Del Webb building first new projects in Southern Nevada in over 10 years

The builder is scheduled to hold a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday for a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse at Del Webb Lake Las Vegas, a 460-home community in Henderson.

Model homes are under construction and should be finished by next month, said Danny Welsh, vice president of sales at parent company PulteGroup’s Las Vegas division. Prices start in the low-$400,000-range.

Del Webb also is developing a roughly 490-home community in North Las Vegas called Del Webb North Ranch, Welsh said. Prices aren’t finalized but could start in the low-$300,000-range, and model houses should be finished by March.

Southern Nevada, with its warm climate, relatively low housing costs and abundance of golfing, has long been a popular draw for retirees. Developers have built plenty of 55-and-over communities around the valley and launched new ones in recent years, but the so-called active-adult business is still “a fraction of what it’s been in the past,” Welsh said.

Before its latest two projects, Del Webb’s last 55-and-over community in Southern Nevada was Sun City Mesquite, Welsh confirmed. The project, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, opened in 2007, not long before the economy crashed.

In Henderson, the faux-Mediterranean community of Lake Las Vegas boasts mansions, luxury hotels, golfing, retail and a 320-acre man-made lake. After the mid-2000s bubble burst, tourism there dried up, golf courses closed and turned brown, and even a man-made waterfall was turned off.

Lake Las Vegas has made headway under New York hedge-fund billionaire John Paulson, who acquired about 1,000 acres there after the market crashed.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.