Monday, Nov. 8, 1999 | 11:25 a.m.
Real estate analysts say isolated desert land will turn to gold when Las Vegas' beltway freeway system is completed.
One of the first to profit from the beltway is American Nevada Corp., the real estate arm of the Greenspun family, which owns the Las Vegas Sun and several sister publications.
Thanks to the I-215 beltway, the Greenspuns are preparing for a new spurt of growth in their Green Valley and Green Valley Ranch master planned communities in Henderson just south of Las Vegas.
John Kilduff, a former Howard Hughes Corp. chief financial officer who helped plan and build the Summerlin master planned community, now heads American Nevada's newest growth initiative.
"The access is easier than ever," Kilduff said. "We used to be the back door to Green Valley Ranch. With the beltway in place, we'll be at the front door."
Kilduff was referring to the new I-215 southern beltway exits, one at Green Valley Parkway that opened in July and the other that is under construction at Valle Verde Drive.
The I-215 interchange at Green Valley Parkway is at the heart of American Nevada's newest project, a collection of commercial properties that is expected to lure companies that want to develop branch offices and others that will offer back-office operations.
Kilduff said his company plans to begin intensive marketing efforts in the weeks ahead.
Brad Peterson, first vice president for CB Richard Ellis, said his company has listed two buildings on the north side of the beltway and is seeking tenants.
"Freeway access to the office is more important than ever," Peterson said. "It's a trend we're seeing all over town. Not only is it important to the employee and the employer, but it's important to the company's clientele."
Tom Stilley, senior vice president for the properties group of Colliers International, said the property's proximity to the beltway may prompt some companies to investigate sites with freeway exposure.
Stilley said the area is appealing not only because it is close to executive housing, but also to "worker bee" residences of Green Valley.
"They'll be able to get people to work near where they live," Stilley said. "Nobody likes traffic. That should make this quite appealing to businesses."
Stilley said he anticipates companies that want branch offices in the southern part of the city to consider the site. Among the potential clients: title companies, insurance agents, engineering firms and financial services companies.
On the north side of the beltway is the Green Valley Corporate Center, home to American Nevada's headquarters and the Greenspun Media Group. A group of two-story office buildings rings the center in a campus environment.
On the periphery of the complex is flex space, capable of housing back-office operations and call centers. Among the existing tenants are the Nextlink telephone company.
Across Green Valley Parkway and a short drive north are restaurants, banks, grocery stores and other retail outlets. Kilduff said building near a mature neighborhood with all its amenities in place will give the American Nevada project an edge.
The company's plans for the south side of the beltway, however, are what have been getting the most attention. On 160 acres south of the beltway, from Green Valley Parkway to Pecos Road, the company will develop:
Adjacent to the "Main Street" area on the east side of Green Valley Parkway would be a recreation complex comprised of an amphitheater, a recreation center and a library next to a police substation.
Brian Greenspun, president of American Nevada's parent company, the Greenspun Corp., envisions the retail project south of the beltway to be a community gathering place, similar to the one the company built at the Green Valley Town Center, on the northern edge of Green Valley.
Greenspun said his company's reputation should draw the interest of companies looking to locate in the new area, but it wasn't always that way.
"The Town Center has been a big hit with the community," Greenspun said. "You wouldn't believe how I had to fight to get that fountain," he said in reference to the water feature that is the centerpiece of the area.
Greenspun said that while most of the attention is on Green Valley Ranch, American Nevada also has plans to expand and improve the Town Center area.
"It's a wonderful community gathering place on warm days and we need to continue to improve it," he said.
Greenspun said filling in vacant lots with retail outlets and restaurants is planned for the Town Center area.
The development of commercial property is somewhat of a departure for American Nevada, whose focus in Green Valley has been residential property. The company has worked with several home builders to develop neighborhoods in various price ranges.
"We're not finished developing Green Valley and Green Valley Ranch," Greenspun said. "We have a responsibility to hundreds of thousands of people to build out the retail, office and commercial development that will serve the community and add to its value. It's a long-term prospect.
"The focus for the next few years will be on commercial retail development, but that doesn't mean we're going to stop working on the residential end."
The new commercial development at the Green Valley interchange will attempt to balance the established residential neighborhoods of Green Valley Ranch, which lie south and east of the interchange.
Kilduff said Green Valley Ranch is 70 percent to 80 percent completed. Among the companies building in the neighborhood are U.S. Home, Pacific Homes, Spectrum Construction, Beazer Homes, Kaufman & Broad, Coleman Homes, Pulte Homes, Woodside Homes, Richmond American, Nigro Associates and K. Young Homes.
Another nearby residential development with which American Nevada is affiliated, Seven Hills, is about 50 percent completed and has an estimated three years of sales remaining.
Kilduff said the build-out period for American Nevada's commercial development will depend on a number of factors ranging from interest rates to how eager companies are to develop a Green Valley exposure. Kilduff's guess: more than 10 years, "but five if we get lucky."
Although the development of Green Valley and Green Valley Ranch is a profitable venture for American Nevada, Greenspun said being recognized as a key partner in that development is a motivating force.
"I have to admit, it's fun to go to the store and have neighbors come up to us and say, 'Thank you for making this such a nice place to live.' We love it out here and to hear people say thank you is very rewarding," Greenspun said.
"We're good at developing communities," he said. "As long as we believe Las Vegas is going to grow, we must assume that there are going to be people coming here to take advantage of that growth. My family lives here, we're invested in the community, so any growth that occurs affects our family as much as anybody else.
"It makes sense to me to be an active developer because we have such an interest in having it done well. For people coming from outside the community, there's not as much at stake. But there is for us."
A failed development plan in the Phoenix area reminds Greenspun what it's like to be the outsider in a community. In the 1980s his company explored a development similar to Green Valley in Scottsdale. Greenspun called it "an expensive lesson."
"We tried to go out of town and were going to do something spectacular," Greenspun said. "But Scottsdale was not as forward-thinking as the people of Las Vegas. It turned out to be an expensive lesson for us, a reminder to do what we do best, and that was concentrating on the place where we've been for 40 years."
Another aborted plan was closer to home. American Nevada this year gave up on plans to build a $57 million office building in downtown Las Vegas in partnership with the city and Nevada State Bank.
With his company now focused on Green Valley, Greenspun said as long as growth is going to occur, he wants to have a say in how it happens. That's why he continues to press ahead despite concerns that growth worsens air pollution and contributes to infrastructure problems.
Keeping ahead on infrastructure needs is a chicken-and-egg dilemma, Greenspun explained. Taxpayers complain when the government spends too much to fix some of the problems that develop, but they'll also complain if gridlock is snarling traffic and contributing to air pollution.
"If we stopped growing today, we would still be building for the next 10 years to catch up on the infrastructure," Greenspun said. "The fact of the matter is, there is going to be growth. We need to expand our industrial and job base so that people moving here will have good-paying jobs. That will put additional pressure on the infrastructure" and require more road-building.
"In some areas of town, we have gridlock now, but it's in the process of being fixed," Greenspun said. "It takes time. It's hard to fix something today that has been growing for 50 years."
As for air pollution problems, Greenspun is confident technology is advancing so that additional vehicles won't necessarily mean greater volumes of harmful emissions.
Greenspun said no one imagined just how big Green Valley was going to get when his father first envisioned what could be.
Throughout the 1960s, former Las Vegas Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun purchased about 3,500 acres south of Las Vegas. In 1972, he bid $1.2 million for 4,500 acres from the city of Henderson and the 8,000 acres became the site for Green Valley.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, the Greenspuns developed Green Valley as a planned community, providing sites for all categories of real estate, from an industrial park that is now the home of Ethel M Chocolates to clusters of residential, office and commercial property in a wide range of styles and prices.
The community included parks and cultural centers where the Greenspun family contributed to the development of the arts.
Greenspun said the idea of developing Green Valley was the continuation of a plan started by his parents.
"My parents were in this from the day they got here," Greenspun said. "My father had a vision of what could be here and started buying and assembling land. People said he was absolutely nuts. But my family stuck to it and is committed to what my father started. Certainly today, people understand what he saw."
The company's long-range future is dependent on more land acquisition, but this time Greenspun and American Nevada won't be considered crazy when they pursue property. In fact, they'll be joined by competitors seeking the same land.
Currently American Nevada's Green Valley master-planned community ranks second in size behind Howard Hughes Corp.'s Summerlin. Howard Hughes plans 57,500 units on 22,500 acres while Green Valley plans 15,625 units on 7,000 acres.
Green Valley Ranch will add 4,800 units on 1,318 acres.
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