$7.5B 'mini-city' mixed-use project coming to Las Vegas Valley

Dive Brief:

Real estate investment trust Bleutech Park Properties announced plans for a $7.5 billion project in the Las Vegas Valley that will showcase a range of smart city technology, from smart buildings with self-healing concrete to autonomous vehicles to internet of things (IoT) devices. The project is set to break ground in December and is projected to take six years to complete.
The mixed-use "mini-city" will include affordable workforce housing, offices, retail space, luxury housing, hotels and entertainment venues, according to a company announcement. It will rely on renewable energy from a variety of sources and showcase energy storage, waste-heat recovery, water purification, waste treatment and localized air cleaning.
The project is not affiliated with the city of Las Vegas and will not be within the city’s jurisdiction, city spokesman Jace Radke said.

Dive Insight:

Bleutech Park’s announcement is ambitious, promising "automated multi-functional designs, renewable energies from solar/wind/water/kinetic, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality, internet of things, robotics, supertrees, and self-healing concrete structures."

The buildings, Bleutech Park said, will showcase "self-healing, energy-generating, and breathable materials," on top of advanced energy generation and storage. The flooring systems will even capture and reuse energy from human movement in common areas and parking structures.

And the use of drones and AI tools will make it easier to integrate new technology during construction.

Among Bleutech Park’s partners are Cisco, Martin-Harris Construction and Las Vegas real estate developer Khusrow Roohani. The company has also partnered with Las Vegas Laborers Union Local 872 and is promising to create more than 25,000 jobs in construction.

The project is similar to other privately funded smart city tech test sites, like the Sidewalk Labs Quayside project in Toronto. Blockchains LLC, a Nevada-based blockchain company, announced plans last year to build a 60,000-acre city near Reno to showcase the potential of blockchain in infrastructure and government. While those projects are appealing for some private backers, because they allow for more experimentation without having to go through the bureaucracy of a government, they have raised significant questions from local residents and potential visitors about how private firms will handle data and private information.

Although Las Vegas is not involved in the project, the technology used in the Bleutech Park development could find its way into its smart city plans. Through its Innovate Vegas program, the city has become a national leader in smart city tech, including deployment of an autonomous shuttle and connected infrastructure.