Ground broken on housing for Southern Nevada's blind population

Havander Davis, legally blind since birth, was 5 years old when he began attending the Blind Center of Nevada.

The 46-year-old remembers doing ceramics and playing in the bowling alley after the center acquired its second building.

Now, the center at 1001 N. Bruce St. is taking another step with Visions Park, a 100-unit, affordable housing complex for visually impaired and blind residents.

For those who are blind or suffer disabilities, Davis said, it is “very hard to find a place to live that you can feel comfortable and that you don’t have any worries about.”

“This is going to be amazing for people because they know that they’re safe. They know that the blind center is right there if they need anything. We have a food pantry; we have all kinds of things that are going to make it easier for those members and myself,” he said.

Founded in the 1950s, the Blind Center of Nevada serves adults who are visually impaired by offering them daily transportation, meals, weekly field trips to popular spots around Las Vegas and other recreational programs.

Visions Park will provide low-income people and families affected by visual impairment or blindness with safe, affordable housing, officials said. No information was provided about the cost.

Todd Imholte, president of the center, said Visions Park would have around 85 one-bedroom units, nine two-bedroom units and six three-bedroom units.

The development will have unique lighting specially made for visually impaired residents and flooring that creates different sounds in different areas. Individual units will have “sensory wayfinding elements,” Imholte said.

Future Visions Park residents will also have access to job training and computer services.

Plans for Visions Park, which will sit on 4.5 acres at 950 Visions Park Lane, near the center’s main campus, were developed a few years ago to reduce transportation time and costs for clients. Some people make a two- to four-hour round trip to get to the center.

The city of Las Vegas contributed $4 million to the project; the state added $15 million; Clark County paid $8 million; and the cities of North Las Vegas and Henderson chipped in $1.5 million each.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy, Henderson Councilwoman Carrie Cox and North Las Vegas Councilman Scott Black were among those at Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony.

“This is a dream coming true for so many,” Cox said. “To know that this project is going to make a difference in so many people’s lives is just incredible to me.”

Kathi Thomas, chief housing officer of the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, thanked the center for the work it is doing “to lay the foundation for happy, robust lives.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are about 87,000 visually impaired people in Clark County. The Blind Center of Nevada serves up to 5,000 of them.

There is already a waiting list of about 300 people interested in living at Visions Park, officials said. The center hopes to establish a second complex on the same block, officials said.

Davis and his wife, Veatrice, who has glaucoma, hope to move into Visions Park once it’s completed, hopefully by March 2026.

Davis said they were most excited about the prospect of being within walking distance of the center, where he works in the front office.

He said it was “extraordinary” that so many people in Southern Nevada were supporting the center and helping make Visions Park a reality.

“It fills my heart with so much pride, so much joy and so much happiness to know that we are part of the community, and we’re going to be here for a very long time,” Davis said.

“I just want to thank everyone in the community for the hard work they’ve done, the things that they’ve done to support the blind center over the years,” he said.