With Las Vegas out of water and land land prices pushing housing past affordability,
developers are already eyeing Northwest Arizona for new regional housing and entertainment
recreation development according to this story:
Out here, there's no Strip, but you may eventually get twice the house at half the
price.
"Here we own all this property and we control it, there you have to fight for every
inch," said Leonard Mardian.
Mardian plans to build a hotel, a winery, stores, golf courses, even a college. He scored
a major victory securing the limited water rights, beating out Rhodes' company which also
wants to build in White Hills.
Right now, the stretch of highway from Hoover Dam to Kingman is lonely and empty. And
it will probably stay that way to a large extent. Unlike Southern California where wages
often justify people commuting 70-100 miles to work each way, the Las Vegas service
economy and rising price of gas will make families think twice about moving that far out
for affordable housing.
However ... this new development will be very good for the region. A large influx of
well-off retirees are driving up the Las Vegas housing prices, because Las Vegas (to date)
has been an island with little regional development. This will give new opportunity to
retirees who have leisure time, don't face a daily commute, and would gladly trade the Las
Vegas traffic and hustle for the slower pace of life.
Hopefully, this development will help be a safety valve allowing the regions
unstoppable growth to have less of an impact on the area's quality of life.
