Mountain’s Edge opens park
Mountain's Edge, a master-planned community in the southwestern portion of the Las Vegas Valley, has opened Exploration Park.
At 80 acres, Exploration Park encompasses Exploration Peak at the community's main entrance, and features volleyball courts, horseshoe pits, picnic areas and an amphitheater.
The park will include the Western Theme Park, which blends elements of the community's geography and history. The aim of Focus Property Group, developer of Mountain's Edge, is to create an experience that challenges the imaginative young minds of children, while keeping them physically active, according to John A. Ritter, Focus Property's chairman and chief executive officer.
"Mountain's Edge celebrates the history of the area, and it was our goal to design a park that not only captures that spirit of the Southwest, but also brings to our city unique and exciting amenities like the Western Theme Park and the city's first mountain park," Ritter said.
The park's official grand opening will be held May 5 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. with an event called Country in the Park. The day will feature performances by three local country bands, food vendors, pony rides, relay races, rock climbing, rodeo roping, mining for gems, bull riding, face painting and other activities.
The building facades are inspired by early days of settlement in the West, but built at a child's perspective. Behind the building facades are climbing structures, slides and other equipment.
Dirt streets line the town square capturing the Main Street appearance and sense of the Old West. The streets of the town square lead to play areas featuring covered wagon play structures, rocking horses tied to hitching posts outside the buildings and a water tower splash park.
Adjoining Main Street is an area celebrating the region's American Indian history and an area where children can participate in mock archeological digs.
Mountain's Edge has created a Junior Explorer Program designed to be an educational scavenger hunt, where each child can learn about the history of the area and, ultimately, earn a Mountain's Edge Junior Explorer badge.
Throughout the park, children can search for replicas of animals found in the desert environment, like the Western shovel-nosed snake and the leopard lizard; Anazasi Indian pottery, wooly mammoth skeleton bones, petroglyphs, basket weave patterns and native desert and shrub species.
The Junior Explorer then marks his or her findings on a Discovery Guide and collects an Explorer's badge at the Mountain's Edge Home Search Café.
"Children learn best while having fun and the Western Theme Park is a great blend of both education and enjoyment," said Deonna Stocker, manager of information center operations at the Home Search Cafe.
Exploration Peak rises 2,846 feet at the community's entrance and offers a series of hiking trails, ranging from the leisurely to more challenging hikes.
Ramadas are located at two different stages to serve as lookout points and shaded rest areas.
A 280-acre regional park is planned near the center of the community with adult and youth baseball fields, multi-use sports fields, picnic areas and children's playgrounds.
The Old Spanish Trail, which explorers used when they first discovered and traveled the Las Vegas Valley, runs adjacent to the Mountain's Edge community.
This historical tie provided the basis for Focus Property Group to name its park at the entrance Exploration Park, and carry that theme throughout the community, according to Stocker.
Other parks in Mountain's Edge are named after explorers and early settlers of the valley, such as Paiute Park, named for the Paiutes, the area's first settlers; pioneer explorer John C. Fremont, who named the Old Spanish Trail; Helen Stewart, owner of one of the first ranches in the area; and Nathaniel Jones, a 19th century miner.
The parks of Mountain's Edge will be interconnected through a series of paseos throughout the development. The paseos integrate the existing desert landscape into navigable paths for the estimated 30,000 community's residents.
"Home buyers who have bought at Mountain's Edge have credited the community's dedication to the environment, while providing an active outdoor lifestyle as a key reason they wanted to own a home at Mountain's Edge," Stocker said.
The landscape used throughout the community is all drought-tolerant, requiring minimal water to thrive, but still providing a shady and colorful environment. Turf usage will be minimal and will be found only in park areas.
Prior to the construction of the community, Focus Property Group restored more than 10,000 native plants, that otherwise would have been destroyed as the community infrastructure was developed.
The plants were transported to Exploration Peak's hillside as part of the complete restoration of the mountain.
The water-saving measures at Mountain's Edge have been evaluated by the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Mountain's Edge was certified by Robert Charles Lesser & Co., a leading independent real estate advisory firm, as the second fastest-selling master-planned community in the United States in 2006.
When fully developed, Mountain's Edge will feature four elementary schools, one of which is already open, two middle schools and a high school.
The community will have a fire station, shopping centers, restaurants and commercial office space.
For more information about the master-planned community, visit the Home Search Café, located at the community's entrance on Buffalo Drive and Blue Diamond Road, or visit mountainsedge.com.
The Café is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., daily. The phone number is 898-5777.
Builders selling subdivisions in the community are: Amstar Homes, Avante Homes, Beazer Homes, D.R. Horton, Engle Homes, KB Home, Kimball Hill Homes, Lennar Everything's Included Homes, Meritage Homes, Pardee Homes, Pulte Homes, R/S Development, Ryland Homes, Toll Brothers, Warmington Homes Nevada and Woodside Homes.
Astoria Homes and StoryBook Homes are expected to begin sales in the coming months.
For more information on Focus Property Group visit focuspropertygroup.com.
