Hecht deal ready for ratification

Denise Cardinal

Friday, March 20, 1998 | 10:05 a.m.

The last component of the settlement between the City of Las Vegas and former U.S. Sen. Chic Hecht will be ratified at Monday's City Council meeting.

The city has preliminarily agreed to pay $3.2 million to help purchase an office building in northwest Las Vegas that satisfies the legal requirement between the Hecht family and the city.

In July, the city agreed to pay the Hechts $4.1 million for downtown property the city improperly obtained through eminent domain.

The land, which now houses the Fremont Street Experience parking garage, sits at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street.

The Hechts also agreed to an exchange with the city for another parcel of their downtown property -- the former Woolworth's department store across Fremont Street from the garage -- for a land parcel and building of at least equal value.

Under terms of the settlement, the replacement property must bring in $230,000 a year for the Hechts. The city was required to pay that sum yearly until it found property to exchange.

In total, the city will shell out $2.7 million for the property, $345,000 for the annual sum requirement and $155,000 on closing costs. The city isn't paying for all of the replacement property, only the equivalent space that would bring in $230,000 a year.

Woolworth's, though closed for months, continues to rent the space from the city.