A developer with a big footprint in North Las Vegas has bought most of its newest site for a pittance from the city, with plans for a big project on the old City Hall campus.
Agora Realty & Management purchased roughly 15.8 acres along Civic Center Drive just north of Lake Mead Boulevard for only $1,575, property records show.
The sale, by the city of North Las Vegas, closed in July.
This low-priced deal is part of a broader agreement, approved by the North Las Vegas City Council last fall, for Agora to buy roughly 19 acres of city-owned property for just $1,938.80 and build a mixed-use development with commercial space, apartments, and a civic building.
All told, the new project is replacing a cluster of city government buildings, including the now-demolished former City Hall, in an effort to pump more commerce into North Las Vegas’ downtown — an area that lacks the distinct, walkable feel that downtown areas typically have.
Aaron Lefton, president of acquisitions and leasing at Agora, said the project site will also feature gathering spaces and other amenities to draw people to the area, including a recreation center.
As he put it, the developers are trying to create a center-city that North Las Vegas “never had.”
More demolitions planned
Agora, based in Calabasas, California, aims to start construction activities toward the end of this year or early next year, and the project will be built in phases over an expected 60-month schedule, Lefton said.
The buildings and surface lots on the land that Agora recently purchased have been demolished, leaving a dirt lot.
Lefton confirmed that the last parcel to be acquired is a 3.9-acre plot that is currently home to two still-standing North Las Vegas police buildings.
City spokesman Greg Bortolin said that the demolition of those buildings is scheduled to start in November 2027 and that Agora is slated to close escrow on that final plot in September 2028.
Agora has other big projects underway in North Las Vegas.
Spanning 73 acres, its Hylo Park development along Rancho Drive at Lake Mead has a new retail plaza and is also slated to have housing, athletic facilities and other uses.
Hylo Park is spread across the neighboring former Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho hotel-casino sites. Station Casinos demolished those properties and sold the plots to Agora for about $58 million combined in 2023.
Plus, Agora is developing Nevada State University’s new satellite campus along the north side of Lake Mead just west of Las Vegas Boulevard and plans to build retail space around the three-story, 30,000-square-foot facility.
The Nevada System of Higher Education’s Board of Regents approved a lease agreement for the new building that comes to an annual rent of $900,000, subject to 3 percent hikes per year.
‘Bring life into our downtown core’
Bortolin, the city spokesman, said North Las Vegas’ old City Hall opened in 1966 and was vacated in 2011, when the current City Hall opened.
He said that the old building “sat empty for more than a decade with no interest” and that the redevelopment will bring waves of economic benefits, along with market-rate housing in North Las Vegas’ downtown for the first time in two decades.
Last October, the City Council gave the green light to sell the spread to Agora for just under $1,940. City staff reported that the property had been appraised at about $6.8 million and another time at around $13.5 million.
Plans call for Agora to build a minimum of 15,000 square feet of commercial space; an apartment complex with at least 100 units; and a civic building spanning at least 30,000 square feet, city records show.
According to city staff, long-term operations of the mixed-use campus would generate around $20.5 million in annual economic output.
Officials kicked off the redevelopment with an unconventional event in January.
City Council members smashed sledgehammers into the side of a shuttered city building, and then, Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown climbed into the cab of a Hitachi ZX380 excavator and started tearing the building down.
“Our goal is to bring life into our downtown core,” the mayor said.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
