The Arts District is continuing to boom with the pending arrival of Midtown. The four-acre site, which includes the already-built English Hotel, will have two condo towers, one affiliated with Marriott. Developer Weina Zhang of Z Life Corporation discusses her plans for the project, which is already taking deposits with 1,000 units planned in the first phase and 2,000 more to follow.
Some stories are bigger than "three questions," so we bumped this one up to seven.
What is your vision for Midtown?
“No nightclub, no sports bar, no gaming, no marijuana store. It's healthy living. The only restaurant, the Pepper Club (at the English Hotel), will close at 10:30 p.m. Then our cold-press juice and coffee shops will open at 6 a.m.”
It sounds very ambitious to have this ready by 2025.
“The first two towers will be completed by the summer of 2025. That sounds quick, but I built the English Hotel in eight months. We’ll do a floor-a-week construction. That's how we build. We’ll build this like we build casinos.”
What are some of the perks for residents at Midtown Plaza?
“Price. Historically, glass condo towers are for rich people. You need $2 million. Midtown Plaza starts at $360,000. One bedroom, one bath starts in the mid-$400s. If you are a bartender making $100,000 a year, you can afford this.
“The HOA will cover your hallway, elevators, and repairs. That’s it. We have two pools, a gym, yoga, an office, co-working, 24-hour security, and flowers — and you don’t have to pay for it. That’s all financed by the retail component. We pay for that. The HOA fee is intentionally small: 25 cents a square foot.
“There will be one Tesla available for every five households. A studio has three hours per week for free. A one-bedroom unit has five hours per week for free. A two-bedroom has seven hours per week for free. Then you will have a daily rate and an hourly rate. Everything's built into an app.”
Is the idea to be as sustainable as possible?
“Correct. You’ll be able to bike or walk your dog to Symphony Park. We’re 100% electrical. No gas. Our appliances are LG — all electric.”
Is the City of Las Vegas going to work with you as far as development — building sidewalks and beautifying the area?
“The city’s been very supportive. They spent a lot of money already — $20 million on 3rd Street.”
What do you envision for the retail and dining component of Midtown? What's going to be on the ground floor?
“I have this micro-retail idea. You don’t need 1,000 square feet to open a boba tea shop. So retail will be 100 to 300 square feet. The reason is — you have all this outdoor area. Every business opens up on the street. If I charge $7 a square foot, that’s only $700. And we pay for all the trash, cleaning, security, and electricity.
“We want small businesses here. They have to be filtered by me.”
So no national chains?
“No chains. No Apple store, no Lululemon, no. The only exception is the Marriott brand. Everything else is for small, local businesses. We want to keep it Vegas-homegrown.”
