Historic school to play role in downtown change

Erin Neff

Wednesday, April 19, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.

To some, October 2001 is just a distant blip on the horizon.

But when the radar waves begin to approach that juncture, city planners hope the downtown skyline has a much different look.

By that time downtown should have a new office tower, an addition to City Hall and a pedestrian arcade linking new projects with some of the older features along Lewis Avenue.

The City Centre Development Corp. touched upon a number of those projects Tuesday, even though most of the board's meeting was bogged down in the present -- mired in minutiae about soil samples, parking garage screens and architectural plans.

"I want to get moving," said Ken Templeton, the new City Centre board president, who took over after the resignation this month of President Jodi Goodheart due to conflicts of interest.

Templeton's remarks centered on when to commission a study to determine the best possible re-use of the historic Fifth Street School. The centrally-located school, with its Spanish architecture and ornate features, could be home to a cultural center, educational services or a farmer's market.

The question for City Centre on Tuesday is when to do the study, paid for by a grant from Citibank.

Should the city wait until Metro Police moves its substation out of the school? Should UNLV's planned presence there be included? Or should the study deal specifically with what the City Council wants to have in the school?

"We need to start making progress," Templeton said.

The board decided to hold any decision on the study for 30 days until city staff and the City Council have a chance to discuss their vision for the building.

City Centre President Mike Forche said he's been in contact with a Boston-based computer training company referred to him by UNLV. The company is interested in providing a computer training program in part of the school building.

"When we do have tenants such as this walking through the door, we do want to have a better sense of what the city wants," Stacey Lied, City Centre vice president, said.

UNLV will begin offering classes at the school June 1 -- taking up roughly one-ninth of the total space. The Metro substation and the city's Office of Business Development take up most of the building's 36,000 square feet.

Mayor Oscar Goodman, who attended the meeting to show his support for downtown revitalization efforts, said the school might not be ready for another use for about two years.

Sheriff Jerry Keller said he would not be able to move that substation out of the space until a new Metro headquarters opens, Goodman said.

In another development, City Centre approved final architectural drawings for the Pauls Corp. office building at Fourth Street and Lewis Avenue. The City Council was to consider final approval for the project at its meeting today.

Both the Pauls building and the planned expansion of City Hall should be completed by October 2001.

Erin Neff covers Las Vegas government for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4062 or 229-6436, or by e-mail at erin@lasvegassun.com