Clark County OKs plans for big health club across from Ikea

Luxury gym operator Life Time wants to build a 60-foot-high, 125,500-square-foot facility in the southwest Las Vegas Valley that would feature weightlifting, indoor and outdoor pools, fitness classes, sport courts, spa and salon services and more, county documents show.

Commissioners voted 7-0 to approve the proposal.

Parham Javaheri, executive vice president of real estate and development at Life Time, said it hopes to break ground this year.

The Minnesota-based chain, which has a facility in Summerlin and another in Henderson, bought the roughly 15-acre tract at the southeast corner of Durango Drive and Sunset Road for $14 million in November, property records show.

Javaheri said the site is “the natural next location” for the company. The parcel is in a fast-growing part of town, sits right off the 215 Beltway and is far enough from Life Time’s existing clubs, he said.

The property, a failed high-rise site, is little more than a giant hole in the ground.

Irish and Las Vegas developers teamed up in 2006 to build a multi-tower project there called Sullivan Square. Work crews excavated the site, but ultimately, like most high-rise proposals from Las Vegas’ bubble days, the project was never built.

Contractors sued the developers, and the development team’s Las Vegas half sued its Irish partner, claiming that its failure “to timely and sufficiently fund” Sullivan Square led to lawsuits, liens and a halt in construction.

They left behind a vacant property whose excavated portion, former listing broker Aman Lal previously said, is roughly 30 feet deep.

Javaheri said Life Time would fill the hole with dirt, noting it’s less and less common to get project sites “without something that needs to be resolved.”

“Obviously, you kind of chuckle to yourself when you see a big hole in the ground,” he said.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.