On the same hillside where a twin-tower luxury project is climbing floor by floor, a different kind of construction is happening lot by lot, family by family, and it runs on a completely different clock. The Four Seasons Private Residences at MacDonald Highlands entered 2026 with vertical construction underway on both towers, advancing at roughly one floor per week per tower, according to the developer's own January 2026 progress announcement. Meanwhile, individual homeowners a few streets over are still waiting on a predesign conference just to find out what they're allowed to build.
That gap in speed is not an accident. It is the point. And it is the piece most buyer's guides to MacDonald Highlands leave out, because it only shows up once someone is actually trying to build.
The Approval Sequence Nobody Mentions Until They Hit It
Here is the assumption most buyers walk in with: buy the lot, hire an architect, submit to the city, build. The community's own posted design guidelines describe a different order entirely. The review process runs in four phases, and the first one, a predesign meeting between the owner and a Design Review Committee representative, happens only after the lot has already closed. You own the dirt before you get any real signal on what the committee will approve for it.
The second surprise is where the private board sits relative to the public one. Final Design Review Committee approval has to happen before anything goes to the City of Henderson. Plans submitted to the city without the DRC's stamp get rejected outright. In practice, that means a five-person volunteer board reviewing hillside-sensitive architecture and Desert Elegance material standards functions as the actual first gate, and the municipal permitting process is the second one, not a parallel track.
For a buyer used to permitting running on its own independent timeline, this reverses the usual order of operations. You cannot shop your plans to the city while the HOA is still deliberating. You wait for the private approval, then you start the public clock. Add in the community's hillside requirements, detailed grading plans from a Nevada-registered civil engineer, geotechnical reports, and slope-specific foundation work, and the sequence stacks rather than overlaps.
What $330 a Month Actually Covers, and Doesn't
The community's own homeowners association page lists the base fee at $330 per month and notes the board has kept it "the same for years." That number is real, and it covers gate access, community security, common-area landscaping, and trail maintenance. What it does not cover is the thing most buyers actually move here for.
DragonRidge Country Club, the Jay Morrish and David Druzisky championship course at the center of the community, operates as a separate private membership. It is not bundled into the HOA fee and not required for homeownership. Public-facing membership pages describe Full Golf and Social tiers, but the club does not publish its dues. Estimates that circulate in the local market put annual dues anywhere from the mid-five figures to well into six figures, with initiation fees running higher still.
That gap matters for anyone comparing MacDonald Highlands to a similarly priced Summerlin or Ascaya property on paper. A $330 line item looks modest next to a multi-million-dollar home. The real carrying cost, if club life is part of why you bought here, sits in a completely different line that never shows up on the HOA disclosure.
| Cost bucket | What it includes | Who pays it |
|---|---|---|
| Base HOA (community-wide) | Gate access, security patrol, common-area landscaping, trail upkeep | All homeowners |
| Sub-association HOA (varies by section) | Additional maintenance specific to that village or enclave | Homeowners in that section only |
| DragonRidge Country Club membership | Golf, tennis, fitness, dining, pool access | Optional, separate from HOA |
| Design Review Committee submittal | Custom-build or major remodel plan review | Required for new construction and exterior changes |
There Isn't Much Raw Land Left
The other detail that changes the math for anyone shopping here right now: MacDonald Highlands is largely built out. The community was platted for roughly 1,200 homes across its 1,200-plus acres, and as of May 2026 it sits somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 to 80 percent complete against that target. That is not a community in its early build phase anymore. It is a mature neighborhood with a shrinking supply of vacant, developer-controlled lots.
Practically, that means today's "build custom" buyer is choosing between two paths that both run through the same Design Review Committee sequence: one of the last remaining raw lots, or a teardown-and-rebuild on an existing parcel. Both require the same predesign conference, the same phased approval, and the same city coordination once the HOA signs off. The scarcity does not change the process. It changes how much competition there is for the lots that still let you skip a demolition phase.
Building Next to the Valley's Largest Active Construction Site
The Four Seasons project is not a background detail here. It is directly relevant to anyone planning a custom build or major renovation on the same hillside over the next year or two. The developer's own construction update from the start of 2026 confirmed site excavation and foundation work complete on both towers, with vertical construction advancing at roughly a floor per week per tower and topping out targeted for late 2026. That is one of the largest active construction footprints in the entire Las Vegas valley, sitting inside the same guard-gated perimeter as individual custom-home sites.
For an owner coordinating their own grading, utility hookups, and construction staging within MacDonald Highlands' private road network, that overlap is worth planning around. Shared gate access, deliveries, and contractor traffic on a single guard-gated entry point behave differently when a 24-story tower is also actively pouring concrete a quarter mile away. It is not a reason to avoid building here. It is a reason to ask your builder, early, how they plan to sequence deliveries and site access around it.
What This Means If You're Buying, Building, or Selling Here Right Now
If you are shopping for a finished, turnkey home, the review sequence and construction overlap matter less directly, though they still shape what is available and why certain listings sit longer than others.
If you are considering a custom build or a significant remodel, budget calendar time before you budget dollars. The predesign conference cannot happen until after you own the lot, and the city will not look at your plans until the HOA has already approved them. Build that sequence into your timeline from day one rather than discovering it after your architect has already drawn a full set of plans.
If you already own here and are weighing a sale, the Four Seasons project's construction milestone is worth understanding regardless of whether you are near it. A twenty-five-story branded residential tower reaching completion changes the conversation buyers have about the community's ceiling, even for owners several villages away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need Design Review Committee approval for a remodel, or only for new construction? Both. The posted guidelines cover exterior changes and remodels, not just ground-up custom builds. Anything visible from outside the home typically requires review before work begins.
Is DragonRidge Country Club membership required to buy in MacDonald Highlands? No. Membership is optional and billed separately from HOA dues. Many residents join because the club is central to daily life in the community, but it is not a condition of ownership.
Can I bring my own architect and builder instead of using an approved-builder program? Generally yes, subject to the same Design Review Committee approval as any other custom project. Using an outside team does not change the sequence, only who is preparing the plans that go through it.
Does the Four Seasons project affect resale value for existing homes nearby? It is reasonable to expect a completed branded high-rise to influence how buyers perceive the community's price ceiling, though the extent of that effect for any individual property depends on location, view corridor, and timing relative to the tower's completion.
Building or renovating in MacDonald Highlands rewards patience with the process as much as it rewards the view. If you are trying to figure out whether a specific lot, teardown, or remodel candidate makes sense given where the Design Review Committee sequence and the Four Seasons timeline currently stand, Rachelle Cox can walk through it with you before you close on anything.
