Plans for downtown office building approved

Erin Neff

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2000 | 11:40 a.m.

Denying that it was a sweetheart deal for the developer, the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday approved plans for a downtown office building.

Pauls Corp. won unanimous approval to proceed with plans for a 110,000-square-foot Class A office building at the same Fourth Street and Lewis Avenue site where a planned building failed last year.

This project is different, city redevelopment officials told the council.

"They knew what kind and what size of building would really make it," said Nick Niarchos, the City Centre Development Corp. board member who chaired a committee to find a developer for the site after the Sun Plaza project fell through in March.

Under terms of the agreement, Pauls Corp. will pay $1.1 million to purchase 20,000 square feet of land for the building. The city will build a 600-space parking garage, estimated to cost $7.5 million, on the remaining portion of the site.

The sale price of $1.1 million is $400,000 less than originally proposed.

Pauls Corp. will be required to lease 440 of the parking spaces from the city at market rate, according to the agreement. The city will retain the remaining spaces.

"I personally think that the parking element represents a really good public-private partnership," Niarchos said.

City Councilman Larry Brown assailed reports that the agreement was a "sweetheart deal" for Pauls Corp. He said last year's failure of Sun Plaza, which cost the city $6 million, should not be counted toward this project.

"We are putting all the risks back on the developer," Brown said.

And Mayor Oscar Goodman, who had previously called the agreement a "sweetheart deal," also had a change of heart.

"It is a sweetheart deal only in the sense that Pauls is privileged to have this site," Goodman said.

The site is near the planned Regional Justice Center and the Federal Courthouse under construction.

Pauls Corp. President Paul Powers also downplayed any talk of the city subsidizing his project by explaining the difficulties his company has encountered downtown.

"In downtown Las Vegas, in our view, there is no hope for a pre-lease(d) (building)," Powers said. "Tenants are reluctant to make any commitment downtown until they can touch and feel the building."

Edward Vance, vice president of JMA Architecture Studios, presented drawings to the council showing the building's Class A attributes, including polished granite and glazed glass.

"Although some would say it's not the Taj Mahal, I will tell you categorically, we are spending more money per foot than on any of our projects," Powers said. "We think we have to make a statement."

The Pauls Corp., based in Aurora, Colo., has buildings in eight metropolitan markets, including downtown Denver.

The company also built the City Center West project at Lake Mead Boulevard near U.S. 95 here in Las Vegas.

The downtown office building could take two to three years to construct, developers said.

Assistant City Manager Steve Houchens said he expected revenue from the city's parking garage to pay for the city's overall investment for the land and garage construction within 25 years.