Monday, July 21, 2008 | 2 a.m.
It seemed for a moment that the creation of a new gaming district next to the National Guard training grounds in North Las Vegas could be contentious.
Then the bad jokes started.
Mayor Mike Montandon said he would enjoy a hotel room overlooking tanks and missile range finders — but doubted most tourists would come to his city for that.
The National Guard had been battling a proposed casino near the Las Vegas Beltway and Interstate 15, on a 73-acre parcel adjacent to the training grounds. They cited security concerns — that casino guests could peer down from a pair of eight-story hotel towers into the desert where Guardsmen train regularly.
The concern has apparently eased.
Guard officials said last week they are satisfied with a series of compromises with Milrose Company Inc., builder of the Miller Hotel and Casino. Milrose has agreed to build an eight-foot-high block wall between the hotel and the training area, and to acknowledge that the military’s activities may be annoying, noisy, dusty and smelly.
“My only concern is you don’t mess around and blow up the whole hotel,” Councilman William Robinson told Col. Terry Sullivan of the National Guard.
Sullivan laughed that off, saying live ammunition isn’t used during training exercises.
“No, nothing like that is going to happen,” he said.
• • •
The Henderson Planning Commission has delayed deciding whether to approve a zoning change sought by the owners of the half-built Vantage Lofts.
Slade Development is asking to convert the property on Gibson Road into a time-share project, which would require the zone change from medium density residential to mixed-use commercial. Several residents who attended a recent planning meeting said they don’t care what the boxy building becomes. They just want it finished.
The Planning Commission will likely take action on Aug. 14.
Slade began building the ambitious high-end condo project near Gibson and Paseo Verde Parkway at the height of the housing market boom, with units priced between $400,000 and $1.4 million.
But the company shut down construction this year, and last month it filed for bankruptcy protection, claiming it assets of $45 million and liabilities of $72 million.
The unfinished $160 million Vantage Lofts sits empty. New plans call for about 80 condominium units and 70 time-share and hotel units, as well as a 3,000-square-foot restaurant and a 4,000-square-foot spa. Room rates for the hotel units would range from $300 to $800 a night.
City staffers recommend denying the change, saying the zoning would not fit in with the surrounding residential neighborhoods.
• • •
Ascaya, the 640-acre hillside development in Henderson, is getting bigger.
And, perhaps surprisingly, the neighbors like the idea.
Ascaya bought 26 acres from local developer Rich MacDonald’s neighboring development, The Canyons. It plans to use the area to add 13 lots to the 299 already created.
The Henderson Planning Commission has approved the plan.
But, more important to the people living off Horizon Ridge at the base of the development, the change means a proposed road cutting through their neighborhood will be eliminated because there would be other access. That road, neighbors have said for months, would lead to increased traffic in the area.
The high-end Ascaya project, with homesites offering expansive valley views, is being developed by Hong Kong billionaire Henry Cheng, who has his own 3.5-acre homesite. The first homes are expected to be built next year.
The lots’ prices have not been set, but they likely will be at least seven figures. The total cost of the project, now four years in the making, is $250 million.
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