Downtown redevelopment expects boost from a cool business source

Erin Neff

Friday, March 3, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

Successful redevelopment efforts are often accompanied with talk of hot projects and a temperate economic climate.

A chilling effect is reserved for failures -- projects that suck both money and momentum from the effort.

But Las Vegas officials are hoping plans to chill downtown will actually heat up other proposals.

An environmental company, e.three Custom Energy Solutions LLC, is building a $10 million district chilling plant at Fourth Street and Carson Avenue on land owned by Fitzgerald's hotel-casino.

"It's basically a free downtown redevelopment project for Las Vegas," said Bill Noonan, general manager of Fitzgerald's, which is funding half of the project.

The chiller plant will provide chilled water to a number of downtown buildings. The buildings that subscribe to the service will transfer heated water to the plant and receive 40-degree water in return, allowing each building to get rid of aging chillers that would be costly to replace.

The plant, which should open Aug. 1, is only the second such facility nationwide that serves multiple businesses. The other is in downtown Chicago.

"It's the same mechanical equipment that they would have inside, but with our service, they avoid the capital expense and maintenance," said Phil Cirone, vice president of sales for e.three. "This is a capital avoidance for our subscribers."

The 12,000-square-foot plant will be able to provide 5,000 tons of cooling water. Fitzgerald's, the Four Queens and the Fremont Street Experience parking garage with its Race Rock restaurant have already subscribed for service.

Gary Wood, e.three's executive director of operations, said his plant will probably have the capacity to handle business from three or four other buildings.

"We do have added capacity at this plant," Wood said. "Once this is a showcase, there might be some other opportunities for other plants."

Noonan said Fitzgerald's has been working on the chiller plant proposal for more than two years.

"What it'll allow us to do is not have to replace some aged chillers," Noonan said. "We would be needing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to do that."

Those funds can now be earmarked for improvement to the hotel or casino, Cirone suggested.

Mayor Oscar Goodman called the project "a very important step for downtown," when e.three came before the council Wednesday for approval to run pipes underground.

"It's important when private investment is driving redevelopment," Goodman said.

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