Las Vegas apartment project destroyed in huge fire now being rebuilt
Updated February 5, 2025 - 10:08 am
More than a year after a massive fire destroyed an under-construction apartment complex in Las Vegas, the project is again coming out of the ground.
Construction crews are rebuilding a rental complex near Buffalo Drive and the 215 Beltway in the southwest valley that went up in flames in 2023. In recent months, the Clark County Building Department issued permits for the construction of a new parking garage and a new apartment building at the site, records show.
Project plans have called for 600-plus apartments and 2,500 square feet of retail on roughly 16 acres just south of the Beltway, according to Las Vegas developer Tru Development Co.
Tru founder Tim Deters, who set out years ago to build the complex at 8030 W. Maule Ave., did not respond to requests for comment.
‘They have to tear this down’
The Kaktus Life-branded project was 75 percent complete when it became engulfed in flames on June 20, 2023, the Clark County Fire Department has said. No one died, and no serious injuries were reported.
Amid 20 mph winds, the fire spread rapidly and quickly reached all the apartment buildings under construction, according to an incident report from the department.
The clubhouse survived the blaze. But the fires in the apartment buildings were “inaccessible to exterior water streams” and too dangerous for firefighters to go inside, Assistant Chief Brian O’Neal said at the time.
“They have to tear this down,” he said. “There’s no saving it.”
The fire produced flames that could be seen for miles, and a smoke plume that could be seen across the valley. It burned for four days before it was finally extinguished, the Review-Journal reported.
Radiant heat and flying embers also sparked other fires in the area. Among them: Palm trees, bushes and a dumpster caught fire at a commercial campus on the other side of the Beltway, according to O’Neal.
$100M in damages
A task force comprising local, state and federal officials was formed to investigate the blaze, O’Neal said.
Investigators examined and photographed the scene, conducted interviews and obtained surveillance video, records show. They ruled out arson but could not determine how the fire began.
All told, the fire caused an estimated $100 million in damages, according to a report from the Clark County Fire Department’s investigation division.
Clark County commissioners approved Deters’ project plans for the site in 2017. The rental complex was poised to bring new life to a property that had long been a giant hole in the ground.
During the mid-2000s bubble, a prior owner broke ground on a three-tower condo complex. Work crews excavated the site and started building an underground garage, but construction eventually stopped, and the gaping site was left dormant for years.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.