Hughes Corp. donates land for new fire station

Summerlin will have another fire station open this fall.

Clark County Fire Station No. 28 is being built on Sahara Avenue, just west of Town Center Drive. The site is within Summerlin Centre.

The Howard Hughes Corp. donated the land. The developer will also pay for the cost of construction, estimated at just more than $3 million. After it's built, the station's operating costs will be handled by the county.

"Howard Hughes Corp. was the first developer to negotiate an agreement with the county to build a fire station in an area located away from centrally located services," said Bob Leinbach, public information officer for the Clark County Fire Department. "This is very significant since it helped establish a foundation for agreements in other developments that have since followed."

Part of the area is already served by a fire station at Charleston Boulevard and Durango Drive. Station No. 2 is operated by the city fire department.

Station No. 28 will serve an area roughly defined as Charleston on the north, Hualapai Way on the east, Flamingo Road on the south and "as far west as you can go," said Leinbach. Units could respond further north and east based on need.

The new station is being built on the fast track method, meaning permits are acquired as different aspects are built instead of getting all permits and paperwork signed off before breaking ground.

"Invariably, when putting up a large building -- even when building a home -- they change things," Leinbach said. "So when you get a large building, unless you fast-track it, it's difficult to build it in a timely fashion."

The new, three-bay station is expected to be operational by late October. It is being built by Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., which did work on the Fashion Show mall.

The nearly 10,000-square-foot station is a prototype blueprint, which allows for more vehicles. A final determination of exactly which type of vehicles will be needed at the station has not yet been made.

Tom Warden, vice president of community and government relations for the Hughes Corp., said Summerlin Centre is an ongoing project, what he called "an urban village," which will see growth over the next five years.

Under a new development agreement, the Hughes Corp. also provided the land, paid for design plans and construction costs of the city-maintained fire station located on Banberry Cross Drive.

Warden said his company views the building of fire stations as part of its commitment to residents.

"It's part of growth paying for growth," he said. "We're planning communities in a realistic way and getting it done in a timely fashion. The need for fire protection is not just for homes with people in them. It's also for areas that are under construction."

Yet another fire station is planned for the western part of Summerlin, on the northwest corner of Far Hills Avenue and the Las Vegas Beltway. That station will be operated by the city and groundbreaking is set to occur this week.


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