City completes garage; clock starts on Neonopolis

Erin Neff

Thursday, April 27, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

Weeks of arguing over whether the Neonopolis parking garage is finished will be settled at the bank in 10 days.

The city's Redevelopment Agency plans to cash Prudential Insurance Co.'s $9 million letter of credit because the city has finished its share of the bargain by finishing the garage, development officials said Wednesday.

May 8 will become the key date now for the planned $99 million entertainment retail center proposed at Fremont Street between Fourth Street and Las Vegas Boulevard.

Not only will that signify the city's cashing of Prudential's big check, it will also trigger the 90-day time window in which developers have to begin construction on the center.

Under Prudential's agreement with the Redevelopment Agency, the city was charged with building the 2-story underground garage. Prudential provided a $9 million letter of credit to be cashed when the garage was finished and ready to accept construction of the retail component atop it.

City Centre Development Corp. President Mike Forche said Wednesday that the structural engineer used by both the city and Prudential has signed off on the garage's completion.

That would mean Prudential has until roughly Aug. 8 to begin construction on what is planned to be a three-story retail center with restaurants, shops and movie theaters.

Neonopolis was originally scheduled to open this Thanksgiving, but unsuccessful leasing efforts coupled with the loss of its anchor tenant, Mann Theatres, has pushed the project into an uncertain future.

Forche said negotiations are ongoing with a replacement movie theater tenant to anchor the project. He did not identify the theater operator, but said that company has signed a letter of intent to lease space in Neonopolis.

If the theater operator does sign a lease, it will likely require changes to the project's look.

"I'm told they're planning two more theaters, so the scope of the project is going to change," Forche said on Point of View Vegas, the Sun's news program on the Las Vegas 1 cable channel.

Forche said changing Mann's original design will take time and possibly affect the overall construction cost of the project.

Before the bankruptcy of its parent company last September, Mann Theatres had planned 11 movie screens at Neonopolis. When developers World Entertainment Centers first proposed Neonopolis, 13 movie screens were in the plans.

Forche said he expects news on Neonopolis to pick up next month when the International Shopping Center Expo comes to town in May.

"They'll have a captive audience of all the major players then," Forche said in a recent interview.

Ironically, that was the same plan developers had last May, with no luck.