Summerlin vies for national award

Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit education and research institute based in Arlington, Va., has named the Summerlin master-planned community one of two finalists for its 2001 Awards for Excellence competition in the new community category.

The other finalist is Celebration, a Disney community in Florida. The winner will be announced at the institute's fall conference in October.

Established in 1979, the ULI Awards for Excellence program recognizes projects in the development industry. The projects are evaluated on financial viability, resourceful land use, design, relevance to contemporary issues, and sensitivity to the community and environment.

Finalists undergo a two-day review process by a ULI jury and are visited by at least two jury members before selection. Jury members represent many aspects of real estate development expertise, including finance, architecture, land planning, development, public affairs, design and professional services.

To qualify for the award, a community must be "substantially" complete. Therefore, Summerlin's nomination was based on development in its northern planning region, which includes seven villages: The Hills, The Hills South, The Canyons, The Crossing, The Arbors, The Trails and The Pueblo.

The master-planned community's success speaks for itself, according to Dan Van Epp, president of The Howard Hughes Corp., the developer of Summerlin.

"The Summerlin success story is one of the most compelling in the country," Van Epp said. "Less than one year after the first family moved into Summerlin, it became the country's best-selling master-planned community -- a position held eight of the past nine years."

Hughes Corp. executives cited several indicators of the community's success: Its market share of new homes sold in the Las Vegas Valley increased from 4.6 percent in 1991 to 15.9 percent in 2000; a 1999 survey showed a 97 percent satisfaction rating among residents; a new family buys a home or leases an apartment every two hours based on the current sales rate; and employment has swelled to more than 12,000 jobs within the community's 3 million square feet of commercial, light industrial, retail and institutional space.

Company executive Kevin Orrock said several early decisions got the community off to a good financial start.

"This was accomplished by the sale of out-parcels to Del Webb (Corp.) for the development of Sun City Summerlin and the creation of the largest developer-driven Special Improvement District ($74 million) in Southern Nevada at that time. ... Summerlin has ridden Southern Nevada's economic wave of success ..., producing revenues in excess of $500 million and positive cash flow since 1993," Orrock said, pointing out that Summerlin acreage has doubled in value since the community opened a little more than 10 years ago.

Natural drainage areas and arroyos within the community serving a dual use for parks and trails; shared recreational facilities by schools and parks; a comprehensive trail system; and a recreational infrastructure that includes 4.4 acres of recreational space per 1,000 population (compared with the countywide average of 1.1 acres per 1,000 population) were cited as design and planning features on the community's application.

Other design features include inward facing retail centers for more pleasing streetscapes; petroglyph art on Interstate 215 overpasses throughout the community; and distinctive wall architecture, landscaping and entry monuments for each village.

Hughes Corp. also donated $58 million toward the expedited completion of the western leg of the Las Vegas Beltway.

The community fosters social connectedness in a city where most residents are from somewhere else, according to Van Epp.

"From the beginning, we invested considerable resources to develop Summerlin's social infrastructure," he said. "Today, there are nearly a dozen full-time employees of The Summerlin Council, the nonprofit arm of the Summerlin Community Association dedicated to organizing and implementing resident activities, clubs, events and sports leagues."

As for resourceful land use and preservation or enhancement of environmental resources, Hughes Corp. cited its incorporation of natural landscape and topography into the community design.

"Natural wash arroyos throughout Summerlin's two landmark Tournament Players Club golf courses and much of the Summerlin Trail System are built within natural drainage areas that are landscaped with enhanced desert vegetation," Van Epp said. "Storm water detention areas are also maximized to serve a dual purpose as active parks."

Hughes Corp. laid the groundwork for Summerlin in 1987 when it exchanged more than 5,000 acres of land to the Bureau of Land Management for land inside the Las Vegas Valley. This parcel became a critical component of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

"This exchange preserves and protects the beauty of the rugged red rock mountains that have become synonymous with Summerlin," Van Epp said. "Today, we are continuing our stewardship of the land by utilizing less dense and more compatible design and architecture as development nears the conservation area."

Van Epp believes the community has also demonstrated leadership in environmental responsibility by improving the image and popularizing the use of desert landscaping in the early 1990s when it was considered unimaginative and unattractive.

"Colorful, drought-tolerant and low-water-use landscapes have always been the standard in Summerlin," Van Epp said. "Lush landscaping is used only in select high visibility areas, such as community or village entry points and in some parks."

Hughes Corp. also helped establish a development fee to fund a desert tortoise habitat to protect the endangered species. Company representatives also served on a valleywide development coalition to draft rules addressing particulate matter as it relates to air quality. Executives said they support an aggressive statewide dust control plan and have appointed a dust control officer for their own company.

"Whether or not Summerlin is selected by ULI as the best new community of the year, we are extremely honored and proud to have been named a finalist," Van Epp said. "The Howard Hughes Corp. is exceedingly proud of all it has accomplished in Summerlin, which is today, home to more than 60,000 residents."

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