Las Vegas real estate, mortgage, appraisal blog

The Las Vegas Sun recently had some rather heartwarming news about one of the city's long forgotten landmarks. The Fifth Street School is going to be reopening its doors, but instead of the courthouse and homeless it will be housing students once again. The Nevada School of the Arts as well as the American Institute of Architects and the Cultural Affairs Division of the city will be having offices there. Even the UNLV's School of Architecture will have a spot, with around 30 students in the building each semester.

Only within the past few weeks could you drive by and see the renewed vibrancy of the building, which has benefited from more than two years of renovation at a cost of $9.5 million.

“We’re going to be in the thick of things downtown,” said Robert Dorgan, director of the Downtown Design Center. “To actually use the city as our library and walk around projects as they’re being developed and to be in proximity to those decision-makers, it’s just a phenomenal opportunity.”

Having local government nearby will be a great way for these students to understand what they'll work with once they are out of school.

“This is going to be a highly public, highly visible classroom,” Dorgan said. “Students will be in kind of a fishbowl.”

Dorgan imagines a time when the students’ proximity to city decision-makers leads to more informed, perhaps better decisions.

“There are all kinds of planning decisions being made and I think this will be a great opportunity for city officials to see just what we can do to help that dialogue, to look in as an objective third party with no stake, and no constituency to play to,” he said. “I think it will be good for the city to know what UNLV can contribute.”