Not only because the Las Vegas real estate boom has taken a turn, but because of the summer heat.

Focus Property Group last week opened its latest Southern Nevada master-planned community, Providence. The community, in the northwestern part of the Las Vegas Valley is 1,200 acres built around an "American Spirit" theme.

While a tall drink of lemonade on a front porch might quench a thirst, the valley's summertime heat often puts a seasonal chill on the housing market, said Dennis Smith, president of Home Builders Research Inc.

"We are coming into the hot months and people don't like shopping for homes that much," he said.

That and the lack of finished model homes could get Providence off to a slow start, but the location can't be beat, said Smith, who also lives and works in the northwest part of the valley.

Providence, at Interstate 215 and Hualapai Way, is really the first large-scale master-planned community in the northwest Las Vegas Valley. That will help draw people to the area, Smith said.

Providence will have 7,500 single-family and multifamily houses when complete (less than 5 percent is attached), said John Ritter, chief executive of Focus Property Group. Families are expected to begin moving in by Spring 2007, Ritter said.

Ritter said Providence will be a bit denser than its existing community, Mountain's Edge, where homes are now being built at about six units per acre. At Providence they will be built at six and a half to seven units per acre, he said.

"It really is a function of affordability," Ritter said. "As land increases density has to increase to mitigate that."

Focus Property Group purchased part of the land, 485 acres, that makes up Providence at a Bureau of Land Management auction for $113.5 million in June 2003.

Ritter said it is still too early for the pricing of houses, but said a range of products and prices will be available.

The community will have 33 acres of parks and 10 miles of trail systems. Another 63 acres is being set aside for two elementary schools, a middle school, and includes the open Centennial High School.

An artist rendering shows a planned water park in the Providence master-planned community. To better invoke Providence’s old-town American theme, the developer says 4,000 mature trees will be transplanted onto the property. Courtesy Focus Property

Like Mountain's Edge, Providence will be drought tolerant, but with a slightly different landscape palate, Ritter said.

To better invoke Providence's old-town American theme, 4,000 mature trees will be transplanted onto the property. The trees are all drought tolerant or adaptable trees. Drought tolerant ground covers and shrubs will also be used and grass will only be planed in usable areas of the parks, Ritter said.

Another five acres is planned for a neighborhood commercial center, Ritter said. Ritter said more commercial uses weren't set aside because the community is down the road from large retail centers, Montecito Town Center and Centennial Centre. Triple Five Nevada's planned Great Mall of Las Vegas also is just east of Providence.

Ritter said that even though the housing market in Las Vegas has peaked, he views it as a more rational market.

"I think that everyone is eagerly waiting to see how sales go," Ritter said. "If the opening is any representation, I think it will be very strong."

There were about 2,000 people at the community's opening last weekend, he said.

"I think that regardless of the normalized market that we're in, this particular location is really unique and does not have any direct competition," he said.

Homebuilders have had to adjust to a changing marketplace and have responded with lower prices and special incentives such as TVs or upgraded kitchens.

In some areas of the valley, the incentive packages haven't been enough. In the southwest, where Focus Property Group's Mountain's Edge is located, there were 382 cancellations in April, a 25 percent cancellation rate.

In the south portion of the valley, the cancellation rate for new homes was 42 percent of all home sales in April, Home Builders Research reported.

Even with home orders being canceled throughout the valley, the number of new houses sold remained in positive territory. In April, the most recent data available from Home Builders Research, there were 2,646 recorded sales, bringing the year's tally to 12,012 new houses sold. That is a year-to-year increase of 12 percent.

The median price for new houses also increased in April to $350,615 (not including condominium conversions), Home Builders Research reported. Smith expects new-home prices will stabilize in the months to come.

The problem in the housing market has been in the resale segment — with almost 20,000 houses listed for sale in the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors database.

That is one of the biggest hurdles that Providence must overcome, Smith said. Many of the people interested in moving to Providence will have to sell their existing home — a proposition that proves more difficult every day.

Given that potential challenge, Smith said it was a wise move to open Providence now, and get people to start thinking about buying and selling their existing home, rather than waiting for cooler temperatures to return.