Aliante

Aliante is North Las Vegas at its most polished, a 1,900-acre master-planned community that opened in May 2003 after American Nevada Corporation and Del Webb formed North Valley Enterprises to build it. Set against the 215 Beltway on the city's northwest side, it quickly ranked among the best-selling master plans in the country.

The community dedicates roughly 428 acres to parks and recreation, threaded by about 24 miles of lighted trails. Residents get the 18-hole Aliante Golf Club, the 20-acre Nature Discovery Park with its dinosaur dig, a library that opened in 2006, and the Aliante Casino and Hotel that arrived in 2008. Sun City Aliante, a Del Webb 55-plus neighborhood of about 2,028 homes, sits inside the master plan along the golf course.

Practical texture: Aliante files run the full range, conventional purchases for move-up families, VA loans for the Nellis crowd who prize the quick commute, HELOCs on two decades of built-up equity, and reverse mortgage questions from Sun City Aliante homeowners. HOA layers matter here, master association plus sub-association in many neighborhoods, and Art prices both into the payment from day one.

For buyers who want the most complete amenity package in North Las Vegas, Aliante is the benchmark. Ask Art for a current read on the neighborhoods inside the master plan.

In 2001 American Nevada Corporation and Del Webb formed North Valley Enterprises and bought 1,900 acres of desert on the city's northwest edge. Construction began a year later and the community opened in May 2003, with Sun City Aliante welcoming its first 55-plus residents that same spring.

By 2005 Aliante ranked fourth among the best-selling master-planned communities in the United States. The $675 million Aliante Station casino and hotel opened in November 2008, giving the community its own resort anchor just as the recession arrived, and both the casino and the neighborhoods came through the downturn intact.