Henderson asks BLM to sell land in western part of city
The city of Henderson is asking the federal government to auction off a few key chunks of land this fall.
The Henderson City Council unanimously approved a motion Tuesday without debate to request the auction, which would include eight parcels totaling 58.25 acres in west Henderson. The land is located south of Saint Rose Parkway at East Bruner Avenue and west of Raiders Way.
The Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, which was passed in 1998, has come under increased scrutiny as of late as the Las Vegas Valley deals with a shortage of land for both commercial and residential development. Stakeholders who spoke to the Las Vegas Review-Journal say hundreds of thousands of acres within the valley are prime for development but have not be released or put up for auction by the Bureau of Land Management.
The BLM’s Southern Nevada district office did not respond to a request for comment by press deadline. There is no word yet as to how the land would be used. Henderson didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In a previous email exchange with the Review-Journal, a spokesperson with the BLM office confirmed the federal law has “directed the BLM to sell public lands within a specifically designated boundary in the Las Vegas Valley” and that to date, close to 44,000 acres have been disposed of. The spokesperson also noted there is still 27,000 acres of land available.
“Parcels made available for sale are determined through a joint selection process,” said the spokesperson. “For a parcel of land within the SNPLMA disposal boundary to be sold, the interested person/company must first identify the parcel(s) to the local government where the land is located. If the local jurisdiction agrees to the parcel sale, it submits a nomination to sell the land by the BLM. BLM then completes the necessary processes to ensure the parcel may be offered for sale. BLM generally holds SNPLMA land sales through auctions twice a year, but the frequency may vary depending on demand for land to be nominated.”
The last sale of land was in November 2023, when 590 acres were sold over nine parcels. The next sale is scheduled for this fall.
A master-planned community with more than 3,000 homes is now slated for 505 acres of former federal land in the northwest Las Vegas Valley that was sold as part of the November auction. Olympia Companies purchased the desert land — located several miles west of Centennial Hills Hospital and near the 215 Beltway — for $55 million.
Construction on the first homes is expected to start by the end of 2026, and the entire project should be completed within eight years of the start date, Olympia said.
West Henderson is one of the fastest-growing areas in the valley in terms of overall development.
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.
