Skye Canyon focuses on amenities

Developers at Skye Canyon at U.S. Highway 95 and Fort Apache Road are in the midst of constructing Skye Center and Skye Fitness, which aim to be the focal points of the 9,000-home master-planned community.

The $15 million project, which is in the first phase of construction, will feature a coffee shop, indoor fireplace and outdoor living spaces with splash pads, covered patios, grills and fireplaces at Skye Center as well as between 9,000 to 10,000 square feet of state-of-the-art fitness equipment and a swimming pool at Skye Fitness.

"The covered patios will have large timbers, which will reflect the proximity to Mount Charleston and Lee Canyon," said Chris Armstrong, vice president of Olympia Cos., developers of Skye Canyon. "The open patio doors will tuck in to provide fluid movement to the outdoor living spaces."

Armstrong said developers normally hold off on building community spaces such as Skye Center and Skye Fitness, which will debut in March.

"It's a big deal for us to be able to show the space off to people who want to be part of Skye Canyon so we're excited about building those facilities in the first phase," he said. "Typically those come later on after you have some rooftops up."

The 1,700-acre site will also include numerous walking paths, designated bike lanes and parks.

"It was important to provide community amenities as we found that homebuyers are looking at integrating indoor and outdoor entertainment spaces," Armstrong said. "The trend we're seeing is people wanting to interact with their neighbors more and not turn their backs to the community so we've provided opportunities for that type of interaction."

At the nearly 10 Pulte Group properties throughout the Las Vegas Valley, including Skye Canyon, a significant amount of emphasis has been put on seamlessly integrating indoor and outdoor living spaces, according to Jason Demuth, director of marketing for the Las Vegas division.

"The ultimate goal is to make the outdoor patio area an extension of the interior living space," he said. "This includes a lot of built-in elements such as disappearing walls, fireplaces, barbecues, wet bars, outdoor televisions and low-threshold floor transitions, as well as via the café, gathering room, kitchen and patio spaces."

Demuth added that some of Pulte's floor plans feature optional corner sliders that dissolve the separation between indoor and outdoor spaces.

As far as entertainment trends in outdoor living spaces, he's seen a rise incorporating technology outside.

"The outdoor living space trends have changed as technology advances in audio visual experience, finishing materials and heating and cooling systems," he said. "We're modeling outdoor theaters, built-in barbecues and bars, exposed bulb string lighting, outdoor sail shade structures, built-in fireplaces and fire pits, covered patios."

As Skye Canyon moves toward its 9,000-home capacity, Armstrong said the master-planned community will expand its focus on engaging its residents.

"Our geographical location is close to Red Rock, Mount Charleston, Lee Canyon and Kyle Canyon so as we move forward we'll program events to Kyle Canyon and Lee Canyon in an effort to take advantage of them," he said. "We'll use the resources we have in close proximity and share them with the people in the community."

Contact reporter Ann Friedman at afriedman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588. Follow @AnnFriedmanRJ on Twitter.