Council to weigh government ‘campus’ plan

Erin Neff

Friday, Dec. 18, 1998 | 11:18 a.m.

If planners have their way, the city offices scattered throughout downtown may someday be combined in a total civic government campus, complete with parking, pedestrian walkways and parks.

The Las Vegas City Council will take the first step to that end Monday when it considers a request to approve the concept of a Civic Center downtown and a request to select an architect to design the first phase of such a project.

Deputy City Manager Steven Houchens will ask City Council to approve the idea of building additional space adjacent to City Hall to form a campus of government buildings instead of choosing an option to sell the current 25-year-old building and construct a new complex somewhere else.

"The cost of assembling 20 acres somewhere else is prohibitive," Houchens said. "In this city, there's almost no way we could get a bond for a new City Hall."

The study of City Hall's options began in 1995 when the city authorized FT/SYSTEMs to examine its future space needs. The study was completed in 1995, but went unnoticed for several years as the city dealt with its space crunch by leasing a building at 731 S. Fourth St. for its Development Services Center.

The original 1995 report concluded the city's best option was building a new City Hall on a parcel of land that had yet to be acquired downtown.

The new study, however, concludes that it will be more fiscally sound to develop on the existing City Hall campus at and around 400 E. Stewart St.

If the city chooses to develop the existing land it owns, the savings generated from a long-term development would generate almost $28 million over 20 years.

Selling City Hall would bring in $27.1 million. When the residual value is taken away, however, the net cash flow is only $7.1 million, according to the study.

The first phase of City Hall's development is a multi-use office space and parking garage on the site of a current city-owned metered parking lot at Fourth and Stewart streets, across from City Hall.

About 30,000-square-feet of office space would be built on the first floor underneath five levels of public and employee parking. That phase would be completed sometime in 2000.

The City Council will vote Monday to direct staff on the selection of an architect/consultant to design that garage. The total cost of such a structure is expected to cost $12 million.

City Councilman Arnie Adamsen said Thursday that any decision he makes on the future of City Hall will be driven by finances.

"If building an addition is what works in the budget, then that's where I'm going to be," Adamsen said. "The best return on the money is the addition. If we tried to recreate (City Hall) somewhere else we're looking at a difference of $27 million. Those are big numbers."

Additional phases for City Hall include renovating about 20,000-square-feet of space currently held by Municipal Court, when the court moves to the Regional Justice Center in 2002.

The most-noticeable phase will come in 2007 when a high-rise office tower is constructed on the site of current Municipal Court trailers and the Engineering and Design Building across from City Hall. That tower, which will mirror the existing structure, will have 110,000-square-feet of space.

Under the scenario, that tower would be ready for occupancy when the lease at 731 S. Fourth St. expires and the planning and development departments find themselves without a home.

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