80: Enjoying Life as a Las Vegas Local

If you live in Las Vegas, you really owe it to yourself to get out and enjoy that which is Sin City. The weather. The food. The entertainment. And since our last episode, we’ve been busy doing just that!

Join us for this edition of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast where we regale you in stories of Las Vegas local fun and joy! Show notes:

• Weather (triple digits are awesome) / LiLV Pool (86 is the new 84?)
• LiLV Stuff
  • Listener Line: 206.312.0105
  • Sign up of Email Alerts (form found on right side of our website)
• NippleGate (thank you Wendy O)
• Commercial Property (PodWorx is expanding!)
• Recent Blog Posts
  • Friday Figures
  • Locals Deals (Social House, Bejing Noodle #9, Brand Steakhouse, Mandarin Oriental)
  • Red Rock Restaurants
  • New Firefly in Summerlin
  • Comedy/Magic talent search
• il Vino at Aliante Station
• Listener Audio [from a looooong-time listener]
• Listener Email: Viva Elvis, Job Hunt, Theatre Launch
• Hot and Horrible: Union at Aria Vodka-pairing dinner
• Enjoying Life as a Las Vegas Local by. . .
  • Staying at Wynn for Melissa’s Birthday
  • Checking out the NBA Summer League (and the most amazing discovery ever)
  • Singing along with Sgt Pepper Live featuring Cheap Trick

Good news for our readers in Summerlin. There will be a new Firefly Tapas Kitchen & Bar location coming to the area. The restaurant will be located at 9560 W. Sahara Ave, which is between Grand Canyon and Fort Apache. (It is currently the home of Z’Tejas Southwestern Grill.) Firefly offers Spanish style tapas for lunch, dinner and late night dining all at a affordable price. A large portion of the menu’s over 40 items are under $10.

The new Firefly location will be approximately 6,000 square feet and will seat around 200 people. Firefly has two other locations in the valley: 3900 Paradise Road (by the Hard Rock Casino) and inside the Plaza Hotel (Fremont Street and Main Street). There is no time-line to open the new restaurant, however it should be open by the start of August.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White, a Las Vegas resident, is looking to build a better playhouse somewhere in the Summerlin area.

Mr. White is looking at places to build an entertainment complex for families similar to “Dave and Busters” chain. Dave and Busters combine restaurants and bars with a variety of video games, from NASCAR simulations to Boxing simulators, wrestling video games, laser tag, etc. It is unclear if Mr. White’s new potential entertainment complex will serve food and alcohol or even what the name will be. Time line for construction will be within the next 12 to 18 months.

(For UFC Fans, the UFC Fan Expo will be held here in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center May 28th and 29th.)

With temperature in Las Vegas beginning to rise (thankfully), those who frequent Red Rock Resort & Casino will soon have another choice when it comes to cold beer!

Construction is underway to complete Yard House, a restaurant chain that boasts the World’s Largest Selection of Draft Beer.

(That’s a pretty bold claim if you ask me. However I do not posses the liver or youth anymore to know otherwise.)

There is already a Yard House located here in Las Vegas at Town Square.

Construction is well underway and is scheduled to open in June of 2010.

Prost!

Almost anyone that has driven on 215 West by Charleston has seen it. The steel skeleton that stands as one of the Valley’s reminders that the economic slowdown has effected those us of with budgets large and small. I’m talking about the Summerlin Centre Mall (or Red Rock Mall) which was due to have 5 or 6 anchor stores such as Macy’s, Dillard’s, Crate & Barrel with up to 300 stores overall.

Work was halted in late 2008 with the developer, General Growth Properties, citing the economy and lack of financing to continue the project. General Growth Properties then declared bankruptcy protection shortly thereafter. However in the past few days there has been some activity around Summerlin Centre Mall. Several trucks and some heavy equipment (bulldozers and backhoes) have been seen around the property. There has been no formal announcement as of yet, but it could be possible that work may be starting back up soon to complete this project and add some much needed jobs to the local economy. If we find out more information we will let you know!

Andrew Kwasniewski, President of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, was found dead yesterday by his wife in their Summerlin home. According to reports, it appears to be a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. It is an ongoing investigation by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department and there should be more details at a later date.

I took advantage of the beautiful weather this morning by taking my dogs for a long walk through the Summerlin Centre area (just west of the 215 between Charleston and Sahara). I was pleasantly surprised to find construction workers building away on a Saturday morning. New homes are going up in at least three communities (Traccia, Allerton Park, and Villa Trieste). Builders have been lowering their prices, and it looks like some people are being inticed by builder incentives, even though there are plenty of less expensive homes on the market.

Another bit of good news in the housing market is that a luxury condo developer in Summerlin that declared bankruptcy last year has had its communities taken over by another developer. These communities were partially completed, with homeowners living among the skeletons of units that were never finished because of the bankruptcy. It seems like a good sign that this investor considers this the right time to come in and finish off these properties that were unsellable just a year or two ago.

Yes, home inventory is still high. And, yes, a lot still needs to happen in the Las Vegas economy before things turn around. But it’s little signs like these that are encouraging and make me feel like we’re on the right track.

Not everyone in Las Vegas was at a sportsbook watching the NCAA tournament this past weekend. Many people were out house hunting!

Summerlin hosted what they called America’s Biggest Open House at new home communities last weekend. Judging by the cars in my neighborhood, their campaign is working to get people out looking at the models. When I came home around lunchtime on Saturday, the visitor’s lane at the guard gate in my community was six cars deep, and the parking lot at the sales office was overflowing. While new home prices haven’t quite caught up with the deals out there on foreclosures and short sales, several communities are advertising inticing offers like discounted ready-for-move-in homes (one neighborhood is advertising $155,000 off!) or kitchen and landscaping upgrades for free. Even if people don’t buy the new homes, this event is good for the community because it gets people driving around Summerlin, seeing what the area has to offer.

A new neighborhood in Summerlin Centre has a feature that is sure to make it stand out among the rest - solar panel roofs. Pulte Home’s Villa Trieste subdivision just opened in central Summerlin near Charleston Boulevard and Interstate 215. In addition to energy efficient features that have become common place in new Las Vegas homes, including Energy Star appliances and low energy windows, Villa Trieste homes include rooftop solar arrays that are sure to reduce reliance on traditional energy sources.

Although now is a difficult time for a new home community to open (Pulte had actually built a number of 3-story model homes on this site and tore them down after deciding they weren’t going to work in the current market), Pulte is offering four unique floor plans ranging from 1,487 to 1,960 square feet at starting prices from $227,990 to $266,900. This makes Villa Trieste competitive against existing homes in the Summerlin area, offering affordable starter homes in a desirable location that is convenient to shopping, recreation, and the highway.

I took a look at the model homes, and they are not your typical cookie cutter floorplans. Each model seems to appeal to different buyers, from families who need up to 4 bedrooms to individuals who need a home office and a large space for entertaining. The bedrooms in one of the models is dedicated to an interactive display showing the green technology at work. Villa Trieste includes generous standard features, such as granite countertops and 12-inch tile flooring, and also has some unique features, such as a tankless water heater and his-and-hers master bedroom closets, and some options typically seen in more expensive homes, like walk-in showers. Each home even features a touch-screen dashboard that allows homeowners to compare their energy consumption against that of their neighbors.

If Villa Trieste succeeds in its goal of reducing energy output and costs, I think it could become the standard for future Las Vegas valley homes.

61: October MeetUp at the Asylum Haunted House

Greetings, mortals.  In this edition of the Living in Las Vegas Podcast, we recount (and listen to) the blood-curdling, bone-chilling screams of our October Listener MeetUp at the ultra-spooky Asylum.  Show notes:

• PHOTOS!
• Weather/Pool Report: ch-Ch-CHILLY
• LiLV Stuff
• Listener Line: 206.312.0105
• Sign up for email alerts!
• Mouse Killer
• October MeetUp at THE ASYLUM
• Gordon Biersch
• The Asylum
• More Gordon Biersch

Next Page »