Downtown Gentrification
Newland Communities is master planning 61 acres in downtown Las Vegas. The project is called Union Park. It will encompass 469,000 square feet of retail space, 3,600 residential units, 1,750 hotel rooms, 2.2 million square feet of office space, the Smith Center for the Performing Arts and the 55,000-square-foot Keep Memory Alive building which is part of the Foundation for the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute Keep Memory Alive, the foundation for the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute—a Las Vegas-based nonprofit organization dedicated to cure Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, ALS and Memory Disorders.
The groundbreaking iconic architectural design of the building gives it a unique mixture of art and function. Construction on Union Park is expected to begin in the middle of 2007.
The Fifth Street School, built seventy years ago, is currently undergoing historic restoration so it can reopen its doors to students. Although it used to be an elementary school, it will soon house the UNLV Fine Arts Program, the Downtown Design Center for the School of Architecture, the American Institute of Architects, the Nevada School of the Arts and the city of Las Vegas Cultural Affairs Division. The campus will also have a gymnasium that can hold 300 people, Gallery space for exhibitions, a 16,000-square-foot plaza and numerous open courtyards.
