Downtown's 12 districts
The 2016 Vision 2045 Downtown Masterplan split downtown Las Vegas into twelve districts, each with its own goal. The form-based code is being applied to them one at a time.
Six of the districts sit inside downtown's original street grid and hold most of its tourism, government and office uses. The other six are on the edges, where the plan saw room for new growth in medicine, design, clean tech and housing. The new plan nearly doubled the area of the earlier Downtown Centennial Plan, adding four districts that had not been treated as downtown before.
| District | Known for | Form-based code |
|---|---|---|
| 18b Las Vegas Arts | Galleries, studios and the First Friday art walk | Proposed |
| Cashman | Cashman Field, government offices, sports | Not yet coded |
| Civic & Business | City Hall, courts, the Bonneville Transit Center | Not yet coded |
| Design | Warehouses and industry along the railroad | Not yet coded |
| Founders | Huntridge and the early residential neighbourhoods | Not yet coded |
| Fremont East | Bars, restaurants and historic motels east of Las Vegas Blvd | Adopted |
| Gateway | Las Vegas Boulevard south toward the Strip | Not yet coded |
| Historic Westside | The city's historic Black community | Adopted |
| Las Vegas Medical District | Hospitals, clinics and the UNLV medical school | Adopted |
| Market | World Market Center and the outlet mall | Not yet coded |
| Resort & Casino | Fremont Street and the original casinos | Not yet coded |
| Symphony Park | The Smith Center and the former rail yard | Not yet coded |
Status as of our last review in November 2026. Check the city's zoning atlas for any specific parcel.
Districts with their own code
Three districts have been rezoned under Chapter 19.09, and a fourth has been through the public process. Each has its own page:
- Las Vegas Medical DistrictAdoptedThe pilot. 307 acres rezoned in January 2019.
- Fremont EastAdopted226 acres rezoned in October 2019.
- Historic WestsideAdopted603 acres rezoned in January 2021.
- 18b Las Vegas Arts DistrictProposedAbout 131 acres through public meetings in 2021 and 2022.
The other eight
These districts have no district-specific form-based code yet. Their sections in Chapter 19.09 are still placeholders. What follows is how the masterplan describes each one and what it hopes to see.
Cashman
The Cashman District, north of the core, has long held the city's cultural and civic assets: Cashman Field, the old home of minor-league baseball, and a large block of government jobs. What it has lacked is residents. The masterplan imagined a sports and entertainment core, including a soccer stadium, surrounded by mixed-use blocks with workforce housing and cheap creative office space. A transit plaza, bike share and a town green would make it a gateway into downtown from Las Vegas Boulevard.
Goal: a community of entrepreneurs anchored by sports and culture.
Civic & Business
This is downtown's office core: City Hall, the courthouses and the law firms and professional services that cluster around them. Vacant and underused lots near City Hall and the Bonneville Transit Center are the obvious places for mixed-use buildings with workforce housing, offices and a downtown grocery store. The plan also looked at the district's alleys as walking routes, a green corridor along 3rd Street linking to the Arts District, and better links over the Union Pacific tracks to Symphony Park.
Goal: a vibrant downtown core with more things to do and see.
Design
The Design District is a working district of warehouses, storage and light industry in plain buildings along the railroad, many serving the casino and entertainment trade. It sits between downtown and the Strip and is a sizeable employment centre. The masterplan's idea is to convert tired warehouses for film, fashion, gaming and green-tech businesses, and to use empty lots as temporary open space until they are built on.
Goal: a creative corridor for film, fashion and design.
Founders
Founders holds some of the best-preserved early neighbourhoods in the valley, including the Huntridge Theater and Huntridge Circle Park, with houses and streets that are textbook examples of an inner-ring American suburb. The plan wanted rules that protect that character while allowing transit-oriented, mixed-use development along Maryland Parkway and Charleston Boulevard. That means moderate-density housing, cafés and live/work units facing the street, and a possible transit station by Huntridge Circle Park.
Goal: a historic neighbourhood with new transit-oriented mixed use.
Gateway
The Gateway District runs along Las Vegas Boulevard at the southern entry to downtown, with the Stratosphere tower as its landmark. Today it is mostly low-rise apartments. The masterplan suggested extending high-capacity transit, light rail or bus rapid transit, along the boulevard and concentrating denser, transit-oriented building beside it: homes, offices and institutions upstairs, with shops and civic space at street level.
Goal: a stable neighbourhood with better affordability and safety.
Market
West of Symphony Park and beside Interstate 15, the Market District is dominated by two very large users, the World Market Center and the Las Vegas North Premium Outlets. It is almost fully built, but unpleasant to walk, especially along Grand Central Parkway, and poorly connected to its neighbours. The plan proposed mixed-use development north of the World Market Center, better transit stops, more attention to ground floors and stronger links to Symphony Park and the Clark County Government Center.
Goal: an exciting place for shopping and events.
Resort & Casino
The city's original gaming district, home to the classic downtown hotel-casinos and the Fremont Street Experience. It is downtown's most intensely developed area and its entertainment anchor. Several of its casinos are sister properties under one owner. Boyd Gaming runs the California, the Fremont and Main Street Station, and the Stevens brothers own The D and the Golden Gate, with Circa nearby. The masterplan's ideas were modest: build on the Main Street Station surface parking lot, redevelop the old Downtown Las Vegas Events Center site, keep improving the Fremont Street Experience and finish a downtown wayfinding system.
Goal: new anchors to complement the downtown gaming hub.
Symphony Park
Built on a former rail yard, Symphony Park already has a strong identity thanks to the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, the Discovery Children's Museum and the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. What it lacks is a good walking environment between them. The masterplan pictured a second, smaller performance hall, a performing arts school, apartments aimed at performers, a sculpture walk and a hotel and conference centre. The district already has its own design standards, separate from the form-based code.
Goal: a cultural and residential district better connected to downtown.
Sources
- City of Las Vegas, Vision 2045 Downtown Las Vegas Masterplan (2016). See where to find it.
- City of Las Vegas, Chapter 19.09 Form-Based Code, Section 19.09.040 (Specific to Districts)