Another luxury housing development is underway in Las Vegas—although this one comes with some different terms.
Unlike most of the increasing number of high-end homes in the area, this 50-unit community in Southern Highlands—developed by Seneca, a division of local builder Christopher Homes—is not offering houses for sale but attached duplexes for lease.
“With Seneca and the residents of Seneca, it’s really a lifestyle choice,” said co-founder and president Michael Stuhmer. “All of our residents could afford to purchase a home if they chose to, but they love the way we program the community, the design, the fact that they’re new homes, and there’s really not much out there within Las Vegas that can provide similar offerings.”
The new gated community in Southern Highlands is Seneca’s first official project, Stuhmer said, and resembles a lot of the other luxury residences Christopher Homes has developed—except that, in this case, it’s all for rent.
At Seneca, he said, it’s all about layering hospitality onto long-term renting. That means professional management, concierge services, maintenance and more.
“We’re really focused on just making it really convenient for all the residents,” Stuhmer said. “They don’t have to sign up for utilities—everything’s kind of included in their monthly rental bill. Sign a lease and move in, and we’re there to make their move-in experience and their experience living there as good as possible.”
The developer also places an emphasis on health and wellness, he said, and Seneca is one of the first in the nation to achieve WELL certification, which is through the International WELL Building Institute’s WELL for Residential Program, per a news release.
He pointed to an outdoor area with a pool, jacuzzi and sauna as an example.
“We spend upwards of 90% of our time indoors, right?” Stuhmer said. “So, it’s really important to us, as builders, to incorporate healthy functionality into the homes.”
Other amenities at the property, which he said is about two months away from completion, include solar panels and EV charging stations, a community garden and dog park and, in some cases, unobstructed views of the Las Vegas Strip and the mountains beyond.
There’s been a nationwide surge of single-family homes for rent, particularly in the affordability category, he said. With Christopher Homes’ experience in the luxury for-sale market, Stuhmer said his team felt knowledgeable enough about the luxury buyer and confident that would translate well to the rental market.
“And all of our expectations have been exceeded,” he said. “And so, we’ve been leasing it up at a much faster pace than we originally projected.”
According to the Seneca website, the homes in Southern Highlands are fully furnished, and appear to start from as low as just over $5,000 in rent. They range from three to four bedrooms and three to four baths.
“Renting such beautiful properties offers flexibility and immediate access to a wide range of amenities,” said Merri Perry, president of Las Vegas Realtors.
People are relocating to Las Vegas from places like California, whether to escape high taxes or prices, Perry said, and it’s driving the Southern Nevada market to higher prices than ever.
“It’s only getting better,” she said.
Every builder in town is seeing a large chunk of their demand coming from out of state, Stuhmer said.
“When you have a city that is experiencing a lot of growth, renting a home versus committing to purchasing a home can allow someone to test out the neighborhood and just to see exactly where they want to live,” he said. “With where interest rates are and affordability, it’s much cheaper to lease the homes that we’ve built, even though they’re larger and they have nicer finishes, it’s still cheaper to lease those homes than purchase.”
Seneca plans to kick off another project in Henderson soon, and eventually expand outside of Las Vegas, he said.
“Bringing to the table a professionally managed community where you take out the headache of homeownership, but you can live in a really nice home, is what we’re solving for,” he said. “And so it really just comes down to the lifestyle, and it’s very convenience-forward for it, and we’ve spent a ton of time thinking about why people choose to rent homes and what do they value the most?”
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