Denise Willer 'Where There's a Willer There's a Way' Las Vegas

This is a group I believe strongly in, ATOMIC AGE ALLIANCE in Las Vegas

Celebrating Mid-Century Design and Architecture

As of this week, Maude Frazier Hall on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is surrounded by chain link fence. UNLV in the face of highly publicized budgetary cutbacks wants to waste more money by tearing down its first historic building and plant a lawn in the desert.

College officials keep reporting that the building will cost too much to renovate, but as of this date no financial feasibility study has ever been made public.

Scarce Las Vegas History

Frazier Hall (1957) qualifies on numerous counts for National Register Status. The pickings for such an honor in Las Vegas are incredibly slim. Maude Frasier Hall was built by an award winning architecture firm, Zick and Sharp, who have few buildings left standing. It was dedicated to a pioneering woman, Maude Frazier, the first female Lieutenant Governor of Nevada and the person responsible for bringing educational facilities to Southern Nevada. And finally, it is the first and oldest building on a State University campus.

In some strange way, it seems oddly understandable that Las Vegas reinvents the Strip with demolitions. But for a city with no overwhelming evidence of its past, to tamper with its educational heritage is plain perverted. It certainly sets UNLV apart from almost every other respected major educational institution in the country.

The nation is full of universities proud to flaunt their first buildings, knowing it engenders a prestige that nothing new can ever bestow.

In November 2007 the Clark County Planning Commission voted unanimously to preserve Maude Frazier Hall. A majority of university regents showed support for looking at the possibility of preserving Maude Frazier Hall. The Atomic Age Alliance online petition showed overwhelming local and nationwide support for this building.

Yet before the year is over, UNLV will demolish its first building to put in grass and an arch? Something doesn't add up.

Ivy League History by Comparison

At Harvard, oldest institution of higher learning in the , the university president has his offices in Massachusetts Hall (1720). Founding fathers who walked through Massachusetts Hall include John Adams, John Hancock and Samuel Adams. One may ask, what notable Las Vegas citizens walked through the halls of Maude Frazier over the past fifty years?

At Yale the oldest building on campus, Connecticut Hall (1750), was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965. Princeton honors its oldest building on campus, Nassau Hall (1756) by making it the central administrative building. Cornell University's simple but elegant oldest buildings located on the Arts Quad are affectionately known as Stone Row. Columbia puts its first building, Earl Hall (1902) to use as the spiritual headquarters of campus!

And lastly, the City of Brotherly Love knows how to love its history, not lose it. The University of Pennsylvania relocated College Hall (1873) and listed it on the National Register in 1978. The University of Pennsylvania president also chooses this building for his offices. A far cry from UNLV President David B. Ashley, who, although it was within his rights to do so, was not even willing to review the master campus plan to demolish the first UNLV building drawn up years before he took the job. Something doesn't add up.

Campus and Identity

Historic university buildings are revered not just on Ivy League campuses. Stanford University, preserved what it could of the original 1891 quad as part of its core identity.

When University of Southern California underwent a landscape transformation in 2001, the resulting Hoover Corridor includes a pedestrian mall, green space and a landscaped garden court adjacent to the very first building on campus, the 1880 Widney Alumni House, a California landmark, which was not demolished, but moved to accommodate the new campus plan.

And not all universities have the advantage of being 200 years old. The 1949 International Modern Style Merrick Building on University of Florida, Miami's campus is preserved and the Anthropology Department resides there now!

Whereas Ivy League schools honor their history, UNLV President David Ashley and Regent Chair Michael Wixom are willing to trash it without a second thought. They do not care to showcase UNLV a context that will last beyond today's instant gratification. They prefer to teach their students that culture is disposable and history is unimportant. They also don't mind future UNLV donors knowing that whatever legacy they bequest to UNLV may be gone in 40 or 50 years.

Sustainability

In light of the global warming world we live in, the "green" thing to do would be to reassess the plan and consider how to adaptively reuse existing buildings.

The Atomic Age Alliance put together an adaptive reuse plan for the University that was never responded to. http://www.vegastodayandtomorrow.com/maudefrazier.htm

Adaptive reuse is not the expensive proposition that it is made out to be by some college officials. And besides, where is the restoration financial feasibility study?

On November 29 and 30, 2007, The Board of Regents addressed this issue (items 18 and 19 on their agenda) and VOTED that Dr. Ashley should form a task force to look into the future historical preservation of buildings on campus. As far as we know, this has never happened. Something does not add up.

Private Benefit from Civic Demolition

ALL that exists to promote demolition is an out-of-date Midtown plan from 2004 submitted by Michael Saltman and the Vista Group who own the property directly across the street on Maryland Parkway. They believe their private property will benefit from the demolition of Maude Frazier Hall.

What adds up? Saltman is on the UNLV Foundation Board of Trustees and has donated millions to the university.

UNLV proves that it does not care about spending money they supposedly don't have. UNLV proves it does not care about its surrounding community's sustainability. And UNLV proves it does not plan to be in the big leagues with its cavalier attitude towards its own history.

Mary-Margaret Stratton
Executive Director, Atomic Age Alliance

U.S. News and World Report has rated 2008 public schools across the nation and SIX High Schools in the Clark County School District (CCSD) have received a Silver or Bronze status! They collaborated with Schoolmatters.com to determine the best schools.

Clark High School, located in the City of Las Vegas, was the only non-magnet school to receive an award. The other five award-winners included some of our exemplary magnet schools that provide specialized education for children with goals beyond a general education.

For example, the two most popular magnet schools: ATech and The Academy. I have the pleasure of knowing two WONDERFUL young adults that attend these schools. Who says teenagers can't be amazing people?

ATech, or Advanced Technologies Academy is located near the city's public golf course and has eight program majors whose primary focus is, like its name, all about Technology. Students apply to attend these magnet programs during middle school. The acceptance process can be rigorous, to say the least. Of course, ATech has an amazing website that can be found here.

The Academy, or Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts is located in the heart of downtown Las Vegas in the former Las Vegas High School building. Not only is it the site of Las Vegas' oldest high school, it's also an historical district! If you're looking for an amazing play or would love more information, The Academy's site is located here.

If you would like more information about great Las Vegas schools or DEALS in Las Vegas Real Estate, feel free to contact Denise Willer at (702) 810-0082.

As always, Las Vegas is BOOMING with new projects! We go through these growth spurts like a child - we get chubby and fat (housing market swells) and then we shoot up a few inches higher (brand new casino projects)

With 250,000 jobs coming down the line in the next 5-10 years, it's no wonder I'm right here in the middle of where it's AT! Las Vegas real estate will rebound from these doldrums faster than most - and here's why!

• March 31, 2008 - Trump International Hotel and Tower scheduled opening - 64 stories of 24-karat gold plated glass with 1,200 suites inside, will have amazing conference and meeting rooms and some of the most luxurious spa and concierge amenities possible. PLUS - Get this - IT IS A GAMING-FREE property! Unbelieveable! -Article
  
• Las Vegas started with "The Strip" - it was Fremont Street Downtown, and over the years has migrated to "Las Vegas Blvd. South" - Get ready for "Strip" number three - "North-town" will have its own "Strip" location up near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway! -Article
  
• 2011 will bring the opening of the World Jewelry Center to round out the feature attractions growing in downtown Las Vegas (west of the original nine streets) in the 61-acre Union Park area. Union Park has been part of Mayor Oscar Goodman's vision for downtown for many years, and it's amazing to see it start to take on its massive shape, with the World Market Center's two behemoth design center and showcase buildings, the Molasky Group of Companies building sitting at the heart of the "Spaghetti Bowl", the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute under works and affordable high rise living slated with Juhl to name a few of the non-gaming projects that are shooting into the sky in the heart of our city!
  
• Amidst all of this wonderful development is the WONDERFUL NEWS that Las Vegas' median home price has dropped BELOW $250,000! That means AFFORDABLE housing in Las Vegas is becoming more readily available by the day! (Two of the reasons for this -oversupply plus the credit crunch is eliminating many jumbo loan buyers, which means fewer jumbo loan sized houses are selling).
  
• If you are thinking of buying a home in Las Vegas, read this article about the five reasons to buy (and not to buy) right now, no matter where you live!. -Article

If you would like more information about our booming economy, DEALS on new homes in Las Vegas, Las Vegas foreclosure deals, or are in need of a Las Vegas real estate buyer specialist, feel free to contact Denise Willer at (702) 810-0082.

An article today from Entrepreneur.com lists four great locations in the US to purchase a home, and one of them is Las Vegas real estate -

WHY, you ask?

Because we have a STRONG job market, which will pull us from these doom-and-gloom housing doldrums and bring us right back on track to where we truly are; on the cusp of being the next major metropolis.

Las Vegas is already an international destination, and now that we have major international players investing in our little piece of desert, things can only get better. If you aren't familiar with the 200,000 new jobs coming on line in the next five years or so, be forewarned that change is on the horizon. If you don't act soon to buy a Las Vegas home, you will probably be disappointed!

Here's a great example from the Las Vegas Sun:

"While the $7.8 billion CityCenter development may be the most ambitious project in the country, and more than $30 billion in hotel and condo projects will be built on the Strip over the next several years, Dubai is plowing as much as $50 billion into commercial projects by 2010 -an unprecedented growth rate for any tourism destination in the world."

If you want to learn more about great Las Vegas real estate deals, feel free to contact me!