Union Village vision in Henderson becoming a reality

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Henderson Hospital anchors the 155-acre Union Village, an “integrated health care village” in Henderson.

Amid a collection of large and expensive projects progressing in the Las Vegas Valley, one seems to have existed a bit under the radar.

A city within a city in Henderson continues to go up east of U.S. 95 near Central Church. It’s called Union Village, and it’s already home to Henderson Hospital and an upscale apartment complex called The Well, which has about 400 units.

In the coming months and years, plans are for the sprawling 155-acre, $1.2 billion development to include a 14,000-square-foot dialysis clinic, a memory and dementia care “village,” a hotel, a 300-unit condominium build-out, an additional condo project, a promenade, restaurants and other retail spaces, more apartments (including senior-living units), and a new 95,000-square-foot Las Vegas Athletic Club facility.

That’s just part of what’s planned, said Craig Johnson, one of the founders of the Union Village development, which broke ground in 2014.

“We’re building a 5-acre park, which we’ll give to the city [of Henderson],” Johnson said. “We’re calling this an integrated health care village, and it’s a first of its kind around the country. It’s a place where you can live, work and play, and it’s all based on health and wellness.”

Henderson Hospital, which opened in late 2016 and features nearly 170 beds, has been the most visible of the projects within the Union Village build-out, but more will be coming soon.

“We’re proud that Henderson Hospital is the anchor for Union Village,” said Sam Kaufman, the hospital’s CEO. “We’ve been very successful. The community engagement here has been phenomenal. We’re adding a [catheterization] lab this summer and a new patient tower with additional beds, which we plan to open in 2021.”

While it’s a process, the area is beginning to fill in. A leasing consultant with The Well, managed by the Wolff Co., said its apartment units are almost all leased, and the Las Vegas Athletic Club space is expected to open late this year.

The Wolff Co. also has a 350-unit apartment complex being built adjacent to The Well.

Another planned piece for Union Village is a 50,000-square-foot wellness center that, Johnson said, will feature a full health and well-being experience.

“It will have everything from physical therapy and athlete training to psychological services and even some Eastern medicine components,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing really like it right now in the world. We’re building another one at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

The connection with the hall of fame comes from the Canton, Ohio, facility’s president, David Baker. An original member of the three-person team that first envisioned Union Village back in 2009, Baker went to work at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

With the Las Vegas pro sports scene exploding, Johnson said his group would like to explore possible partnerships in the sports realm.

“We’d love to reach out when we’re ready,” Johnson said. “Ideally, we’d love to talk to the Raiders about possibly sponsoring a senior-living facility for former players and personnel. We have so much on our plate right now, that would be down the road.”

Henderson Mayor Debra March said she’s looking forward to watching the full Union Village vision become a reality.

“To have the first integrated health care village in the nation speaks to our health care priorities in the city of Henderson,” March said. “This is an exciting time in our city and we look forward to its completion.”

One of the traits that attracted Johnson and his team is accessibility.

“We believe this is the future of health care,” Johnson said. “You have everything health- and wellness-related and people living in an environment where they can walk to work and walk to places where they can eat healthy. You’re part of a bigger community, but you have your own little community, too, and that’s the exciting part of Union Village.”

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This story originally appeared in the Las Vegas Weekly.

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