City Council approves planning changes for Residences at Village Square senior housing development
Three applications from Alpha Omega Strategies for planning changes to the Residences at Village Square senior housing development were approved by the Las Vegas City Council on Nov. 19. The approximately $80 million project, a combination of affordable senior residential units and commercial development, is planned for Decatur Boulevard and Vegas Drive.
The most significant change in the plans is the increase from 416 to 461 residential units on the 11-acre site across the street from Ed Fountain Park.
The developers of the project — Michael McDonald and Bruce and William Bayne, who were present at the council meeting — and Mayor Oscar Goodman and City Council have billed it as something that could rejuvenate what is considered to be a blighted area of the city’s Ward 5.
“This site has been a cancer of Ward 5,” McDonald said.
Before unanimously approving the requests, Goodman asked if the developers were still confident about financing the project, a 10-story building surrounded by 65,000 square feet of commercial development.
Alpha Omega Strategies purchased the site from the city for $6.5 million, and the city previously approved public funding in the form of a 40 percent subsidy for new construction of affordable multi-housing developments. The State Housing Division also is contributing nearly half the cost.
McDonald said the only component in question is a city fire station planned for the first floor, which was set to be paid for by about half the land purchase price. But financing is not the issue with the fire station.
“We’re doing a sound study right now for HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development),” McDonald said.
William Bayne said if HUD wouldn’t allow the fire station, the developers would be looking to add 22 to 44 more residential units in its place. “If we can house more seniors, I can’t see that not being a good thing,” Bayne said.
The housing project originally was approved by City Council on July 16.
Contact Centennial View reporter Brock Radke at bradke@viewnews.com or 383-4629.
