Question of the Day - 19 October 2024

Based solely in terms of topography and having nothing to do with the politics, finances, and logistics of development, we’d say the spread of the city, in general, will continue the way it’s been going.

There’s still a little room left to the west before the sprawl butts up against the Spring Mountains (northerly), Red Rock Canyon (central), and Blue Diamond Hill (southerly). The Blue Diamond area has the most potential and a proposal to build a master-planned community containing 5,000 homes on some 2,000 acres has been floating around for nearly 15 years; it’s drawn resistance from outdoor enthusiasts that whole time, but it could happen eventually.

We’d say very little topography is available to the east, where development butts right up against the Sunrise and Frenchman ranges.

The same is mostly true for the southeast, though it’s possible that the sprawl could climb a little into the foothills of the River Range.

A little room for development is also left to the north, before bumping into the Sheep Range (a bit northwesterly), the Las Vegas Range (due north), and the Paiute reservation and Air Force property around Indian Springs (to the northwest). So that's a possibility for buying up potential subdivisions. 

To the south, the valley is pretty well hemmed in by the McCollough Range. However, if we had some capital to invest in big real estate and, perhaps, two or three decades to wait for it to appreciate as you mention in the question, we'd probably think most seriously about putting our money in this direction.   

For a time, there was a plan to build a huge housing development out in Jean, 25 miles southwest of the city along I-15, to support the two casinos (now none) out there. If that had happened, the sprawl would have conceivably, eventually, filled the space between Jean and Vegas. But that plan exited stage left (as you’re looking north).

However, a fairly well-developed idea is to build a major international airport about five miles southwest of Jean in Ivanpah Valley. The latest on that plan is a QoD for another day. But if we had three or four decades to wait for a return on a major real estate investment, this would be our first choice.