Thursday, Sept. 11, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.
A high rise is being planned to overlook the Strip -- but it is not being welcomed by nearby residents who already enjoy the view.
Oscar Nunez, an owner of several existing condominium projects in Las Vegas, and Chicago-based developer Diversified Real Estate Concepts are proposing a 16-story, 185-foot skyscraper on two acres of land at Koval Lane and Albert Avenue, the site of Nunez's French Villas apartments. The proposal is to tear down the nearly 40-year-old apartments and replace them with a mix of retail businesses, offices and 269 condominiums.
A quarter-mile to the east, residents of the twin Park Towers, a $125 million Irwin Molasky development that opened in 2000, are unhappy with the proposal. Condos in the towers sell from $700,000 to more than $4 million, and part of the appeal for the well-heeled residents is the view from the 20-story buildings.
The view is a selling point and part of the value of the 80 condominiums in Park Towers, some of which were purchased as investment properties.
The residents, at least 15 of whom have registered their objections with the Clark County Commission, also are concerned that the Nunez project would add heavy traffic to the already busy neighborhood next door to the Hughes Center, sandwiched in the "Golden Mile" area between Las Vegas Boulevard and Paradise Road.
However, the project has already cleared two hurdles. The Paradise Town Advisory Board recommended the project, as did the Clark County Planning Commission. The Clark County Commission, which must give final approval for the zone change needed for the project, is scheduled to consider it Nov. 5.
Although the project does not conform to the area's long-range master plan, it has the support of Clark County planning staff.
"Staff anticipates that this request would serve to continue a desirable trend to upgrade the area west of Koval Lane," planning staff members wrote in their recommendation.
Steve Wise, vice president of JMA Architecture Studios, agreed.
"It's going to revitalize that area of town, which is kind of blighted," he said.
Mark Fiorentino, a Las Vegas attorney who usually argues issues for developers, is on the other side of the debate on this project, representing the Park Towers homeowners association. He has said he has tried to meet with the developers of the project to mitigate the impact on his clients.
Opposition to development is an unusual position for many of the residents, he said.
"It's common knowledge that most of the people who live in the towers are developers or are related to people in the development industry," Fiorentino said.
But in terms of working out a compromise development plan for the Nunez project, that might be an asset, he said.
"They understand development issues," he said. "They are always open to work with people. That's what we're trying to do and want to do."
Fiorentino said in a letter to Park Towers homeowners that the developer has already made some concessions, among them dropping the height of the project from the original proposal of 24 stories -- a height that would have made the new development look over the penthouses of the Park Towers buildings.
That hasn't satisfied all the objections. Park Towers resident Byron Lebow said he fears that the project will bring heavy traffic into an area already burdened with plenty of vehicles. He also worries that the neighborhood will change with a competing high rise going up.
"It's going to be murder," Lebow said. "It just doesn't make any sense to have a high rise over there of any size.
"It's so close to the Strip that it could easily destroy the overall ambiance of the whole area. That makes no sense."
Paradise town board chairwoman M.J. Harvey, who was the lone dissenter in her board's 4-1 recommendation for the project, said she fears that the impact of the project will go beyond the two-acre site.
"Whether it's undesirable or desirable, it certainly is a precedent," Harvey said.
Others agree that the precedent will draw similar projects. Fiorentino said he knows of another high-rise project on the drawing boards that would go about a half-mile away.
Harvey said such projects, especially when, like this project, they have just a 10-foot setback from the road, will create a "tunnel effect" on Koval Lane, which is a relatively narrow road.
Harvey also is unconvinced that the monorail makes the site a good one for extremely concentrated housing, business and other uses. The monorail, she said, "is just for Strip traffic."
"Why would that bring people into this residential thing, this condominium, when they could shop all along the Strip?" she asked.
But while the concerns about traffic and other infrastructure are important to some observers, the view from Park Towers is clearly a concern of the condominium owners. They fear a project which would tower over their neighboring buildings in the Hughes Center.
"Any waiver of the 100-foot height restriction will significantly impact the available views from Mr. Kay's units," attorney Kent Larsen wrote in a letter to the county for James Kay Jr., an owner in the Park Towers complex. "Even at the presently allowed 100-foot limitation, Mr. Kay's views to the west will be negatively impacted by this project."
Wise said the concerns about the impact on the view are overstated.
"The building is turned in a narrow direction that faces the Park Towers building, so the view blockage is minimal," he said.
Fiorentino said the residents of Park Towers do not believe they have a special right to their views of the Strip, although he believes it is appropriate for the commission to consider the impact on the view when they decide on the zone change.
He said the proposed high rise is next door to existing residences, and that should be part of the judgement.
"These are real residences and real, valuable residences," he said. "If any of the residents are expecting an entitlement, I think they've been misled.
"But I do think they have some reasonable expectation of protection."
The height of the project has to be approved by the county, which has to weigh the potential impact on aviation. But the Park Towers to the project's east are already taller than the proposed development.
But views are not something the county planners worry about.
"The view of the Strip is not a protected or regulated right within the county's code," said Barbara Ginoulias, assistant director of Clark County Development Services and chief of the department's Current Planning Division.
Planners see the potential for good things to happen in the area, noting in their report on the project that at the Las Vegas monorail, just 850 feet to the west of the project, "promises to change the character of the area in terms of a more intense urbanized mixture of uses."
Wise, with the architectural firm for the project, explained the importance of the monorail for the project, and why he believes the traffic impact will be minimal.
"The concept of this project is to have condos available at a lower price point so it will be attractive to employees of the Strip casino area," he said. "It's going to allow them to walk to work or to the monorail terminal."
The county planners have backed this vision.
"The monorail has the potential to bring a new group of residents into this area that enjoy shopping and living in one concentrated set of developments," planners wrote.
More, new and similar projects are likely, they believe, and they argue that is a good thing.
"Even though this request is a nonconforming zone change, it is anticipated to be more compatible with potentially planned new developments to come in this area. ... Staff does not anticipate a substantial adverse impact upon public facilities and services with the approval."
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