State, county and local officials broke ground Thursday on a $53 million small business and affordable housing concept in the Historic Westside.
The new Mixed-Use Microbusiness Park will open in the Las Vegas community by August 2026, with plans to bring affordable housing and small business support, all in one space.
Located at 620 W. Lake Mead Blvd. next to Nevada Partners and Las Vegas Culinary Academy, the microbusiness park is around 5 acres and will consist of a two-story, 20,000-square-foot facility with retail, office, restaurant and entrepreneur space, an amphitheater and music plaza and 76 affordable housing units. A microbusiness is described as a small business with 50 or less employees.
Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy II said the Historic Westside was chosen for the park during the planning and land acquisition period, which started four years ago, because it’s an area that “historically not had seen a lot of investment.
“We chose this location to bring people into the community so they can experience the community,” he said. “This microbusiness park will be open to everyone in Clark County, and also allow for Clark County to develop in an area that hasn’t been developed in quite some.”
The developer is Brinshore Development, with designs and renderings from KME Architects and construction from Metcalf Builders.
During the groundbreaking ceremony, a number of public officials were present to give remarks including McCurdy; U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.; U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev.; U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev; North Las Vegas Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown; Ward 5 Councilwoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong; interim UNLV President Christopher L. Heavey; and Bo Bernhard, interim vice president of UNLV Foundation.
The project is fully government-funded with money from the state of Nevada, the federal government, the city of North Las Vegas and dollars Clark County received from the American Rescue Plan Act during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being government sponsored makes the project “the first of its kind,” McCurdy said.
The affordable housing units will be rentable by people making 80 percent or below the area’s median income. They will offer studios and one- to- three-bedroom options with rent at around $900 to $1,800 monthly.
Inside the facility, there will be six retail spaces, each up to 1,300 square feet, for microbusiness owners to rent. The spaces can accommodate a majority of businesses, including restaurants. UNLV will occupy the top floor with a 10,000-square-foot business support and coworking center called Black Fire Innovation.
Additionally, there will be computer labs, green screens for digital content creators, conference and meeting rooms, as well as mobile mailboxes for those who do not want to list their home address as their business address.
Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.
