Howard Hughes Corp. to oppose planned Summerlin auto-sales business

Custom Motor Creations is requesting a special-use permit for a proposed indoor auto sales business at 10050 Banburry Cross Drive in Summerlin, a business that will likely be opposed by the community’s developer at Tuesday’s planning commission hearing.

The company, which manufactures custom trikes that sell for $42,000 and up, plans to use about 5,000 square feet for the display and sales or leasing of the vehicles.

The remaining space at the 54,000-square-foot building owned by Hughes Property Management will be used for light manufacturing, which is permitted under Summerlin Development Standards, said Mark Hawkins, an attorney representing Custom Motor Creations.

No operations will be conducted outside of the leased premises, Hawkins said. The proposed use will be conducted in a manner that is “harmonious and compatible” with existing surrounding land uses, the attorney said.

“This is a special-use permit to sell trikes. That’s all it is,” he said. “They’ve been manufacturing there for quite some time. I haven’t heard any concerns.”

It’s important to note that the proposed use targets a niche market of “adventuresome clients with discretionary income,” he said. There’s also ample parking to accommodate the limited traffic that may be generated by the business.

Trikes are customized to a buyer’s specifications, so the company doesn’t expect to maintain a large inventory of trikes on the sales floor, Hawkins said.

The two-seat trikes are built with Chevy V8 engines, automatic trans­missions and a 78-inch wheel base. The chassis is made from 2-inch diameter, chrome-moly tubing, also used for protective roll-cages in dragsters and stock cars. They offer a number of options, including strobe lights that flash while the vehicle is parked.

Las Vegas planning department staff is recommending approval of the special-use permit.

It may go before the City Council on April 17.

The Howard Hughes Corp., developer of Summerlin, will likely weigh in at the planning commission hearing in opposition of the special-use permit, spokesman Tom Warden said.

“We do not think that’s an appropriate use, and we would not approve it,” he said.

Garth Kloehn, manager of both Custom Motor Creations and Hughes Property Management, came to Las Vegas in 1994 from California, where he founded Kloehn LTD in 1990.

He started out manufacturing precision medical equipment at the Summer­lin facility, then acquired Iron Horse Trikes of Arizona in 2002, renaming it Las Vegas Trikes.

The company has the capacity to make four trikes a month, though none is currently in production, Kloehn said.

Kloehn was convicted of tax evasion in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s, but the conviction was appealed and overturned in 2010 after a judge denied him continuance to visit his dying son in Las Vegas on the final day of trial.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.