Champion wants $13 million for Green Valley gaming land

Champion Homes Inc. is trying to sell the 19-acre Henderson site where it once had plans for a casino called the South Pacific.

The homebuilder is asking $13 million for the site in Green Valley at the southwest intersection of Stephanie Street and Lake Mead Drive. The site has received zoning and use permit approvals for a neighborhood casino.

Terry Manley, Champion Homes' president, said the company simply decided to concentrate on houses and let gaming companies focus on gaming.

"There was a time that we looked at developing it ourselves, but that plan was never forwarded into anything concrete," Manley said. "In our business plan going forward, a casino just didn't fit."

Champion Homes submitted an architectural proposal to Henderson planning regulators as recently as April, but withdrew it soon after. That plan called for a 294,000-square-foot building, but did not specify numbers of rooms or games. Under state law, neighborhood casinos must have at least 200 rooms.

A buyer would have to submit architectural plans for regulatory approval, and would have to acquire building permits.

The casino site is part of a 350-acre master planned community Champion is developing. Manley said other retail portions of that master plan have been sold to outside companies.

Michael Mixer, a partner at real estate firm Colliers Stuart Mixer Inc., said the site is at an ideal location for a casino: the intersection of Stephanie and Lake Mead Drive, which will soon be the Southern Beltway.

"It'd be a great neighborhood casino," Mixer said. "It would allow families on that side not to have to cross the highway."

The highway is scheduled for completion in late 1999, Mixer said. A 200-room hotel and casino would take about as long to build, he said.

The site has already generated interest from some local casino companies, Mixer said.

"We've had discussions with a couple different local neighborhood casino operators that are looking to expand in the booming southern Henderson market," Mixer said.

He declined to disclose which companies expressed interest.

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