Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
VINTAGE ARCHITECTURE
Rancho Circle has several sister neighborhoods
Sure, you’ve heard of Rancho Circle, the exclusive, downtown-adjacent enclave whose brick and iron gates have welcomed Las Vegas’ rich and famous since the 1940s.
But the vintage beauty and large lots don’t stop at the neighborhood’s borders. Tucked around Rancho Circle, in the area roughly bounded by Valley View and Charleston boulevards, Shadow Lane and U.S. Highway 95, a cluster of charming micro-neighborhoods offers a wide variety of 1950s, 1960s and 1970s architecture at a range of price points.
With longtime owners keeping them maintained, these older homes held more of their value during the recession than their counterparts in other parts of the valley — and as Las Vegas recovers, they’re drawing buyers who seek the convenience of downtown without the grit.
“We are seeing a renaissance in that area,” said Zar Zanganeh, a real estate broker at Luxe Estates who lives in the area. “People are tired of driving 20 minutes from the west side to get to law firms and hospitals downtown. We’ve also seen a younger demographic of people in their 20s and 30s who are moving from places like San Francisco and Los Angeles and Seattle and they’re used to having a vibrant downtown community.”
The landscape shifts quickly in this quiet, residential corner of the city, with ornate mansions sitting just blocks from $150,000 starter homes.
Residents say longtime political families like the Tarkanians live here, as do celebrities like The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers.
Gated and nonhomeowners association options allow residents to choose their preferred balance between security and freedom.
Just under half of the homes sold in the area in the past year closed in 30 days or less, and Realtors say houses that are priced right usually come under contract within a few days.
Here’s a guide to the other Ranchos. RANCHO BEL AIR Average sale price: $700,000 “Rancho Bel Air always seemed to attract people who had come into money recently,” said Tony Vela, a Rancho Bel Air homeowner who grew up on nearby Campbell Street and remembers when casino executives and car dealers first began moving into the new development in the 1970s.
The original owners experimented freely with their custom homes, and the result is a fascinating hodgepodge of Georgian colonial mansions, traditional brick Tudors, New Orleans-style Mansard roofs and the occasional Danish modern, built over several decades. Two lots still remain vacant in the gated subdivision, which encompasses two concentric circles just north of Rancho Circle, between Alta Drive and Mesquite Avenue.
A 1980s home with turquoise tile trim, art deco lines and glass block walls earned the nickname “The Miami Vice House” from residents, while a menagerie of fanciful statues frolics in the front yard of a Tudor-style home belonging to the Maloof family, developers of the Palms casino.
Eureka Casino owner Ernie Lee bought a desert contemporary home in Rancho Bel Air’s inner circle two years ago. The home boasts an interior sports court and a distinctive earth-tone facade with recessed windows, slate door surround and a Mission-style medallion window. “It’s quiet, it’s central, and I like that older feel,” Lee said. His favorite part: It’s only a 10-minute commute to work.
RANCHO NEVADA ESTATES Average sale price: $650,000 Rancho Nevada Estates doesn’t feel like a gated community. Maybe that’s because it wasn’t, until the late 1990s. Built as premium tract homes in the late 1960s, Rancho Nevada Estates attracted many Catholic families who sent their children to Our Lady of Las Vegas school, just outside the neighborhood’s boundaries.
Today, neighbors stroll or bicycle down peaceful streets shaded with mulberry trees, flanked by sedate ramblers on half-acre lots.
“You just don’t know you’re in Vegas!” exclaimed Jack LeVine, a Realtor and vintage home buff who works in the area, on a recent visit. While Rancho Bel Air lures cash