Mountain’s Edge continues to thrive

The 3,500-acre master-planned community, Mountain's Edge, located in southwestern Las Vegas, has been ranked by independent Washington, D.C.-based real estate research firm, RCLCO -- formerly Robert Charles Lesser & Co. LLC -- as the second fastest-selling master-planned community in the United States in 2006. Last year, the community was ranked third fastest-selling in the country.

Poinciana, a master plan in Florida developed by Avatar Properties Inc., ranked as the No. 1 fastest-growing master plan in the country, with 2,563 sales for 2006.

Focus Property Group's Mountain's Edge was credited by the survey with 1,732 net new homes sales for 2006. That's 20 percent less than the year before. The survey blames the lower sales figures on more cancellations last year, reflecting the overall decline in new home sales coming off a record-breaking year in 2005.

The RCLCO survey identifies master-planned communities as large-scale developments featuring a wide range of housing prices and styles, an array of amenities and multiple nonresidential land uses, such as commercial, hotels and education facilities.

"Given the current state of the real estate market in Nevada, and throughout the country, it is an honor to receive such a high ranking in this prestigious survey two years in a row," said John A. Ritter, chairman and chief executive officer of Focus Property Group.

"In Nevada, Mountain's Edge netted 1,732 sales in 2006, almost as much as the master-planned communities of Aliante and Summerlin combined," said Ron Rulof of research firm Team Power Marketing.

Even with the nationwide slowdown in the housing market, RCLCO states that master-planned communities are able to succeed for a variety of reasons.

"Solid fundamentals of real estate become even more important when market conditions turn. Well-located communities with product, project and amenity programming that are market driven and are properly positioned to satisfy the needs, tastes and pocketbooks of the target market audience are keys to success -- especially when market conditions sour," RCLCO stated.

According to Ritter, several key factors in the success of Mountain's Edge include a dedication to environmental preservation and offering residents a community with a sense of depth and character.

The community's Home Search Café extends its expertise beyond housing and updating community information, according to Ritter.

The Café, informs residents about the master plan's environmental initiatives and plans events and quarterly classes for residents to learn about drought tolerant landscaping.

Home builders in the community have implemented water-saving efforts and environmental design features, eliminating turf from the frontyards of homes in favor of desert friendly/drought resistant landscaping.

The community will offer six parks, interconnected through a series of paseos and named after explorers and early settlers of the valley.

Restored with 10,000 native plants that were harvested and saved during construction, the community's Exploration Park is the area's first mountain park and features Exploration Peak, which rises 2,846 feet.

Mountain's Edge will be home to a 280-acre regional park with plans for adult and youth baseball fields, multi-use sports fields, picnic areas and children's play sections. The park also will be home to large community-wide events and activities.

Four elementary schools, one of which is already open, two middle schools and a high school, fire station; shopping centers, restaurants and commercial office space, will be features of the community upon its completion.

For more information, the Café is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., daily and can be reached at 898-5777 or visit mountainsedge.com