Cops, arts group vie for site

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 1999 | 11:23 a.m.

Presentations by two organizations seeking Clark County's support to build performing arts centers were cut short Tuesday when commissioners conceded the need for more culture might be upstaged by Metro Police.

Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury said he was reminded Thursday by Clark County Sheriff Jerry Keller that a 10-acre parcel next to the county's Government Center had been considered as a possible site for an administrative police building.

The same parcel, which county officials said is worth at least $10 million, also has been targeted by the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation for an upscale, multi-faceted facility.

"This type of project is easier not to do than it is to do," said Don Snyder, president of Boyd Gaming Corp. and one of several influential figures involved in the foundation. "This land is critical to allow us to move forward."

The foundation has asked to lease or buy the property from the county for $1.

Four years ago the county delivered a draft lease agreement for the land to the performing arts foundation, but the organization never signed it. In the meantime, Keller had informal discussions about building Metro's administrative building on the property.

Now there seems to be a mad rush for the parcel, which is located just south of the Regional Transportation Commission building on Grand Central Parkway.

Elaine Wynn, a member of the foundation's executive board, admitted her group "dragged its feet" with the lease agreement largely because the organization is made up of volunteers who have full-time jobs.

But, she emphasized, it is vital that the foundation secure the land so it can raise the $100 million needed to build the facility.

"We have to have some tangible site so we can tell people this is the place it will be built instead of citing some nebulous site in our dreams," said Wynn, wife of Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn and a director of the resort company.

Despite Commissioner Mary Kincaid's suggestion that the county commit to finding the foundation an alternative location for its facility, the board followed Commissioner Erin Kenny's recommendation to put off any decisions until more feasibility studies are conducted.

Kincaid had proposed offering either Metro or a performing arts center the courthouse once the new Regional Justice Center is completed. That, however, is an unlikely scenario because the county has decided to sell the courthouse and use proceeds to fund the justice center.

Commissioner Lance Malone, a former Metro officer, said the board must seriously consider Metro's needs.

Metro currently spends $3.9 million a year on 20 office buildings it leases throughout the valley, Malone said. That figure is expected to increase to $5 million by 2007. He said if the $3.9 million was bonded, it would give the county up to $60 million to build a Metro administrative building.

And, Woodbury added, the county doesn't want to spend millions on acquiring or condemning property when it already owns the 10-acre parcel.

"We have to consider that this piece of property is now in public hands," Woodbury said.

The property's proximity to downtown makes it ideal for Metro. But it also makes it attractive for the Performing Arts Center Foundation. Commissioners even noted Tuesday that a performing arts facility downtown would be best.

"We already know what the best place is for the arts facility," said Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates. "It's always in downtown. It's not at the base of a mountain."

Atkinson Gates was referring to a second proposal for a performing arts center that was made public late last week.

Those plans, which have been quietly crafted during the past seven years by a group headed by music store owner Donald Kemp, were virtually ignored by commissioners Tuesday.

Kemp's nonprofit organization, called Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Inc., wants to build a multi-faceted facility including an outdoor amphitheater on 43 acres near Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

The company is negotiating with Howard Hughes Corp. for the land which, by the time the Las Vegas Beltway is completed and Sahara Avenue is extended, will be located at the corner of West Charleston Boulevard and Sahara.

Kemp was reluctant to come forward with his organization's plans because he had hoped to have it funded by the time he went public. Kemp was not bothered by the fact that most of Tuesday's discussion focused on a downtown facility.

He said his group wants nothing from the Clark County Commission except for it to discuss both proposals in a public forum.

Kemp said his organization, which is a collection of business professionals and politicians such as U.S. Senate candidate John Ensign, is hardly intimidated by the likes of Wynn, former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones and the Boyd Gaming group.

His organization, which has been at work for five years, has received a $100,000 grant from the Legislature, Kemp said, and has attracted $20 million worth of commitments to the project.