City Of Las Vegas: Downtown Residential Opportunities

Press release from the City of Las Vegas:

Mar 10, 2022

There were some poker chips being tossed around in downtown Las Vegas on the morning of March 7,  but they weren’t landing on a poker table. The commemorative chips were thrown by Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman, Councilwoman Olivia Diaz and developer Sam Cherry into the freshly poured foundation of a new residential project called shareDOWNTOWN. This new construction follows the opening of Cherry’s first share project which opened in the Arts District in 2020.

“I am extremely proud that this shareDOWNTOWN building in Fremont east will be one-story taller than our first,” Cherry said. “Enabling us to build 84 open-concept apartment units.”

It is a $20 million project that when complete will offer high quality design details like quartz countertops, stainless-steel appliances, smart thermostats in every unit and more.

According to the city’s Economic and Urban Development Director, Ryan Smith, this is exactly the type of housing unit that is trending right now and our city planners are working feverishly to keep projects like this coming.

“There are some amazing new projects in downtown,” Smith said. “Auric and Park Haven in Symphony Park bring 600 new units.”

And the developer of Auric, Southern Land, is about to break ground on phase two of Auric in Symphony Park along with another new residential complex in the Arts District.

So, why the sudden push for housing downtown? Smith says it’s actually been going on for a couple of years now and the answer is simply based on supply and demand. “We want more people living downtown and obviously the housing market in Las Vegas is very hot,” Smith said.

When asked the proverbial question of what comes first, “the chicken or the egg” or in this case the residents or the amenities needed to sustain residents, he explained it is a delicate balance when planning the right mix of new development.

“Amenities usually trail residential so especially with a grocery store,” Smith said. “They operate on a very thin margin and they look at all the different household incomes and traffic counts and downtown just didn’t have the density in housing to get a grocery store.

 “Now with all these projects coming on line, I do believe a grocery store will land soon downtown.”

The city is aware that many of the new complexes right now in the heart of the city are on the pricier side. But Smith says projects like shareDOWNTOWN offer an alternative to the larger apartments in Symphony Park. The homes in shareDOWNTOWN are referred to as “micro units” meaning smaller spaces that come with a lower rental price but are part of amenity-rich buildings that include gyms and common outdoor meeting areas.

“The world is changing and people are trying to make life simpler,” Smith said. “I think that’s the future, so we’re working on making sure downtown is positioned appropriately for live, work and play.”

This press release was produced by the City of Las Vegas. The views expressed here are the author’s own.