Downtown landowners get $3 mil. from county

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, July 15, 1999 | 10:51 a.m.

Downtown land owners who accused Clark County of under-appraising their land were awarded nearly $3 million Wednesday for a parcel condemned last year in preparation of the new Regional Justice Center.

After listening to closing arguments Tuesday afternoon, it took the District Court jury only hours to create what essentially was a compromise between the county's appraisal and the dollar amount property owners sought.

The property owners will receive $2,987,243 -- an odd number that Judge Sally Loehrer joked was determined by picking lottery balls. Land owners had asked for $3.1 million, but the county said the property was worth $2.1 million.

"The property owners right next door to us got $72 a square foot; the county was offering us $50 a foot," said John Netzorg, who represented the Walsh and Friedman law offices on South 3rd Street. "Our theory was why shouldn't we get what the guy next door got."

Clark County Deputy District Attorney Michael Foley could not be reached for comment this morning.

Netzorg said his client's office near Lewis Street is the center of the city's redevelopment zone according to Las Vegas' urban master plan.

The city's redevelopment agency negotiated with owners of land surrounding the law office before turning it over to the county. But the agency left one piece of land for the county to take through eminent domain.

That parcel was a parking lot that belonged to Netzorg's clients. Without the lot, which sits on the justice center site, the value of the law office decreased significantly. The county eventually took the law office, too.

Netzorg said the county should have expected to pay dearly for the property when it narrowed its site choices for the Regional Justice Center down to five and selected the most expensive land.

"When the county elected to put the courthouse in the most expensive non-gaming area, it should have expected to pay a high price," Netzorg said.

Third Street is packed with attorneys firms because of its close proximity to both the district and federal courthouses. But taking the $2 million and finding a new location isn't a simple option for lawyers ousted from downtown.

The 1996 urban development plan, which is an aggressive attempt to spruce up the downtown area, says new construction of any office building that is less than 30,000 square feet or is less than a quarter of a block is prohibited.

When completed, the Regional Justice Center will be a 290,000-square-foot office complex that will house courtrooms as well as a 1,500-cell jail.