Independent local coverage · Updated daily
Every notable project in the valley — who is building it, what it costs, when it opens, and what it means for the people who live here.
The Pipeline
Every tracked project gets a permanent page that updates as its status changes — including the ones that stop moving.
Topped out May 1, 2026 at roughly 660 feet. Blue-tinted curtain wall nearly complete as of August 20.
Second steel truss arch completed August 18. On time and on budget. GC is a Mortenson–McCarthy joint venture.
Phase One entitled August 26, 2026. Returns to the Zoning Commission September 16 for hotel-casino permits pending FAA sign-off.
Latest coverage
Reported from public records and primary filings. Every figure carries the source it came from.
Agenda Watch·
Approved August 26 for a $1.19 billion redevelopment, back before the Zoning Commission on September 16, and waiting on federal height sign-off. This is what the unglamorous part of a megaproject looks like.
3 min read
The Money·
Metro construction jobs held at 81,900. Statewide, building construction shed 600 positions while specialty trades added 2,900. That divergence tells you what kind of work is actually happening.
3 min read
Strip Watch·
Hard Rock Las Vegas topped out on May 1 and the curtain wall is close to finished. That gap between a building that looks done and a resort that can open is the most misread thing on the Strip.
4 min read
Franchise · Wednesdays
The Crane Count is a fixed-method census of tower cranes standing in five defined valley corridors, taken the same way every Wednesday morning from public rights of way, with every crane tied to a named project.
The method is published before the first count so you can hold us to it, and it is labeled as our count rather than an official statistic. Valleywide indicators currently disagree with each other — permits down 25%, employment flat, trades hiring — and a consistent physical count is one of the few ways to see which signal is winning.
The Money
Permits, prices, land supply, employment, and the county capital program — kept current and cited line by line. Roughly 25,000 developable acres remain inside a federal disposal boundary that only Congress can move, and July saw about 142 acres of vacant land trade, close to two months of supply (land supply analysis).
The Beat
Every notable project in the valley, tracked from filing to opening. Status changes as they happen, not after the ribbon cutting.
Resorts, casinos, stadiums and arenas. The cranes everyone can see, plus the financing questions nobody asks.
New communities, permits, and what's coming to your ZIP code — including the North Las Vegas and Apex growth that Strip-focused coverage misses.
The contractors, trades and crews who actually put this city up. Protagonists, not background.
Costs, permits, land, labor and the public capital program. Numbers with sources attached.
Straight answers for homeowners: permits, licensing, timelines, and how not to get taken.
Build Smart
Straightforward guides for homeowners in Clark County — written the way we'd explain it to a neighbor, with the state rules cited so you can check us.
We cover this market for a living, which means we know what things actually cost right now, who is busy, and who is good. Tell us what you're planning and we'll point you toward independent licensed contractors who specialize in it — no cost, no obligation.
Tell us about your projectBuilding Las Vegas is a media company, not a contractor.
The Friday Pipeline
Status changes on every tracked project, the permits and agenda items nobody else flagged, and one chart. Free, once a week, no fluff.
