Providence, RI is community’s namesake

Providence, a major development in northwest Las Vegas, was built to look like a small town — not just any small town but one airlifted onto the sagebrush from somewhere closer to the neighborhood’s namesake in Rhode Island.

Developers at Focus Property Group aimed to achieve that contra-Las Vegas effect through a combination of red brick-built signs, wide tree-lined boulevards and New England-style colonial architecture, flourishes meant to set Providence apart from the sea of stucco and Southwestern abodes in the Las Vegas Valley .

“We just wanted to do something different, something with more of a small-town, family-oriented community feel,” Providence community development manager Jason Thompson said. “I think even (Providence’s) name is a way to do that, to try and celebrate that back East mentality.”

So far, it’s working.

Once among the 10 fastest-growing neighborhoods in the country, Providence counts as one of the few area developments to build its way through the recession.

At a little less than 50 percent complete but with nearly a dozen builders putting up new homes every day, developers hope the neighborhood can reach its 1,200-acre, 7,500-unit build-out capacity over the next few years.

More than 8,000 people could call Providence home by then. For now, Thompson said, developers are doing all they can to keep up with existing demand, including plans to break ground on long-awaited Huckleberry Park, the neighborhood’s third expected park opening in as many years.

Builders sold an average of two dozen homes a month in the neighborhood last year, growth that Thompson hopes will also help spur city of Las Vegas efforts to widen Hualapai Way and ease an afternoon traffic bottleneck that can stretch for hundreds of yards north of the Las Vegas Beltway just south of the neighborhood’s entrance.

“Everyone’s hoping to get that started sometime this year,” he said of the Hualapai Way project. “Traffic on Hualapai is probably the most common complaint we hear at (Providence Homeowners Association) meetings. ... Other than that, people seem pretty happy.”

Focus Property Group marketing director Lynn Purdue said even the Providence HOA has to run to keep up with the pace of activity in the neighborhood, citing six upcoming events — from last month’s Mad Mud Run and Mudpuppy Splash to November’s Home Town Holiday event , set to visit the area before the end of the year.

For Purdue, the neighborhood already has a sense of community to rival its distant colonial namesake, even without the sea breeze.

“It’s funny how the brand really comes to life,” she said. “(Focus Property Group CEO John Ritter’s) whole plan was to build a place where people put down roots in an otherwise transient community.

“That’s the way it is. When you go out there, you see a place that encourages people to get involved, a place where people want to get together as a community ... It’s great.”

Contact Centennial and North Las Vegas View reporter James DeHaven at jdehaven@viewnews.com or 702-477-3839.