Clark County commissioners have given the long-anticipated Westside Microbusiness Park a new identity, voting Tuesday to rename it the Historic Westside Innovation Commons as construction on the mixed-use project enters its final stages. The facility is now slated to open in early 2027, combining workforce housing, retail space, private offices and a business support center in Las Vegas' Historic Westside.
The renaming was announced by KSNV, which reported that Clark County commissioners approved the new name for the facility. Commissioner William McCurdy II said the name reflects the Historic Westside's past and future, adding that the facility will support the next generation of business owners. The station describes the Historic Westside as a center of entrepreneurship and resilience, with the renamed Innovation Commons positioned to serve as a regional hub for entrepreneurship, small-business growth and community economic development.
The project will operate in partnership with UNLV's Office of Economic Development, according to the same report. That university tie-in has been part of the plan since groundbreaking: the station's report notes the facility is in the final stages of construction, with an opening now targeted for early 2027.
From Microbusiness Park to Innovation Commons
The facility now known as the Innovation Commons was previously called the Westside Microbusiness Park, and its roots stretch back to a 2025 groundbreaking. State, county and local officials broke ground on the $53 million small-business and affordable-housing concept in the Historic Westside in March 2025, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported at the time. Early plans called for a two-story, 20,000-square-foot facility with retail, office, restaurant and entrepreneur space, an amphitheater, a music plaza and 76 affordable housing units.
A separate account from the Las Vegas Sun described the project as combining 76 units of housing with 25,820 square feet across two stories of commercial space, with UNLV providing the furniture, fixtures and equipment on the second level to support small-business services. The Sun also reported that residents had identified affordable workforce housing and small-business support as priorities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Shifting Timeline
The park's opening target has shifted from August 2026 to early 2027. The Review-Journal's groundbreaking coverage stated the project would open in the Las Vegas community by August 2026, while the Sun's report put the two-story business building's completion target—not the park's opening—at September 2026. KSNV's latest report instead points to an early 2027 opening, and the dossier does not explain what drove the schedule change.
Entrepreneurship Support Already Underway
UNLV's involvement in the Historic Westside predates the Innovation Commons name change.
The Historic Westside Education and Training Center, a 15,000-square-foot facility at 1099 C Street, was planned for completion in 2025 and carries a $16.4 million price tag, partially funded through a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant. Separately, the Las Vegas City Council approved a five-story, 84-unit rental complex with 10,000 square feet of commercial space near Washington Avenue and Interstate 15.
For now, the Historic Westside Innovation Commons remains a construction site rather than a finished campus, but its new name signals how county officials want the neighborhood to see it: not just another government-funded building project, but a long-term bet on the next generation of Westside entrepreneurs.
