90 acres near Blue Diamond Hill could become a cemetery
Developer Jim Rhodes has sold a stretch of land west of Las Vegas that is said to have been eyed for a cemetery or other uses.
Rhodes, through his firm Gypsum Resources, sold 90.7 acres along State Route 159 next to the CertainTeed gypsum plant, property records show.
The $9 million sale to an entity called Red Rock Memorial Park closed late last month.
A representative for Gypsum Resources confirmed the sale, saying the land, near the base of Blue Diamond Hill, was not part of Rhodes’ hilltop residential development plans.
Property records indicate one of the people behind Red Rock Memorial is real estate investor Huan “Jeff” Mai.
His past purchases include the 2017 acquisition of Green Valley Town Center in Henderson. The retail plaza, on Sunset Road near Green Valley Parkway, is home to tenants such as multiplex Galaxy Theatres and Barley’s Casino & Brewery Co.
Mai could not be reached for comment this week.
Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones, whose district includes the recently sold land, wasn’t aware the deal had closed but said a potential buyer had reached out to his office with ideas for industrial and other uses.
He confirmed one such idea was a cemetery.
“They did raise that as one of the things they were considering,” Jones said.
Rhodes, the original developer of the Rhodes Ranch community in the southwest valley and founder of Las Vegas builder Harmony Homes, acquired the gypsum mine atop Blue Diamond Hill in 2003.
He has laid out plans to build thousands of homes on the hill, which borders the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. His long-sought development there has been controversial for years, marked by litigation and opposition from environmentalists.
As of spring 2019, Rhodes had drawn up plans for 3,000 homes on a little more than 2,000 acres, county documents show.
Last summer, Clark County commissioners approved a proposal for 280 homes on 563 acres. At the time, planning consultant Ron Krater described the approved project as a “first phase of development.”
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
