Goodman to unveil vast plans for downtown

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, March 8, 2001 | 11:49 a.m.

After casting a wide net for projects to fill a 61-acre chunk of downtown Las Vegas, Mayor Oscar Goodman has landed proposals for everything from the world's tallest building to casinos and an indoor ski park.

Goodman today was scheduled to unveil the projects at his weekly press conference. City spokesman Erik Pappa confirmed this morning that a number of projects are on the table.

One proposal is for a "Millennium Tower" that would reach 2,200 feet, making it 50 percent taller than the world's tallest buildings in Shanghai, China, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Proposed by Tate-Snyder Architects of Henderson, the firm imagines it as its own minicity. The bottom portion of the tower would be a casino, entertainment, shops and restaurants; stacked above would be a hotel; then luxury condominiums and a park. The top would offer offices, all fueled by renewable energy sources.

For sports buffs, Big Air Development LLC is proposing an extreme-sports indoor ski park, wave pool and "magic motion machine." The plan includes drawings of an igloo park for tourists to beat the hot summer months, as well as a hot-springs resort.

The mayor and City Council will decide on a winner, or group of winners, in May with the help of the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C., development think tank, Pappa said. Goodman envisions that the plan, financed by the developer who will ultimately buy the land, will have a broad mix of projects, including a medical center for UNLV, a cultural-arts center, a sports arena and homes.

UNLV students could get their own high-tech school, with local developer Held Properties Inc. proposing a high-tech cancer-research institute, schools of pharmacy, dentistry, clinics and other medical facilities.

For the arts enthusiast, the developers threw in a 40,000-square-foot museum, art gallery and library as well as a 1,200-seat performing-arts facility and a terminal for high-speed trains.

Architects Architectonica, based in Miami, submitted a proposal for a medical school-entertainment-residential district with a 20,500-seat stadium as its centerpiece. Goodman is hoping to slamdunk a professional sports team for the city, working diligently to lure in the Vancouver Grizzlies.

A larger parcel next to the Lehman site, which is owned by Union Pacific Railroad, is also being eyed for a number of projects, including plans nearing finalization for a high-tech campus with a dot-com incubator.

Plans for a multi-tower, 7.5 million-square-foot furniture market on 57 acres of the railroad site have been submitted to the city and are scheduled to be before the Planning Commission March 22. The City Council could get a look at them in April.

"The mayor is excited," Pappa said. "He believes whatever is developed will be his legacy."

The push for the projects came in January when the city acquired a 61.5-acre parcel of undeveloped land from Lehman Brothers immediately adjacent to downtown and with easy access to the busiest freeway junction in the state.

The city traded 99 acres of land in its northwest Technology Center, plus $2 million, to acquire the parcel Goodman coins "the best piece of real estate in the nation."

The deadline for developers to submit their proposals for the 61 acres passed Monday, and the city had no problem attracting developers from all over the world.

The Wall Street Journal

contributed to this report.