LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Residents of Centennial Hills are likely familiar with the sign perched at the corner of a vacant lot on Durango Drive and Elkhorn Road, proclaiming the spot the "future home" of College of Southern Nevada's northwest campus.
But it's been that way for quite some time, and there hasn't been any development.
Good Morning Las Vegas anchor Justin Hinton is getting some answers about what's going on.
The president of the CSN school system says it really comes down to funding. It's been nearly seven years since CSN took possession of the land, but it's been a roughly 20-year process, Federico Zaragoza said.
By 2026, the school has to begin some kind of structural development on the land, or it's at risk of losing the property.
So, what is the next step?
"For us, it would be the appropriation, hopefully, as part of the state budget and within one of those line items, we'd have the funding to begin the planning and actually even some of the early site development that needs to happen," Zaragoza said.
Zaragoza says he thinks this is the year it's going to happen, since the school has a lot of support from folks who feel it's really needed for the northwest part of the valley.
What does CSN envision for its future northwest campus?
Eventually, the campus should include 10 buildings and have room for about 10,000 students, Zaragoza said. He adds the main building would focus on core courses and, eventually, CSN would also construct a Public Safety Center of Excellence to offer EMT and fire sciences programs.
The main building at the northwest campus is expected to cost about $16.5 million, Zaragoza said.
Finally, we asked Zaragoza what CSN would tell community members who have been waiting for a long time for this campus to come to fruition.
"Yeah, the wait's almost over, but make sure you reach out to your elected officials to make sure that we get that support as this process continues," he said.
