Developer aims to break ground next year on university campus in North Las Vegas

North Las Vegas is poised to get a new outpost of higher education.

Agora Realty & Management aims to break ground next year on a satellite campus for Nevada State University, said Aaron Lefton, president of acquisitions and leasing for the California developer.

The three-story, 30,000-square-foot building would be located along the north side of Lake Mead Boulevard just west of Las Vegas Boulevard, on what’s now a vacant plot of land.

It is expected to open in fall 2027, according to Amber Lopez Lasater, acting president of Nevada State.

Formerly Nevada State College, the university’s main campus is in Henderson, and Lopez Lasater said a good number of students commute there from North Las Vegas.

The satellite campus would remove transportation barriers and help the community meet workforce needs, she said.

North Las Vegas Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown described the campus as the anchor tenant of a downtown redevelopment project and noted it would be near both Interstate 15 and public transportation.

“The location was perfect,” she said.

Lefton said that his firm owns 19 acres in this pocket of the city and that its other plans there include retail and office space.

Lease terms

The Nevada System of Higher Education’s Board of Regents recently approved a lease agreement for the academic building. According to a news release, the campus will have academic programming, workforce development opportunities, and student support services.

Its initial focus will be on the teacher education pipeline, according to a briefing paper for the regents meeting.

The lease with the developer comes to an annual rent of $900,000 and is subject to 3 percent hikes per year. The rental agreement has an initial 10-year term, with an option for Nevada State to either extend the lease by another 10 years or purchase the building, NSHE documents show.

North Las Vegas’ Redevelopment Agency agreed to kick in $7.53 million, which will fund rent and operating obligations for the first five years, and the project landed $2.5 million from the Nevada Legislature to support academic programming.

The university also secured a $500,000 gift from an anonymous donor and a $250,000 gift from NV Energy to expand higher-education access in North Las Vegas, according to the briefing paper.

The College of Southern Nevada has a campus in North Las Vegas, and UNLV has long had plans for a “north campus” in the city that would span more than 2,000 acres.

Casino site redevelopment

Agora, meanwhile, also held a ceremonial groundbreaking in early 2025 for Hylo Park, a sprawling project on the former Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho sites in North Las Vegas.

Overall, Hylo Park was designed to span 73 acres and bring retail space, athletic facilities, housing and more to a stretch of the city that was previously home to two hotel-casinos along Rancho Drive at Lake Mead Boulevard.

Agora has been building its first phase — a roughly 90,000-square-foot retail plaza — on a portion of Texas Station’s former footprint.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.