Year of growth awaits Summerlin

Summerlin will mark this year with continued growth, underscored by the opening of 23 neighborhoods, according to Dan Van Epp, president of The Howard Hughes Corp., the community's developer.

The neighborhoods will be located primarily within four villages: The Vistas, The Ridges, Summerlin Centre and The Paseos, its newest village.

"Summerlin is currently offering new homes within approximately 46 active neighborhoods," Van Epp said. "While a number of those neighborhoods will sell out this year, new neighborhoods will keep home inventory within Summerlin somewhat constant throughout the year. Despite recent economic and world events, we are anticipating yet another strong sales year for the community."

As with last year, most of the new-home construction will occur in The Vistas, the first village west of Interstate 215, Van Epp said. Planned projects include: South Tower Park, a 7-acre park with a playground, picnic areas, restrooms and open play field; and The Vistas Community Park, a 25-acre park with playgrounds, picnic areas, baseball fields, tennis and basketball courts, the community's first football field, and its fourth community center.

Construction is planned for Linda Givens Elementary School. The two-story school, scheduled to open in 2004, is a prototype for the Clark County School District and was designed specifically for the area's sloping topography.

In The Ridges, three custom-home neighborhoods will open. Arrowhead is scheduled for introduction this month; Rimrock in the third quarter, and Promontory Pointe by year-end.

Within Ridgebrook, a mini- village east of The Ridges, construction of Judy and John L. Goolsby Elementary School is expected to start, with completion set for the 2004-2005 school year.

Landscaping and creating streetscapes along Park Center Drive will be a focus in Summerlin Centre, the community's town center. Residential development will include homes with front porches, garages set off from the street and landscaped sidewalks. Summerlin Centre Community Park, a 20-plus acre multipurpose park, will be completed within the next few months.

Summerlin Centre also includes Corporate Pointe, a 54-acre office park. Two buildings, a 68,000-square-foot class B office facility and a 50,000-square-foot class A facility, are planned.

Also in the works is the Hughes Summerlin Centre, a class A office building district, which will feature two three-story office buildings.

Additional offices are planned for The Crossing village, where Career Education Corp. recently leased the newest 60,000-square-foot building for its Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, scheduled to open mid-year.

The Paseos village, located west of The Vistas, is being designed as a mixed-use village and will offer homes for sale by the end of the year. Work also will begin this year on a 16-acre park with soccer and T-ball fields. Other plans include an elementary school and worship facilities.

In South Square Marketplace, construction on RC Willey Home Furnishings' second valley store is under way and scheduled for completion by mid-year.

"The future looks as bright today for America's best-selling master-planned community as it did a decade ago. As Summerlin expands westward and southward, the community remains as committed to quality development and quality of life as it did in its early years," Van Epp said.

Summerlin, which has been ranked as the nation's best-selling master-planned community for nine of the past 10 years, is home to eight golf courses, more than 100 parks, nearly 105 miles of trails, 17 schools, cultural facilities and nearly 165 model homes.

Single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums are priced from the mid-$100,000s to more than $700,000. Custom-home sites ranging from one-half acre to three-quarters of an acre are priced from the high $300,000s to more than $1 million, and predesigned custom homes are priced from $500,000 to more than $1 million. Apartments offer monthly rents starting from the high $700s.

To visit the community's home finding center, travel west on Sahara Avenue past Hualapai Way to Town Center Drive and turn north. Or, take Interstate 215 to Sahara Avenue and head east to Town Center. The center is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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