The exceptions to this decline were found in Denver and San Diego which has a listing price increase of 0.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, in September.

While the continued decrease in housing price over most of the nation may signal bad news for the months ahead, as the Fall and Winter is typically slower in terms of housing than the Summer months,the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said yesterday that many potential homeowners are taking advantage of the more affordable prices they are seeing in the market. The NAR reported that its most recent Pending Home Sales Index, which is a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in August, jumped 7.4 percent to 93.4 from July’s level of 87.0, and is 8.8 percent higher than August 2007. Additionally, the index is at its highest level since June 2007.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist said, “What we’re seeing is the momentum of people taking advantage of low home prices, with pending home sales up strongly in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island, and the Washington, D.C., region,” he said(2). “It’s unclear how much contract activity may be impacted by the credit disruptions on Wall Street, but we’re hopeful most of the increase will translate into closed existing-home sales.”

Altos’ figures, which found that inventory levels continued to decline in 21 out of 26 markets in September, seem to reflect the trend that the NAR is noticing. According to Altos the largest decreases in inventory were in Austin and Detroit, with drops of 6.3 percent and 6.2 percent respectively. Additional markets with more than a four percent decline included Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, and Houston.

Credits: DSNews

One national builder has called the third quarter “one of the most difficult in homebuilding history.”

When Congress and the Bush administration enacted a housing stimulus bill in July, many expected the bill’s main provision, a temporary $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, would help the industry.

That hasn’t been the case, especially in Las Vegas where new-home sales in July (731) and August (792) were the weakest of the year. September is likely to be even worse because of the meltdown on Wall Street and tight lending standards hampering the ability of many potential buyers to obtain mortgages.

Builders are facing continued competition from foreclosed homes, which is bringing down the price of existing homes to $200,000. New-home prices fell below $260,000 in April, but have steadied since, landing at $253,000 at the end of August. That gap between new and existing homes had been as little as $28,000 in April.

Through the end of August, new-home closings were down 49 percent compared with the first eight months of 2007. In contrast, existing home closings were up 5 percent, according to SalesTraq.

“All you have to do is look at the numbers, and you can see the (stimulus) has not helped the housing market,” said Steve Bottfeld, executive vice president of Marketing Solutions. “It didn’t have a huge impact.”

Without the Wall Street meltdown, Bottfeld says it could have made a difference, but the dynamics of the market have changed.

“The tax credit can’t get you a mortgage, and that is the key issue on whether you can buy a home,” Bottfeld says.

Bottfeld, one of the biggest cheerleaders for the housing market, says he remains concerned about where the market is heading because he thought prices would start rising by the fourth quarter and first quarter of 2009.

A Wall Street bailout package will help the housing market because it should give buyers access to loans. It will slow down foreclosures because owners will be able to refinance, Bottfeld says. More important, it begins to restore confidence because people will realize prices are bottoming out, he says.

“Until prices go up, we are still going to be in a recession,” Bottfeld says.

What the bailout won’t do, however, is address the long-term concerns of what triggered the need for the bailout in the first place, Bottfeld says. Housing needs to go back to being treated as shelter rather than a commodity, he says.

“This bill is not doing that,” Bottfeld says. “I love investors to death. They were 20 percent of the Las Vegas market up through the boom, but speculators are deadly because they don’t give a damn about the neighborhood. All they care about is turning a profit fast.”

Las Vegas construction permits

The value of building permits issued by Las Vegas has dropped 27 percent through the first three quarters of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007.

Through Sept. 30, $588 million in permits were issued, down from $809 million a year earlier. The biggest decline has been in new-home permits, whose numbers declined from 1,941 last year to 939 this year. The value dropped from $230 million to $103 million. New-commercial construction fell sharply from $344 million to $120 million. The category showing the most improvement was the construction of apartment complexes with $134 million in permits issued compared with none a year ago.

In September, the value of permits fell 20 percent to $34 million, down from $43 million a year ago. There were $11.3 million in new-home permits compared with $10.8 million a year ago and new-commercial construction was $9.2 million, up from $7.6 million a year ago. The category that recorded a decline was duplex construction, which fell from $9.2 million a year ago to zero.

In other real estate news:

# Las Vegas had one of the biggest declines when it comes to metropolitan areas creating and sustaining jobs and creating economic growth, according to the Milken Institute. Las Vegas ranked 75 in 2008 after a ranking of nine in 2007, a drop of 66 spots. Reno was ranked 133, a decline of 107 positions from a year ago. The Utah cities of Provo and Salt Lake City were ranked first and third, respectively.

# Gemstone Development announced that Camco Pacific Construction has been hired to complete the first phase of Manhattan West. Camco replaces APCO Construction. Gemstone Chief Executive Alex Edelstein says the contractor was replaced because the project was not being kept on schedule or meeting other expectations. APCO officials did not return phone calls to comment. Manhattan West is on track to complete mid-rise residential buildings by the end of the year and a nine-story tower by January, Edelstein says. It is a $350 million mixed-use development near Interstate 215 and Russell Road.

# Prudential Americana Group, a Las Vegas real estate brokerage, has formed a partnership with Shelter Mortgage to provide residential mortgages. Shelter is a subsidiary of Guaranty Bank, a family-owned bank with branches in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Georgia. This is the company’s first partnership in Las Vegas, and it has more than 40 nationwide. “At a time when many other real estate lenders are shutting down altogether, it was important for us to work with a reputable mortgage provider,” said Mark Stark, chief executive of Prudential Americana Group.

# Applied Analysis reported the number of resale homes on the Multiple Listing Service jumped by more than 359 units and was the largest weekly increase since May 2007. The number of vacant properties has also increased by nearly 400 during the past week. The number of owner-occupied homes declined by 50 to 7,568 and represents 34 percent of all homes listed for sale, the firm reports. Tenant-occupied units represent 9.5 percent of the total while vacant properties account for 57 percent. The inventory is down nearly 6,700 units or 23 percent from 2007.

Credits: In Business Las Vegas

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors said 2,783 single-family homes were sold by a Realtor in September. That’s an increase of more than 9 percent from a month earlier and up 181 percent from September 2007.

Despite the increase in sales, prices are headed in the opposite direction.

The Realtor association said the median price of a single-family home last month was $195,000. That’s down 7 percent from a month earlier and down 32 percent from last September.

The Las Vegas area had 22,784 homes on the market last month, which is down about 6 percent from last year.

The trend also is evident in the condo and townhouse market.

Sales are up about 81 percent in the past year (386 sales last month), although the price has dropped to $119,450 — a fall of 32 percent since September 2007

“As home prices keep getting lower, sales keep going up. This month’s statistics show the greatest increase in year-over-year sales that we’ve seen in many years,” GLVAR President Patty Kelley said in a statement. “This tells us that qualified buyers are recognizing that now is a great time to buy a home, especially here in Southern Nevada.”

At last month’s sales pace, the Las Vegas area has an eight-month supply of homes on the market.

Credits: Las Vegas Sun

“The Bluffs is a semi-custom luxury home collection that truly maximizes its hillside locale and panoramic views of the city,” said sales agent Michael Goeth. “The walk-out style homes feature the majority of your primary living space at street level, with the secondary bedrooms and living areas on the lower level. This gives residents front row seats to the best views in Las Vegas, whether they’re in the kitchen, dining room or relaxing in the master suite.”

According to Goeth, the walk-out designs at Tuscan Cliffs were made popular by luxury home builders in Southern California.

“Luxury homes in cities like Dana Point, Carmel and Laguna Niguel really use the terrain to their advantage and we have done the same in Southern Highlands,” he said. “Not only does the lower level have views of the city and valley, but the main level living areas are at a higher elevation which eliminates any potential obstructions to the views.”

At The Bluffs, three model homes, ranging from nearly 6,000 to 6,800 square feet, are under construction. The small collection of home sites is offering a handful of premium locations prior to its scheduled grand opening this spring.

The Bluffs’ designs incorporate Pacific Southwest Development’s signature New Millennium Home philosophy that allows homeowners to personalize their residences without the traditional hassles and time delays associated with custom-home building.

“Pacific Southwest Development has certainly raised the bar for semi-custom home building with Tuscan Cliffs, and The Bluffs will take this concept to the next level,” Goeth said. “Our three model homes will showcase The Bluffs’ lavish designs, coupled with breathtaking views of the city and mountains.”

Residents of The Bluffs can enjoy full city views from the main level and rear yard, according to Goeth.

“We have incorporated the views into the designs of each home, so whether you’re having a dinner party or a pool party, your guests will enjoy breathtaking views of the city in addition to the dynamic company of their hosts.”

With lavish designs and unprecedented views, home sites provide additional privacy. Each site measures at least one-half acre and up to 1 acre sites are available.

Model homes carry the Green Home designation through the Build It Green program and incorporate Pacific Southwest Development’s passion for indoor-outdoor living, Goeth said.

“Every part of the home keeps in mind the delicate balance between man and nature,” he said. “Among our most popular features are interior courtyards that offer a quiet sanctuary within the confines of the property.”

Standard amenities at The Bluffs include 12-foot ceilings, Pella windows and doors, stainless steel Viking appliances, exterior stone veneer, 42-inch maple cabinets, granite counter tops, 6-foot Kohler spa tubs and three fireplaces. All homes include outdoor kitchens and disappearing glass doors, which allow residents to link internal and external areas seamlessly.

Options for customization are available in nearly every area of The Bluffs’ designs. Personalized room configurations include the popular home theatre, first- and second-floor casitas, walk-out decks, loggias and hobby rooms. Other luxury options include elevators, wine cellars and grottos, disappearing glass doors, wet bars and comprehensive technology systems.

Base prices at The Bluffs start at $3 million.

To visit, take Interstate 15 to the St. Rose Parkway exit and go west. Drive north on Southern Highlands Parkway and proceed to Stonewater Lane, then turn left and follow the signs.

Office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., except Monday when it opens at 1 p.m.

Credits: Review Journal

But in cities like Seattle, Jacksonville, Fla., and St. Louis–the hardest major cities in which to sell a home–even sellers who have substantially lowered their prices aren’t finding it easy to move their houses.

In others, including Philadelphia, Sacramento, Calif., and Las Vegas, plummeting home prices spurred by high foreclosure rates have added more reasonably priced houses and condominiums to the market and sparked a rise in buying and selling.

In Depth: Hardest And Easiest Cities To Sell A Home

Factors like banks’ reluctance to lend, the slow movement of foreclosed homes through some state systems and gun-shy buyers in others have restricted selling in many cities. In others, income-squeezed households have a better chance of turning their homes to cash, even if it’s not as much cash as they’d like.

In the second quarter of 2008, the median price of a single-family home dropped 23.6% in Las Vegas from the previous year, to $235,300, according to National Association of Realtors reports. In Washington, D.C., prices fell 16.8% to $370,300, and in Chicago that number went down 9%, to $257,600.

Behind the Numbers
Radar Logic, a New York City-based real estate data and analytics company, today released housing sales transaction numbers for a sampling of homes in 25 of the country’s major metropolitan areas. This story is based on these numbers.

Of the cities measured, Philadelphia has had by far the steepest increase in home sales, with transactions more than doubling from the same time the previous year. Seattle marks the other end of the sales spectrum, having seen its transaction numbers drop by 43.7% from the previous year. Radar records transactions for sales where complete data were provided.

Although Philadelphia made the top of Radar Logic’s transaction count list in July, Michael Feder, Radar’s president and CEO, warned against interpreting too much from the sharp rise in percentage of transactions for that city.

“It can mean that there’s a more stable market in Philadelphia,” he says. “But sometimes a county will go dark for a month and not file any data from public records sources. Philadelphia is not wonderful in terms of this. So there are not necessarily a lot more transactions there.”

Sacramento, which saw swift sales in July, also had the greatest second-quarter drop in home prices from the previous year of any metropolitan area, with the median price of single-family homes down 35.6% to $229,500. There, and in other nearby cities hardest hit by the subprime disaster, houses have started to move in part because the effects of the foreclosure crisis have had more time to set in.

“In the places hardest hit a year and a half ago, prices have come way down,” says Glenn Kelman, CEO of online real estate broker Redfin Corporation. “In San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Sacramento, they have all acknowledged the reality of home prices.”

But in Miami, also a foreclosure-rich area, buyers seem to be holding out for a better deal. Here, the number of sales has dropped 23.2%.

“Miami has a significant oversupply, and people are somewhat waiting it out,” says Rachel Drew, a research analyst at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. “There’s a lot of stock to move and people are waiting to see where the bottom is.”

Foreclosures play a complex role in the rate of home sales. In cities like Sacramento and Phoenix, foreclosed homes have flooded the market with discounts.

But real estate laws can have as much to do with homes hitting the market as foreclosure rates.

In California and Arizona, the law restricts deficiency judgments–a court’s ability to collect on the remaining value of a foreclosed home once it has been sold. In these states, homeowners with negative equity can walk away from the property, resulting in what some call “jingle letters,” house keys sent to the bank in an envelope. While the practice has consequences for lenders and borrowers, it speeds turnover in a foreclosure-ridden market.

“Lenders get the house back very rapidly and can move to sell the house very rapidly,” says Anthony Sanders, a professor of finance and real estate at Arizona State University. “In other states, deficiency judgments can slow foreclosure markets to a crawl. You go to Georgia and it’s much tougher.”

In Phoenix, which had 9.4% more recorded transactions than the previous year, many foreclosed homes weren’t on the market until recently. Sales of homes owned by banks and other financial institutions were nearly 10 times higher in July than they were the previous year. Sanders says that early in the crisis, banks held on to foreclosed properties.

“Banks, like everyone else, were hoping for a turnaround in the housing market. They were hoping that they could sell a house for more,” he says. “As the evidence comes out that this isn’t happening, they’ve wised up and started reducing house prices to get it out of their inventory.”

Radar Logic’s Feder says that increased sales of foreclosed homes in places like Phoenix and Los Angeles will be good for the market.

How are homes selling in your neighborhood? Weigh in. Post your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below.

“Median prices are affected by these heavily discounted homes. As foreclosed homes are absorbed, we will be left with nonforeclosed homes, and we will start to see stability in the housing market,” he says. “The question is, how long will that take?”

A handful of major cities around the country have seen a sharp rise in transactions, but most are still waiting uneasily for the market to bottom out and buyers are finding loans increasingly difficult to get. In some west coast and Florida cities badly affected by subprime loans and dropping house prices, foreclosed homes are being sold at a faster rate and may be moving those cities toward a housing recovery.

But in New York, whose economy is expected to be hit hard by troubles in the financial services sector, housing prices have just begun to drop, down 5.3% in the second quarter. Sales have dropped 24.5%, suggesting the worst may be yet to come.

Even in stable markets, “less is happening,” says Feder. “It doesn’t necessarily mean buyers have plummeted, it just means buyers and sellers still don’t agree on prices.”

Credits: Forbes

Credits: Market Watch

They’re not all here for the card game. That’s just something to pass time when they’re not out scouring Las Vegas for a good investment home.

Median home prices have dropped 25 percent from last year to about $210,000, Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research reported. Foreclosures and short sales, or homes sold for less than the mortgage owed, account for roughly 65 percent of monthly sales.

What really boils Hill’s blood is that international and out-of-state buyers are snapping up housing deals while the backbone of Las Vegas’ tourism industry — people who earn most of their income from tips — are being squeezed out of the market.

“All the tip people can’t afford a home in Las Vegas because of the mortgage crisis, while people from China and the Philippines and Canada come in and buy homes like crazy,” Hill said.

Speculators and investors were partly blamed for the run-up in Las Vegas home prices from 2004 to 2006 and the ensuing foreclosure mess. It seems they’re back in town, circling like vultures.

“I think the investor mentality is surfacing again,” housing analyst Larry Murphy of Las Vegas-based SalesTraq said. “Some speculators, investors, buyers — whatever you want to call them — they got … caught in the wringer. This could be a more sophisticated investor.

“At least they survived. They’re not broke,” he added. “I’ve got to believe they’re buying with cash or I understand the banks will provide financing with a decent down payment.”

Many of them are cash buyers, Realtor Robin Camacho of Top10Real EstateValues.com said. She had a client from Canada who wanted to buy multiple homes in Las Vegas when the U.S. dollar had weakened against foreign currencies.

“I’m working with so many buyers, it’s unbelievable,” Camacho said. “It’s been tough getting offers accepted lately, even offers for well over list price. Right now, I’m working with at least seven or eight serious, well-qualified buyers — some strictly cash — at the same time, which is incredible, even in a good market.”

A report from Credit Suisse on the Las Vegas housing market said buyers are back and looking for deals. Traffic levels improved during the summer, especially on lower-priced homes.

Real estate agents noted a growing sense of urgency among buyers to “buy while the price is low” as inventory levels have been steady for several months and sales are starting to improve, the report said.

Mark Feinberg, a truck driver from New Jersey, wants to use equity from properties he owns on the East Coast to possibly buy two lower-priced homes in Las Vegas, where he plans to retire someday.

Feinberg made several offers on foreclosure homes during a visit in August, including a $73,500 bid on a fixer-upper in east Las Vegas that was listed for $64,900. He didn’t get it.

However, his $54,000 offer for a townhome in the same area was accepted.

“I probably like it least as far as possibly living there someday, but I like it most for the cash flow,” he said.

Feinberg said he prefers to invest in Las Vegas over other depressed places like New Jersey and Florida because he believes this market will rebound sooner.

“It’s the greatest place in the world and with real estate prices right now, it’s probably the best deal you’re going to find,” he said.

International buyers have been an important source of business since the market downturn, said Wayne Lee, marketing manager for foreign currency exchange specialist HiFX. It’s estimated that between 150,000 and 190,000 homes were sold to foreign nationals from May 2007 to May 2008.

Canada replaced Mexico as the country with the largest share of buyers in the United States, more than doubling from 11 percent last year to 23.5 percent this year. However, the U.S. dollar continues to strengthen against the Canadian dollar, making it more expensive for Canadians looking to buy U.S. properties, Lee said.

With the British pound remaining strong against the U.S. dollar and house prices softening, “many British buyers agree that now could be the perfect time to snap up a bargain in the States,” Justin Figgins, director of Rightmore Overseas, said in the National Association of Home Builders’ online newspaper.

The British pound rose against the dollar Friday, going to $1.8355 from $1.8192.

During this year’s first half, searches by buyers in the United Kingdom for real estate in the United States rose by 50 percent to 190,000 a month on average, Figgins said.

Most of the loans that Patrick McNaught sees as president of Greystone Financial Group in Las Vegas are primary residents who’ve been “sitting on the sidelines,” priced out of the housing market and renting in the meantime. They’re buying with Federal Housing Administration financing and 3 percent down, he said.

Investors of properties financed through Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are required to come up with substantially more, anywhere from 10 percent to 25 percent down, he said.

“So FHA gives working borrowers in town the opportunity to enter the marketplace,” McNaught said.

Local resident Wendy Reese was able to snag a foreclosure home in northwest Las Vegas. It was listed for $299,000 and had three offers before the “For Sale” sign was put up. She got the five-bedroom, 3,100-square-foot home for $303,000.

The 4-year-old house needed cleaning and was missing window coverings, light fixtures and ceiling fans, but Reese said she liked the countertops and floor plan.

“I could look past the dirt and visualize it,” she said. “I had been doing my research and every time I found a home and ran to it, it was like, ‘We have 12 offers.’ Some were cash deals. It’s definitely a buyer’s market.”

The window of opportunity is shrinking, Joe Stewart of Realty Executives said. Recent housing reform legislation passed by Congress does away with seller-assisted down payment programs, which will make it tougher for local residents to buy a home. Also, FHA is increasing down payments from 3 percent to 3.5 percent effective Oct. 1.

“It is going to materially affect people in this town who truly deserve to have a home, who are well qualified but don’t have that much cash saved up,” Stewart said. “It’s a big issue and one that the shadow Congress has to work with.”

Resale homes on the Multiple Listing Services continue to be distributed toward units not occupied by the owner. Vacant properties accounted for 54.1 percent of inventory, while tenant-occupied properties made up 9.9 percent, Las Vegas-based research firm Applied Analysis reported.

The remaining owner-occupied units represented a more modest 36 percent of all listings.

The 23.2 percent year-over-year decline in resale inventories is primarily due to a reduction in owner-occupied listings, suggesting investors and speculators continue to be impacted, Applied Analysis principal Brian Gordon said.

Both investors and primary homeowners are benefiting from huge downward adjustments in Las Vegas home prices, Lindsay Watt of Gavish Real Estate said.

“Although the housing market bubble has blown overvalued houses back to realistic prices, it’s created a tremendous opportunity for people in this town to own a home based on a real-life wage,” Watt said. “With Las Vegas being a service-based town, it was completely unrealistic that these values would maintain.”

Credits: Review Journal

New and existing home sales in the Silverado area increased last month from July as did the median price, according to statistics from the Realtors’ association. The Silverado area had 151 new and existing homes sold in August at a median price of $225,000. The median price is up from $211,000 on 148 properties sold in July compared to $248,000 on 62 homes sold in January.

Bank-owned properties continue to drag down the prices and accounted for about two-thirds of all homes and condos sold valleywide in August, association President Patty Kelley said in a statement.

In Southern Nevada, sales were down 1.8 percent from July, after seven consecutive months of increased home sales.

The number of homes sold last month increased 93.4 percent from August of 2007. The median price of a single-family home sold in the Las Vegas area decreased by 4.5 percent from $220,000 in July to $210,000 in August. That’s down 30 percent from August 2007.

It’s not clear if the local housing market has hit the bottom, but Kelley said history shows these prices won’t last forever. And the number of available homes declined 3 percent in August. The inventory of homes is down 6.7 percent from last August.

“What we do know is that, once we sell off this inventory of homes in or nearing foreclosure, home prices will begin to increase,” she said.

Credits: Las Vegas Sun

After 30 years of broken promises and neglect, the city of North Las Vegas is finally moving forward with plans to save the historic Kiel ranch, which is home to perhaps the oldest building in Nevada and is regarded as the birthplace of modern civilization in the valley.

“Every time we come out here and walk around this structure, it’s like, the hair stands up on the back of your neck, the potential,” said Mike Henley, North Las Vegas parks director, who says he ’s a convert, a born again preservationist.

Two years ago, he approved using the historic Kiel ranch in North Las Vegas as a place to dump dirt scraped out of golf course duck ponds. But Henley has since seen the light. His employer, the city of North Las Vegas, is finally starting to make good on its promise to clean up and preserve the ranch.

An adobe house on the ranch may be Nevada’s oldest building. It dates back to the 1850’s and was the centerpiece of a sprawling oasis of a ranch that gave civilization a foothold in the valley.

North Las Vegas acquired the land in the mid 1970’s and vowed to create a park with trails, horses, and history preserved. Instead, the city carved up the property, sold it off piece by piece, and watched as fire and the elements destroyed most of what was there.

Money from the land sales went to other projects. City leaders approved the creation of an industrial park next door and then decided Kiel ranch wasn’t worth saving because it is surrounded by warehouses. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on studies and plans that were never implemented.

“As you can see nothing has happened except decay and neglect,” said Corrine Escobar in 2006 during an interview with Eyewitness News. Escobar is with the Preservation Association of Clark County.

At that time preservationists told the I-Team about the dire state of the ranch, which was overgrown with weeds, overrun by trash and transients, and headed toward oblivion. The piles of duck pond dirt were the topper.

A public outcry convinced the current council to admit its mistakes, clean the place up, and to take a fresh look at old plans.

“As we were walking up you noticed it was much cleaner. This is gonna be a long term process, Henley said, “We did a lot of clearing around the pond and did some eradication of cat-tails.

“A few sidewinders are all we will ever see out there,” said longtime city councilman William Robinson, one of the officials who has watched the ranch slide toward oblivion and isn’t thrilled about trying to save it.

Two years ago, the city was offered $2.4 million in federal lands money to spend on the ranch. Robinson and others turned it down. Now, he complains about a lack of money from citizen groups. “Everybody talks about it, but not a dime from the preservationists.” he said.

Led by Mayor Mike Montandon, the council voted to spend nearly $300,000 on a new engineering study of the ranch. Henley explained that previous reports did not look into the hydrology of the land or the need to preserve archeological treasures likely hidden under the soil. The new study could point the way toward development of a park like living laboratory, with trails and a shored up adobe, and fun stuff for the neighborhood.

“It would be a phenomenal spot for a picnic,” Henley said.

Henley and North Las Vegas councilmen say that since Kiel ranch is a regional and state resource, the state should pitch in some money. So far, they haven’t had much luck.

Credits: Las Vegas Now ]]> http://www.lvred.com/2008/09/18/north-las-vegas-moves-forward-to-save-historic-kiel-ranch/feed/ 0 http://www.lvred.com/2008/09/18/las-vegas-is-growing-again/ http://www.lvred.com/2008/09/18/las-vegas-is-growing-again/#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:00:50 +0000 ronpark http://www.lvred.com/?p=263 Las Vegas is growing once again with a number of new real estate projects under way in the area. These condominiums, hotels and mixed use projects are transforming the gambling capital of the world into a more livable and, in many cases, sustainable city. The downtown area is in the midst of an unprecedented shift with its new public facilities, transportation projects, galleries, clubs, shops and more. Additionally, there are a number of new developments going up around the city that are adding to its attraction as a year round destination.

CityCenter is a new mixed use development along the Strip that is between the Monte Carlo and the Bellagio. It will cover 66 acres with a 60 floor, 4000 room hotel and casino, as well as have two boutique hotels and three residence-condo towers. It is now under construction. The East Village is meant to emulate New York City’s East Village and is taking shape on 44 acres at the corner of Tropicana Road and Paradise Road. It is planned to be a one million square foot complex with 27 buildings.

Two other developments under construction are City Crossing and McCarran Village. City Crossing is located in the foothills of Black Mountain and will offer a pedestrian oriented village on 126 acres of land and have 400,000 square feet of shops and boutiques. McCarran Village is adjacent to McCarran International Airport (LAS) and the plans call for residential living on top of retail spaces. It is next door to the proposed Trop 42, a mixed use project that is still in the planning stages.

Loft 5 Las Vegas, Nevada is one of the most exciting architectural projects for residential housing in many years. The upscale modern residences range from penthouse lofts with private sky decks, to multi-level lofts with 20 ft high ceilings and private terraces.

On top of these new, mixed use projects there are many new hotels and condos. Some of the condo development that are under way include the Allure and Boca Raton, both of which are now open, the H.U.E. Lofts, and the juhl. These are but a few of the many new real estate developments and projects under way that are transforming Las Vegas.

Credits: Homes Go Fast