Former pro ball players team up for complex in NLV

Diana Sahagun

Monday, April 3, 2000 | 12:55 p.m.

While the city of Las Vegas tries to woo a professional basketball team, North Las Vegas is making strides of its own by attracting a prominent developer and two former professional basketball players to build a state-of-the-art sports complex.

The $18 million sports complex on 12 acres in the Rancho Del Norte neighborhood in far northern North Las Vegas is being proposed by land baron Bill Gohres, who bought and developed the 320-acre parcel in 1988.

The idea was brought to fruition by two basketball buddies: Larry Steele, who played for the National Basketball Association's Portland Trail Blazers in the 1970s, and Bob Wilkinson, who played for Indiana University in the 1960s and later in the old American Basketball Association.

Steele is president of Hoop USA Inc., which specializes in single- and multiuse sport venues. The venues include the most popular indoor sports and activities such as athletic training, basketball, baseball, fitness and more. The company has built complexes in Beaverton and Salem, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash.

What came about from their friendship and subsequent conversations was the idea to bring Steele's company into North Las Vegas.

Gohres, developer and builder of the $500 million Rancho Del Norte project that eventually grew to include more than 2,000 homes and commercial sites, came up with the idea to complement the sports complex with sit-down family restaurants through his ties with Synergy Restaurant Group.

Co-developer Wilkinson presented the site plans to the North Las Vegas Planning Commission two weeks ago.

"I personally like this design. It's unique," Commissioner Harry Shull said. "I think it's a tremendous addition to the city."

The first section of the 73,167-square-foot sports facility will be "The Hoops," with eight to 10 basketball courts. The space will also be used for gymnastics and volleyball with national sponsors such as Nike and Pepsi Co.

From his home office in Oregon, Steele said all of the equipment, including floating floors and basketball hoops, will be first-class and professional, up to regulation standards.

"This is going to be a facility that the whole family can enjoy," Steele said. "We're not trying to be everything to everybody ... definitely an athletic family is going to love the place. When I visited North Las Vegas, I was just amazed at the growth. Everywhere I looked, there was a new building or a building under construction."

The second component will be the "Wayne Gretzky" portion, used for in-line skating and indoor soccer. The middle portion will feature a physical fitness area.

There will also be five restaurant pads next to the sports complex, but the restaurants to be built are still in the process of being chosen and signed.

"They had Wayne Gretzky and I had the restaurants. That's what it takes, and I donated my land," Gohres said. Gohres has contacts with Synergy Restaurant Group, which owns such family chains as The Tillerman on East Flamingo Road and Dimartino's Your Neighborhood Italian Eatery on Green Valley Parkway.

Wilkinson said they are working with Synergy to let the restaurant group determine what restaurants to put in the center. What makes North Las Vegas ideal, Wilkinson said, is that it does not have a multitude of family restaurants.

"When we came up here, we said, 'This is where the future of the family is going to be,' " he said.

Gohres, who was honored by the U.S. Senate in 1996 for his work on Rancho Del Norte, said this will be one of his last projects. The reason he wanted to get involved, he said, was because the project revolves around the family.

"I've always been family-oriented," he said.

Wilkinson and Steele hinted that there will be sports clinics. "We are at a stage that these type of facilities have proven to generate a lot of interest not only in communities but also interest with people who Bob and I know," Steele said. "I ended up playing nine years in the NBA, so I know a lot of these gentlemen. Yes, there's an excellent chance we'll have some well-known people being involved in this project."

The Planning Commission has approved the final site plans, but Wilkinson said the partners are about a month away from submitting final building plans that must be approved.

"We think that we can do a program for the family ... a family that works out together stays together."

Diana Sahagun covers North Las Vegas for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2320 or by e-mail at diana@lasvegassun.com.