Glen, Smith & Glen Development: Bringing New Concepts to Southern Nevada

Glen, Smith & Glen Development Co. is making an impression on the Las Vegas Valley with a signature style that is changing the way people think of professional office parks.

The firm was founded in 2002 by the husband and wife team of Alan and Samantha Glen and partner Kenneth Smith. A developer since the 1960s, Alan Glen made a name for himself working on major office and condominium projects in the Washington, D.C. area and as co-founder of the McArthur/Glen Realty Corporation, a real estate investment trust firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

After a brief retirement, Glen re-entered the field, this time teaming with Samantha, whose financial management background includes working with familiar names on Wall Street, and Smith, who had led all of McArthur/Glen Realty Corporation’s national development west of the Mississippi in addition to operating his own development company.

Today, Glen, Smith & Glen is a noted developer of high-end retail centers and office parks. The firm first earned distinction in Las Vegas with The Park at Warm Springs. Completed in 2005, the project earned the NAIOP Spotlight Award for freestanding garden-style small office-building park.

The firm subsequently turned its focus to a 20-acre site on the I-215 Beltway between Russell Road and Tropicana for The Park at Spanish Ridge, which will feature 12 single-story office buildings, two two-story buildings and one three-story building. “We sold out of the entire park on blueprint,” said David M. Cohen, development associate. “Then we purchased 20 additional acres to the east between Hacienda and Russell.”

This expanded development, which will feature 33 office space buildings ranging from 5,500 square feet to 90,000 square feet, will incorporate Glen, Smith & Glen’s signature style, complete with six-foot-tall decorative ceramic pots, sculpture gardens and a glass mosaic-tile wall.

Cohen is especially pleased that Glen, Smith & Glen plans to obtain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the Spanish Ridge project. Going “green” is a trend and philosophy quickly gaining momentum across the country, and voluntary certification takes in to consideration sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality.

“Making things good for the environment will be increasingly important in the Las Vegas Valley, because successful businesses are socially conscious and will want to house themselves in an environmentally friendly building,” said Cohen.

He is also enthusiastic about the firm’s newest concept – the Patrick Professional Park, located at Russell and I-215. The mixed-use project is a commercial subdivision with lots in 3/4-acre intervals, landscaping around the perimeter, grading, landscaped public road, zoning and utilities.

“Instead of leasing, a non-developer can buy a lot and build his own building. We’ve placed the price at almost the same as vacant land, so once it is launched on the market, we expect it to sell out quickly,” he said.

With a variety of projects in the works, including one in North Las Vegas, Smith and the Glens envision their firm emerging as one of the region’s leaders in commercial development.