Action urged on performing arts center

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2000 | 10:10 a.m.

County Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury said while he and other government officials would like to see a performing arts center in the Las Vegas Valley, two centers would probably be one too many.

Woodbury was joined Monday by supporters of two proposed performing arts centers on "Point of View Vegas," the Las Vegas Sun's news discussion show on Las Vegas 1, cable channels 1 and 39.

When asked if he thought two such centers could be supported in Las Vegas, Woodbury answered, "I don't think so, at least not anytime soon.

"This is an expensive proposition, and I think the governments and all the groups working on this need to get together and find one spot for this fairly soon," Woodbury said.

One of the groups, Las Vegas Performing Arts Inc., has secured a 43-acre site off Charleston Boulevard near the entrance to Red Rock Canyon. Donald Kemp, a local music store owner and spokesman for the group, said $20 million has already been committed to his project.

Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation has been working to get a new performing arts center built in downtown Las Vegas. The group includes former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones and Elaine Wynn, wife of Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn.

Wynn, who joined Woodbury and Kemp on "POV Vegas," said she hoped some kind of spot could be found downtown for the center she estimates would cost $100 million to build.

"There was one parcel near the county building (County Government Center) that Metro wants," Wynn said. "We are still hopeful that another parcel can be found downtown and possibly traded to Metro."

The County Commission has voted 6-0 to give the 10-acre parcel south of the government center to Metro Police.