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Complex near UNLV demolished to make room for new development

Updated January 18, 2019 - 5:31 pm

A local developer is tearing down a decades-old commercial building across from UNLV to clear space for a mixed-use project.

Work crews on Friday started demolishing Campus Village, a two-story retail and office complex at 4440 S. Maryland Parkway. G2 Capital Development founder Frank Marretti, the property owner, expects the site to be cleared in seven to 10 days.

He said that the partially subterranean, open-air complex was prone to flooding and attracting homeless people and that he wants to develop multiple buildings, including one that would rise 10 to 18 stories. He envisions a mix of hotel rooms, office space, apartments and possibly university space.

Marretti said he expects to file project plans with Clark County in the next couple of months and is looking to break ground in late 2019 or early 2020. Construction would last 18 to 20 months.

He acquired Campus Village and a smaller, neighboring retail building at 1220 E. Harmon Ave. in 2017 for almost $5.5 million, property records show. He won’t start putting up the new project until after the Harmon building is demolished as well.

Campus Village was built in 1978, county records show, and Marretti said it has been “functionally obsolete probably since it was created.”

According to Marretti, it has always had flooding issues. It also has been vandalized and lured vagrants, drug addicts and drug dealers, he said.

“It’s been a nightmare,” Marretti said.

Marretti is also the developer of University Gateway, a project south of Campus Village on Maryland Parkway that is home to a seven-level parking garage and a seven-story mixed-use building with a rooftop deck.

The garage is open, and the tower should be finished in May or June, he said.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.

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