Siena residents dance into the new year

Residents of Siena, a guard-gated Tuscan-themed community in Summerlin for individuals 55 and older, are celebrating the new year with a private dinner-dance tonight in their newly opened social center.

"We're having our own inaugural ball," Paul Smith, senior vice president and project manager, said. "This is the first event in our Siena Social Center. Siena is a very close community, where neighbors like to celebrate special occasions with each other."

Among the New Year's Eve party attendees will be two couples formerly from California, the McElroys and the Duncans. Irene and Bill McElroy will also mark their 45th wedding anniversary tonight.

"Our kids in California wanted us to spend this anniversary and New Year's Eve with them, but we wanted to start off the year in our new community," said Bill McElroy, who followed his brother, Jerry, in buying a home at the community.

Larry Duncan moved from the San Francisco Bay area last summer with his wife, Jean, after learning about the community while traveling to the valley for their son's softball tournament.

"We had no thoughts of leaving California or moving at all, but I became intrigued and wanted to know more about this community. (An advertisement) said we'd fall in love with Siena and we did, and here we are," Larry Duncan, a retired U.S. Navy pilot, said.

Tonight's event will begin with a four-course meal, followed by dancing to the Jerry Blake Orchestra, a midnight champagne toast, and viewing fireworks across the valley from a patio.

The 665-acre development will have about 1,900 homes, more than half of them on the community's 18-hole championship golf course.

Priced from the mid-$150,000s to about $650,000, the 14 single-story floor plans range from 1,200 to 3,000 square feet.

"We are so happy about Las Vegas' response to our new community," Smith said. "In the short time that homes have been available, we have sold more than 300 and have closed more than 200 properties."

Other amenities will include a 40,000-square-foot community center, to be built next year. The center will offer arts and crafts facilities, meeting rooms, a library, ballroom and theater, card rooms, a billiards room, computer lab, business center and cafˇ.

A recently opened fitness center has a wellness center, exercise equipment, saunas, steam and massage rooms, and an indoor swimming pool. Outdoor recreational facilities will include lighted tennis courts, bocce courts and pools.

The community is located along the southern border of Summerlin. To visit, take Interstate 215 or Sahara Avenue to Town Center Drive and turn south, following the signs. The model homes are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

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