Florence Shapiro: The Fountains is hidden gem

Back in the late 1980s, getting people to buy upscale homes in newly developing Green Valley was a challenge. The principal real estate developer at the time, Mark Fine of Mark L. Fine & Associates, knew this and so he set out to design custom lots in this Henderson bedroom community with amenities never before offered in Southern Nevada.

Quail Ridge Estates was Fine's first gated custom-home planned community in Green Valley. It was such a huge success that he immediately began developing 114 acres near Green Valley Parkway and Robindale Road. Various builders were privately commissioned by homeowners during the four phases consisting of 196 single-family custom homes built on lot sizes just over 12,000 square feet to approximately 1 acre for the largest lot. The first units of this new gated community, dubbed The Fountains, were completed in 1988.

"Instead of building a tennis court that no one would use, I built a beautiful park for everyone to enjoy," Fine said. "The demand to move in here was phenomenal. Nobody did tree-lined streets back then, or even that much today… The idea was to blend two products into one — a guard-gated community with a lot of open spaces."

The Fountains to this day remains quite unique in the palette of custom-home communities throughout the Las Vegas Valley. Its guard-gated entrance is very unassuming, as are the simple spurts of water from an adjacent fountain comparable to something you might see in a youngster's waterpark. But this all changes once you pass through the gate and approach a statuesque flowing water fountain in the center of a roundabout with outstretched arms forming Watermark Parkway.

The tree-lined path resembles something you might see in a small community motoring about Europe or one of our East Coast cities in New Hampshire, New York or Massachusetts. The mature trees canopy this magnificent boulevard, which spirals off into meandering side streets leading to estates shaded by mature shrubbery, towering trees and very large front and side lawns.

Streets throughout The Fountains are wide and quiet of traffic, offering ample room for visitors to park or youngsters to ride their bicycles. Today, in addition to the large park Fine built, adjoining basketball and tennis courts have been added for residents to enjoy.

Christine Zack Gundersen, chair of The Fountains Social Committee, said various community events are held throughout the year from wine tastings to poker nights, tennis events and movie nights in the park.

"The minute you drive into The Fountains and experience the tree-lined streets, you will forget you are in the middle of the desert, yet will immediately appreciate the close proximity to the Las Vegas Strip, airport and downtown attractions," Zack Gundersen said. "If you stay a bit longer, you will see the community in action — neighbors greeting each other, residents walking their dogs, children riding their bikes and tennis matches in the park."

Florence Shapiro of the Shapiro and Sher Group has been selling homes in The Fountains for years. Prices average from $600,000 to $1.5 million, she said. Many of her clients, she added, are from Northern California and immediately fall in love with all the greenery.

"It kind of unique," Shapiro said. "You have greenery all around you. You don't just walk up to homes. You have grass all around you, and you park on large roads… These are all large custom homes and people love that…

"The Fountains is like a hidden gem. In spring you are driving up these large roads with trees all around you. You have little circles off large roads. People from the East Coast love it."

Barbara Heinrich and her husband, Greg, bought the fifth home built in The Fountains in 1989. It was a 5,000-square-foot, four-bedroom two-story house on Versailles Court. What the couple loved about the home was the space because it sat on a one-quarter-acre lot.

"It was a guard-gated community, and back then there weren't many communities that were guard gated," Heinrich said. "It was quiet and the beautiful parkway with the trees that form an archway — that's one thing everyone always commented on. I've seen people take couches and chairs and put them in the parkway to take pictures. It's very popular with proms, and you see brides getting their pictures taken there."

In 1994, the Heinrichs built a 6,200-square-foot custom home on Dolphin Court. It has five bedrooms, nine baths and is one of the few homes in the Las Vegas Valley with a basement, which they use for storage.

"It's just so pretty in here and it's so quiet," Heinrich said. "Now you are starting to see a lot of young families and children here again. We have a park and tennis courts. It's a wonderful place to raise a family."