Newest luxury Henderson community to break ground Tuesday

Henderson’s newest luxury home community, Ascaya, is breaking ground on its first home Tuesday.

The 11,000-square-foot residence that is perched in the hillsides of Henderson’s McCullough mountain range in the southeast valley, has two main levels and a basement with a courtyard.

Longtime Boulder City resident Kristi Palmer, 35, hired Michael Gardner, owner of studio g ARCHITECTURE in Henderson, to design the residence.

“This is my favorite side of town. I’ve watched it grow. It’s beautiful,” she said. “I’m really excited and ready to start it.”

One of her favorite things about the elevated community, which is 1,000 feet above the desert floor, is the sweeping views of the Las Vegas Valley and the Strip, she said.

“I enjoy the views. I can see my favorite part of the Strip.”

She said she hopes to move in next summer and enjoy her outdoor kitchen, Zen courtyard and indoor-outdoor living areas created by a series of pocket doors.

“That will be nice,” she said. “Going outside right now is torturous.”

Gardner said he studied the solar angle that affected the home. “The sun sets far north of the valley above Mount Charleston,” he said.

He used overhangs and shading to keep things cooler in the summer months. He also was careful in placing the glass windows to maximize the views to the northwest and west, but reduce the glass on the southwest side of the home to best “deal with this lovely Las Vegas heat,” he said.

One of the most striking features of the home is its basement, which features a pocket door system that opens up to a Zen courtyard. The Australian-born Gardner, who grew up in Northern California, used the first-floor structure to shade and help shelter the courtyard from high winds.

He wanted to integrate the home into the 20,000-square-foot lot by using modern contemporary style and create a “floating effect,” which makes the master suite and great room seem to hover above the Las Vegas Valley floor.

“We wanted to emphasize that floating effect,” he said. “We hung the master suite from the roof structure.”

One of the biggest challenges was to integrate the indoor-outdoor living areas, he said. By using an exterior and interior pocket door system, he created an outdoor lounge pool area that could be closed off from the home or become an extension of it.

The home is wired into an automation system that can control the temperature, internal shades, lighting and fire features of each room.

Gardner said it took about four months to design the home, which included getting it approved by Ascaya’s architectural review process.

Palmer’s home will mark the first time Gardner has built a community’s first home.

“Yes, this is the first time we have ever done the first home in a community, which is pretty exciting,” he said. “Especially in a community of this caliber with a long future ahead of it.”

The Palmer house, which will be on Talus Court, is just ahead of Las Vegas resident Mike Miller’s Blue Heron design, which is expected to break ground in the next month, according to Darin Marques, sales manager for Ascaya.

The community began construction in 2004 and was pulled off the market during the Great Recession. It resumed sales in October. Three lots have been sold to Las Vegas residents, Marques said.

“There is a long list of people sitting on the fence, waiting to see the first home break ground,” he said.

He believes this will great a “sales momentum” for the homes that range in price from $3 million to $5 million.

Meanwhile, the community is taking shape. Landscaping on streets and trails will begin this week. It will be the same trees and plants near the sales center — mesquite and paloverde trees. Construction on the $25 million, 22,000-square-foot clubhouse is expected to start by January.

The community is also planning “inspirational homes” the developer has hired contractors to build. Marques said they are not calling them spec homes because the developer owns them and they won’t be flipped. Their purpose will be to help homeowners visualize what they can create.

Construction on three of the seven homes is expected to begin by early next year. The homes will be sold in a couple of years, he said.