I Am Excited by Coyote Springs, Small-Town Vegas, Golf Paradise, and Away From the Big City Craziness

I have lived in Las Vegas since I was three years old.  39 years.  That makes me a rare native of our great city.  So, to say "I have seen it all" when discussing the growth of our electric city is an understatement.

Although I am constantly astounded by the incredible development of the area and amazing new projects like CityCenter, Palazzo, Wynn Encore, Trump, and others, there is one project that truly has me more excited than all of the rest. 

That is Coyote Springs, a new 43,000 acre bedroom community being built in the middle of nowhere about 50 miles north of Las Vegas, and future home of only the second PGA Village in the United States.

And I am not alone.  According to the developer, in its first two weeks, nearly 500 people signed up on their new website, www.VillagesOfCoyoteSprings.com to get information.  

They say their home buyers interest list has grown to nearly 4,000 names.

And why is this?  For all of the amazing growth and "metropolizing" of our city, I think many of us long for the Vegas of the past.  A small, quaint place where you could see the stars, that wasnt crowded, where you played on your streets and hung with your neighbors.  Where you didnt have to deal with much traffic, only the heat.  

Many of my closest friends growing up in Vegas have shunned the new Vegas for smaller places like Santa Fe, NM, Austin, TX, Fallbrook, CA, and even Flagstaff, AZ.  

For me, I love Las Vegas and wouldn't want to stray too far.  I love the action, the nightlife, the amazing entertainment, and incredible dining and shopping.   Not too mention a lifetime full of close friends.

However, wouldn't it be nice to have the best of both worlds?  In the past I have considered buying a second home somewhere more remote, however conveniently close, where I could regularly go to "get away from it all."  Coyote Springs seems to fit that bill.

The first home sales at Coyote Springs are scheduled for September 2008.

In their promotional material they say they are "surrounded by protected federal land 20 miles in any direction, Coyote Springs is divided by the Pahranagat Wash wetlands, and is planned to include some 12,000 acres of nature preserve, extensive trail systems, parks, open spaces and multi-species habitat."  It sounds delightful.

The first phase will include a 15-acre recreational lake, 2,500-seat amphitheater, multiple parks, retail, a home-finding center, a recreation center, and schools.

And for golfers, like Las Vegas, Coyote Springs will be a paradise.   Not only will Coyote Springs be the home to only the second PGA Village in the US, it will be the the first in the West.   Jack Nicklaus is also supposedly bulding a series of golf courses there called "The Bear Trail."

There will also be a PGA Learning Center and PGA Historical Center.

Now someday 200,000 may live in Coyote Springs as that's what the developers project.  But that is 40-50 years away.

In the meantime, as a lifelong Las Vegan, inspired by its growth and taught by its successes, I look forward to going out there to see the very first phases of Coyote Springs.   

I look more forward to driving out there, in the middle of nowhere, and looking at the humble beginnings of Southern Nevada's newest hometown than I do stepping into the "big-city within a city" CityCenter for the very first time.  And I don't think I am alone.