The NFL team’s Henderson practice facility is racking up extra points for the neighborhood
The towering structure rising from the desert has Southern Nevada football fans anticipating the grunts, hits, and thrills of the NFL. But the Raiders’ headquarters and practice facility under construction in west Henderson also has accelerated development of a new gateway into the city.
With the Raiders’ presence just a year away, the transformation of a largely nondescript industrial expanse into a more vibrant, mixed-use character has begun. East of M Resort and just south of St. Rose Parkway, near the expanding Henderson Executive Airport, the Raiders broke ground on the first phase of its 55-acre site in January. It will have some of the same black-and-silver flourishes as the 65,000-seat stadium being built just off the Strip.
The $75 million facility in Henderson will include a three-story office building with a porte-cochère, a field house with one and a half practice fields, a performance center with gym and other player amenities, three outdoor practice fields, a pool, an agility hill and sand pit for training, and bleachers for fans.
“West Henderson is probably the most popular area of the valley right now,” says Ken Chapa, the city’s interim director of economic development, citing the Raiders, traffic from Southern California, and the proximity of the airport.
Courtesy Manica Architecture
Among the ambitious projects already in place: Smith’s Food and Drug’s 482,000-square-foot dry goods distribution center; Costco’s 150,000-square-foot center; Turano Nevada Baking Company just south of the Raiders’ site; and FedEx Ground. KRS Global Biotechnology of Boca Raton, Florida, plans a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. The city is also working with the owner of Haas Automation of Oxnard, California, on a 270-acre site southeast of the Raiders HQ, that would include Haas’ manufacturing facility, plus retail, warehouse, and other spaces, Chapa says.
“Even though technically it’s an industrial area, it doesn’t look or feel like an industrial area,” he says. “It feeds very well into Inspirada and Anthem and into that Henderson flavor, if you will — a family-oriented, master-planned community. It’s not that heavy industry feel you get with some of those parks. And that’s been a great attribute for us.”
West Henderson already had momentum, but the Raiders’ decision turned prospectors into builders, according to Chapa.
One project taking advantage of the corridor’s access and visibility is The Village, expected to break ground at St. Rose Parkway and Cactus Avenue this summer, with the first phase opening in the fourth quarter of 2020. There will be 200,000 square feet of office space and 100,000 square feet of retail.
“Normally Las Vegas is a grid, but these two large roads from Interstate 15 come into a V right at the property,” says Lance Bradford, CEO of Stable Development, the project’s developer. Stable paid the city $8.25 million for the 8.15-acre lot in a live auction before a Henderson City Council meeting in August 2018.
The Village will support the nearby hospital and include two seven-story towers, one three-story building, and a few one-story retail-only buildings. It will include 10-12 restaurants, Bradford said.
Another announced project is Sauvage Real Estate’s The Block, a 103-acre plan just east of M Resort, off St. Rose Parkway, with retail, residential, and hotel spaces. The core would include shops topped by residences, a movie theater, a supermarket, and a civic building.
“It will become a very active corridor, partly because of the Raiders, for people all over the valley,” Bradford says. “It’s going to become a well-known area that people will want to come to watch them and eat at the restaurants and hang out. People will want to run into or meet players, so naturally they will have a better opportunity being around this area.”