by Daniel R.C. DeLuca

ALIANTE, NV — North Las Vegas is a land of vacant islands of desert, comprised of some of the largest undeveloped swathes of land in urban Clark County. One such lot, an area of roughly 130 acres on Farm Road and Decatur Boulevard, just sold for $42.5 million. The buyer is one D.R. Horton, one of the country’s leading homebuilders based out of Texas, according to Builder Magazine.

I recently had the opportunity to explore the area, formally known as the master planned community Valley Vista. The whole lot is over 600 acres in size, surrounded by drooping fences and pockmarked with soil pits that descend eight feet into the ground. There are burned trailers, small forests of thicket, and over a mile of unused sewer lines whose manholes are exposed to the surface. Massive concrete blocks litter the landscape, bordered by Centennial Hills ranches to the west, and the Aliante Casino to the southeast.

According to the Review-Journal, Horton had stake in Valley Vista prior to the housing bubble of 2008. His purchase indicates more promise in the valley’s future as a growing metropolis.