of the rentals for lower-income residents.
Two-thirds of the project will have two-to-three bedroom units, and the remaining will house one-bedroom homes, said Falcon Groupe President Daniel Falcon, who’s partnered with McCormack.
The homes being sold at market value will help protect property values in surrounding neighborhoods, he said. “We want to uplift the community, not just what we’re building but (also) what’s surrounding.”
The community will be split into parcels and built in two phases, said Dina Babsky, the city’s director of economic and urban development.
The first phase, expected to break ground in 2027, will include 10 parcels split evenly between homes for sale and affordable rentals, she said. The final phase is expected to begin in 2030 with completion estimated for 2036.
The affordable housing portion of the development is expected to cost $440 million, according to the city.
The developer has secured a $25 million loan from Nevada State Infrastructure Bank. Clark County and the city of Las Vegas have invested another $22 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Funds made through home sales will be invested back into affordable housing portion, Babsky added.
The federal government pre-approved $5 million for the training center, she said.
Falcon said the partners were “very very happy to be trusted by the city and the councilwoman’s leadership to select us.”
Diaz said building the community aims to tackle a rising affordable housing shortage in Southern Nevada.
“Cost of everything has exploded and rents have skyrocketed, so many people feel like they’re one paycheck away from being homeless,” the councilwoman said. “I feel like the rentals will help people save some resources to then be able to attain that homeownership dream that so many of us have,” she added.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
