Is Las Vegas DT Redevelopment plan for real?

Question

Hi friends,

MRod here from Colorado.  Just got back from a trip to LV with the intention of understanding the real estate landscape in Henderson, Summerlin, Spring Valley and Downtown Vegas.

But I ended up being attracted to Downtown Las Vegas and it's redevelopment plan.

Let's use this post to share information about the redevelopment of DT LV and see if we can gather enough information in this post to make some informed purchasing decisions.

My interest is multi-family in this area BUT I am of course concerned what would happen to this area in a correction.

Question: Can this area withstand a correction?  I understand there is a lot of Freemont and Art district entertainment venues for millennials in this neighborhood. But what about jobs?  Is there a case being made for this area being gentrified AND if so is there more momentum than Zappos for jobs that are bringing in millennial renters into this area?

Question 2 :  Is the city redevelopment plan for this area strong enough to attract businesses with high paying millennial jobs?

Here is some research that I did on the area.  Please add to this in comments.

Respectfully,

Michael Rodriguez

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This link shows some example multi family properties in the area as of Dec 2016:

MF 10 U 7.33% Cap $700-800 rents

I checked out this 100% occupied multi 10U @ $979k and the rents are spot on for $60k+ earners.

MILLENNIAL ATTRACTIONS

I visited this coffee shop called PublicUs (delicious zucchini bread) - 1126 Fremont St, Las Vegas, NV 89101 - and there were a lot of young people there.  WIth a small theater connected to the same building.

REDEVELOPMENT PLAN LINKS:

Link to RD Master Plan power pointWebsite for the RD PlanDowntown LV Real Estate projects

MAP:

The area in grey surrounds the district documented in this file as boundaries

- NORTH Stewart (you can see the Zappos HQ (brown marker) (old city hall) just a bit north before the hallway.

- Click to expand map

Robert Adams · Answer

Flooding only affects a small perecntage of homes here...you get the proper disclsoures and insurance and move on one  way or the other. This has never been a major concern for me in Vegas or Henderson as long as you do your due diligence.

Michael Rodriguez · Answer

@Christopher Brainard

Thanks for the feedback Christopher.  I grew up in NYC, Brooklyn, East New York specifically.  I am used to the feeling of getting shot at.  That's what attracts me to the area -:)   Now OF COURSE Brooklyn is a better bet than DT Las Vegas.  It had (still does) bad neighborhoods that eventually drew in enough capital to revitalize Atlantic Avenue, Williamsburg and Dumbo because Manhattan got tooooooo expensive.

@Robert Adams

Wow! Thanks for that very specific pre-melt down case study Robert.

QUESTION:  Was all the new city hall, court house buildings all completed before the crash? I saw those buildings and learned of Zappo's move into the old city hall and felt very encouraged.  But if all of this happened pre melt down then I could see local government putting their sitting on their hands now.

@Bill R.

That Hsieh article is a great data point.  And someone that has indeed made a big bet of his own personal wealth on DT LV.  And I know its easy to brush off and say he's just another mil/billionaire putting money where he doesn't have any experience.  IE Zuckerberg's bad bet on New Jersey schools.

QUESTION:

Gentrification always seems to have that balance of homeless, crime and young people in an area and then government relocates the homeless people once the area has put in enough tax dollars to afford the new police presence.

As Tony Hsieh's reflects on a primary mistake of the ReDev not being ENOUGH good near-by rentals for millennial to move into...  For example, the ReDev project invested in restaurants and parks but visitors didn't see any place near-by to live.

If Zappo's / Hsieh will no longer invest in the area are there any other businesses or government activity NOW that would start momentum up again?

Thanks for the lively discussion.MRod

Christopher Brainard · Answer

I give downtown two thumbs down.

While there has been some revitalization in the area and its much better than it was, it really hasn't driven out the riff raff that is right across the street. Police struggle to keep the homeless under control and if you want to rent or sell a house there, you almost have to hire someone to live in it while its listed.

I've looked at a few projects down there and I'm still worried I'll get shot when I get out of my car. My experience in real estate has taught me that its much easier to make a neighborhood go downhill than it is to recover one that hit rock bottom. In my opinion, this area is high risk, low reward.

-Christopher

Blair Russell · Answer

I've only been in Vegas 5 years but have never had problems with flooding affecting my property or anyone I know. And my properties are in that area. I'll admit flooding is something I only do light research on when buying in Vegas (it would have to start raining first for that to be a real problem) but there aren't really basements so...I don't know. I think it's a strange thing to be focused on in Vegas. Have you had problems here with your properties?

Phillip Dwyer · Answer

@Jeff B.  You're right, there are areas of the metro that have flooding issues.  In fact, there are parts of the metro that have issues outside of the area you mentioned.  I just thought your post made it sound like everything from the northwest corner to the southeast corner was in a flood zone.

Jeff B. · Answer

Read the post again. I said it was NW to SE, diagonally across and that makes picking remotely difficult.   Be honest and fess-up; portions of LV does have flooding issues to say the least.

Robert Adams · Answer

@Jay Hinrichs we dumped it back in 2009. Thank god we did. It would have been a money pit. I was glad to be able to pull most of our money out of it. Values are still way below what they were in that tower. We would still be upside down if we would have kept it.

Phillip Dwyer · Answer

@Jeff B. The whole city isn't in a flood plain.

Jeff B. · Answer

also within the flood plain

Blair Russell · Answer

@Jeff B. I don't think that's fair.  I mean west of 515 is pretty much all of Vegas, lol, but west of 15? really no different than to the east. Actually I bet you can do better on the east side. What about Henderson, Green Valley? There are many neighborhoods east of the airport with stunning properties.

Is Las Vegas DT Redevelopment plan for real?

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