Investment in community worth recognizing

In December 2017, I presented my inaugural mayor’s awards to two businesses for their distinguished work in revitalizing Boulder City’s business corridor. The 2017 award recipients were All Mountain Cyclery and The Tap. I want to once again thank both of them for their willingness to reinvest in our community’s future and for being trendsetters in our town’s need to regularly hit the refresh button.

Revitalization is just one of many “re-” words that we commonly use to describe the process of injecting life back into something that was either dead or on the brink of death. Other such words include renewal, rejuvenation, reinvigoration, resurrection and revival. Like humans, business districts need constant renewal and refreshment in order to thrive. Otherwise, they get tired, old, worn-out and decrepit.

Continually breathing new life into a community is essential to its economic vitality.

With that in mind, I kept my eyes open this past year for two more projects that I could feel good about giving a citywide revitalization award to. Once again, the two businesses I selected weren’t the only ones that reinvigorated our commercial sector. The factors I considered included, but certainly weren’t limited to, strategic location, curb appeal, overall pizzazz, project magnitude, attractiveness to tourists and potential residents, efforts to give back to our community, job creation and the like.

The 2018 recipients of my two revitalization awards are M Tile &Design and The Cottages.

M Tile &Design is on Nevada Way near Fifth Street. In case you’re not familiar with it, M Tile is situated where the former Boulder City Treasures used to be. It’s right next door to Southwest Diner, another successful business that likely would have garnered one of my revitalization awards for its curb appeal and ability to attract customers had I been mayor years ago.

Located along the entry into Boulder City’s old-town historic district, M Tile &Design’s renovated showroom is definitely worth a visit. As its name suggests, M Tile specializes in wall and floor coverings, including European and domestic products like limestone, marble, glass, porcelain, mosaics and reclaimed stone. Although the renovation of its exterior sign is still a work in progress, the tile work on the fascia of M Tile’s storefront gives you a sneak preview of what’s inside.

And just for fun, check out M Tile’s website at http://www.mtileanddesign.com. Its gallery and products web pages are really cool and fun to browse.

Incidentally, Bristol and Aubrey Marunde, who star in HGTV’s “Flip or Flop Vegas,” used M Tile &Design for their home renovation on Avenue G last year.

M Tile’s owner, Michelle King, is an accredited interior designer with extensive experience in residential and commercial design. I applaud her for showing staying power by expanding her business in our community.

The Cottages is a residential townhouse project, not a commercial project, but it nevertheless clearly deserves one of my 2018 revitalization awards, as well. Last year, I predicted that it would follow All Mountain Cyclery’s new building as another in a series of falling dominoes that would do wonders over the next decade to renovate the business corridor along Boulder City Parkway from Veteran’s Memorial Drive to Buchanan Boulevard. And that’s definitely proved to be true.

Developed by RPS Homes, The Cottages consists of 65-plus new single-story townhomes that feature various floor plans, two-car garages, shared paver driveways, private yards and beautifully appointed common area amenities including inviting landscaping. Although entitlements and various legal issues took some time to work through, construction of the homes has proceeded rapidly. And with prices starting in the mid-$200,000s, it appears that most, if not all, of the units have already sold.

On Boulder City Parkway near the old airport hangar, The Cottages infused a breath of fresh air into the area to replace the blighted mobile home park that formerly existed there. It introduces a healthy mixed-use element of potential business patrons and customers. And that, of course, nicely complements our soon-to-be constructed complete streets project, which is designed to make the commercial core along Boulder City Parkway more pedestrian-, bicycle- and business-friendly. In the years to follow, I’m confident that The Cottages will remain a key piece in our ongoing revitalization efforts along that stretch of town.

For over 20 years, RPS Homes has been a Boulder City mainstay and one of the only developers willing to repeatedly reinvest in our community. Among RPS’ prior developments are Toucan Trails and Tuscany. RPS also regularly assists local nonprofits and gives back to our community in many other ways, including replacement of the roof on the historic Boulder Dam Hotel a few years ago.

Both of these projects are well-deserving of my 2018 revitalization awards. Their faith in the long-term viability of our community and their willingness to invest in our future speak volumes. As we embark on a new year, please join me in thanking these folks and other entrepreneurs like them who work so hard and give so generously to keep our community strong and vibrant.

Rod Woodbury is mayor of Boulder City. He has been serving on the City Council since 2011 and is the president and managing shareholder of his law firm, Woodbury Law.