Southern Nevada Edition | March/April 2008 VOL. 6, NO. 2

Canyon EdgeSome Live Life on the Edge.

Others Choose to Own It.

Canyon EdgeSome Live Life on the Edge.

Others Choose to Own It.The Best Southern NevadaHas to Offer!

The Best Southern NevadaHas to Offer!

coverstory

The words inspiration, harmony, solitude, reflection and serenity evoke peacefulness and calm, yet a new sophistication and elegance in the hills has taken shape. With a unique blend in vision and ultramodern home design, Canyon Edge is high-rise “living on the edge.”

National TI and Alpha Land Development joined forces four-and-a-half years ago with Bob Cione, Paul Torralva and Bob Sharp, three successful partners who combined their many successes in business development, construction and land development now known as National TI/Alpha Land Development. Bob Sharp has extensive resi-dential and commercial background and has built over 1,000 4-plex units in the ’70s and ’80s, condos in the early 2000s and production housing. Developer Paul Torralva is licensed to build in 38 states and has been recognized for his technical expertise over the years with many commercial as well as residential building projects. He has ex-

perience also in retail tenant improvement, design-build services that included hotel-resort-casinos for Native American tribes and has been recognized by clients such as Hilton, Starwood, Choice and Motel 6 over the years. Bob Cione brings in many years of financial experience and business management to the company and rounds out the group, making this a successful and yet compatible union.

The company started with a 23.5-acre mixed-use project in Green Valley, a 14.5-acre project that is Canyon Edge homes and a downtown project at 4th and Bonneville office complex and parking garage. Their newest and most highly praised venture thus far is Canyon Edge, which terraces high above the rocky hillside just off Horizon Ridge and Green Valley Parkway; it began three-and-a-half years ago. “We bought the land and began to develop the property because of the phenomenal views of the city and surrounding canyons that has

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Canyon EdgeSome Live Life on the Edge. Others Choose to Own It.By Debbie Morehouse

Thomas Berger of Zen Interiors created casual elegance in the home. Beautifully designed artwork by local artist Kathy Cartier is featured throughout the home as seen in the living area.

added its own share of excitement and also gives us ‘bragging rights’ for the property,” says Cione. Another future project involves 8.5 acres at Green Valley and Horizon Ridge known as Canyons Promenade and is zoned for 340 mid-rise condo units; it is scheduled for late 2008-2009 and is a $150-160 mil-lion project. “We’re also looking at a resort project in Puerto Vallarta, an RV project in both California and Arizona and have been invited into a mixed-use project in Oregon. The harmony, solitude, inspiration, reflec-tion and serenity (the largest home to be built at 5,500 square feet) will be 44 homes that have already captured several pre-sales.

“The project was designed by San Diego

architect Graham Downes of Blokhaus and local architect Larry Tindall, who first de-signed a Tuscany-style home that was quickly changed to reflect a contemporary flair. As we began to work through the design we realized there were far more opportunities, but with marketing risk for something that we could do in a contemporary product that would normally not be classified as a traditional structure for the area. We went through the elements of redesigning a struc-tural product that fit our mold.

“We’re after the ‘A’ team with our subcon-tractors; it’s just what the company requires. We conduct multifaceted interviews with them to make sure that we can work together and refine our processes. Ken Lowman, Thomas Berger, Larry Tindall and the Blokhaus team have also added to the ‘A’ team element that we’ve come to expect in out projects. Ken Lowman, one of the foremost luxury home brokers in the Valley, is the selling broker/listing agent for the project that is due for completion in later 2009. Price range for these ultramodern homes start at $1.39 million to

Above: This beautifully planned master suite features an abundance of light bearing butt-glass, and a tiled circular gas fireplace is surrounded by further travertine that envelops the bath and walk-in shower.

Left: Relax, and enjoy a glass of wine as you listen to the trickle of the waters from the fountain inside the relaxing “atrium” that’s actually outside. This is very peaceful outdoor living that literally opens up to the sky.

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$2.78 million with square footage starting at 3,950 up to 5,500 in the Serenity model with casitas that can also be added. Among many value-added features in these homes, along with roomy hospitality space, the quality of these homes could be considered ‘overbuilt’ due to the extreme nature of the features and benefits. Today, people understand that you can no longer just build a ‘box’; you must build quality along with features that also include exceptional warranty on homes.”

Thomas Berger of Zen Interiors, a wonderful and talented designer, created the home interiors with significant features in the homes that

include large amounts of “butt-glass,” traver-tine, fountains, open roof space and Viking appliances; he continued his expression of casual elegance throughout the 5,000-square-foot model home.

“Alpha Land Development has allowed a ‘potpourri’ of ideas that each of us has brought to the table on this project. These homes have green construction features from the ‘cocoon’ cellulose insulation that yields an R-factor of 38 in the walls — to R-48 in the roof assembly, which is extremely efficient to the general efficiency with products that are made by Lennox, and many other providers,” says Torralva. Predominantly, the public focus appears to be on cellulose insulation in provid-ing a green element, and today in construction this appears to be what many builders are focusing on as well. “In our home product, to illustrate this the combination of components including cellulose insulation and foam roof, bring our R-ratings in the ceiling close to an R-48. That is one of our examples of blending green building with Energy Star standards. This home features a flat roof and to mitigate misconceptions of drainage problems we have designed double scupper 4-inch drains included in eight sections of the roof, built to a high commercial standard. The roofs also feature foam sealant, which is an accepted commercial application, but largely thought to be overly expensive for residential. It also is a highly effective insulating material, but provides us a fairly smooth surface for water run-off. The appearance blends well from higher elevations above the lower homes that create a flow effect that doesn’t stand out or is unobtrusive and does not detract from the view of city lights and the Las Vegas Strip. In total, the combination of these green insula-tion materials in a flat roof solved two issues: creating an Energy Star-rated barrier between

the exterior natural and the interior controlled element, and protecting the fantastic view from each home at Canyon Edge.

“Just like the early days of Energy Star that started as a buzzword, green building is no different; you have to define in detail the charac-teristics of it to understand it, which is still an ongoing process,” says Torralva. “In custom home construction, a green material recycled product used for designer finishes may be very difficult to find that will fit the designer’s concept. You want a look, feel and texture from a designer that you may not see or have difficulty in matching with re-

Relax outside by the tiled “infinity-edge” pool and spa that also includes an open patio featuring an entertainment area for parties, grilling or just watching the amazing sunsets that are included free with every Canyon Edge home!

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cycled materials. Its visualization and interpretation with the buyer from the ground up typically will not include the availability, for example, of ‘ground-up rubber’ in say flooring material to match the designer’s accepted approved equals for exotic cache products. Wood products are being recycled, ground-up wood glue is added, along with fire retardant and sending them back out as plywood, skins, as truss joint materials. They are not exactly appearance driven, but function driven,” says Torralva. Time will bring increased innovation to satisfy the form over function craving, which will in turn create a broader and greater scale of usage in green materials.

“Sometimes the lines blur between the use of Energy Star and green building in the use of terms in the public’s eye. Some items can bear the stamp of both,” con-tinues Torralva. For example, a tankless water heater can be both energy efficient and qualify as an Energy Star product that can conserve water and energy, and qualify as a green building product with attributes of both and one in common. Additionally, we feature 14 SEER as standard in the product; 13 SEER is the Energy Star stan-dard and is also IBC 2006 code. In many examples, if you are code compliant you are Energy Star compliant, but in no example can you build less than code. For green, we may utilize structural timber that isn’t factory recycled, and right next to it have structural micro lams that are made of recycled material, but when the structural

engineer is specifying, he may elect to sat-isfy cost benefits in means and methods in one challenge and satisfy a green benefit as the opportunity presents in another, in the same structure. It will eventually become as important to think about green building in code compliance than to just think about it when it becomes the appropriate “cliché” to talk about; otherwise using recycled and efficient materials is something everyone is talking about and marketing. Regarding building features and practices, engineered steel, multiplumbing and HVAC zones, oversized structural lumber and post-tensioned slabs are some of the unseen features that are commonly associated with commercial products that go into our homes. The detailing, the appearance and use of materials sometimes that were not meant to “mate,” by old school perception, we made work any way that returned an

unexpected but welcome cache in the look. Combined with solid communications, trades, partners and a company team effort made these projects easier to construct.

“Site criteria for many of our projects include hillsides and mountain-ous areas. Over the years we have improved our techniques used to build on these challenging slopes that provide for very dramatic proj-ects, such as Canyon Edge. The only ground really left to build on in Southern Nevada that has those sought-after city lights and Strip views are similar to Canyon Edge: hillsides and mountainous terrain that can be some of the hardest materials and ground in the country.

Along with incredible use and abundance of travertine floors throughout the home, butt-glass windows and 180-degree views of the mountains and the city, the great room in this house never looked or felt more superior.

Kitchens have never looked more regal and spacious than in a Canyon Edge home. With choices of Viking or Wolf brand appliances in every home and ample cabinetry throughout the kitchen area, the dining experience has truly been refined with elegance and style.

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REPRINTED FROM SOUTHERN NEVADA BUILDER/ARCHITECT

“We’ve come to understand the direction we’re taking as a ‘niche’ builder is finding elements that are not the norm, creating a ‘boutique’ effect, such as building into mountainsides and creating custom homes with incredible views. Mountains and the most difficult terrains are most likely where you’ll find us and where we’re planning to be. This venture into the mountainside with this project plays well into the blasting experiences that I have gained over the years in building concrete structures embedded on mountainsides for condos in Vail and Aspen, CO. Difficult projects are what we love and seem to drift toward,” says Torralva. “This is a company that we are turning over to our employees at some point — an employee-owned entity where we’ll stay on as mentors and investors that will help them with contributions to the company for the future.” ■

Above: With unparalleled views of the city, the Las Vegas Strip and neighboring canyons lend sophistication and “elegance in the hills” that is Canyon Edge homes.

Left: The strong architectural detailing, the appearance and use of materials that sometimes were not meant to “mate” (by old school perception) worked in a way that returned an unexpected but welcomed caché in the look.

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National TI/Alpha Land Development

(702) 458-1823 | www.canyonedgelv.com

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