Dot.com incubator plan may go cold

Diana Sahagun

Wednesday, March 28, 2001 | 11:29 a.m.

If the recent fall of dozens of Internet companies in Silicon Valley is any indication, plans for a dot.com incubator in Las Vegas are fading, Mayor Oscar Goodman said Tuesday.

Proponents for the dot.com incubator (a firm that promotes fledgling Internet companies) have not firmed up their plans for the project and missed a deadline last week, Goodman told the Sun. With no final deal on the table, Goodman said he is opening the door to other projects interested in going on the 10-acre site downtown.

On Friday Goodman expects to receive a letter of intent from another company that has expressed interest in the downtown property. Goodman declined to comment on the company, but said if the group pushing the dot.com project can sign a deal before the city receives the other letter of intent, he would continue to support the project.

"I felt I had an ethical and moral obligation to the folks there initially," Goodman said of Las Vegas Redevelopment LLC, the group behind the incubator. "But they didn't come through with a firm proposal. They're now in mix with other people."

Six months ago the concept of a dot.com incubator in Las Vegas seemed perfect, with Silicon Valley enjoying the majority of the success from start-up Internet companies.

Goodman announced in September he had landed a "high-tech whale," proposed for 10.64 acres of Union Pacific Railroad land.

Union Pacific signed a letter of intent to sell the city 10.64 acres of land for $4,287,000 based on $9.25 a square foot. The city had also signed a letter of intent to sell the land to LVDT Redevelopment LLC for the same price.

Cisco Systems Inc. and AT&T had planned to purchase the land for the campus, and Worldwide Wireless Networks planned to develop a 190,000-square foot dot.com incubator.

Construction was expected to begin by January.

But six months later Internet companies have been hit hard by the slowing economy, and start-ups have been closing left and right. Earlier this month Cisco became the latest technology company to slash jobs due to the weakening economy and announced plans to cut up to 11 percent of its work force.

Cisco's stock price plunged to a 52-week low, dropping from $80 to $18.

Goodman said he has been meeting with the LVDT Redevelopment LLC, which is waiting to firm up a deal with one of the tenants for the incubator site.

Don Caldwell of Union Pacific's Real Estate Development division said the railroad has not entered into a contract with the city for the land and is still waiting to see if the proposal will come through.

Hugh Anderson, a local financial consultant and spokesman for the limited liability company, could not be reached for comment.

He has said the group is stalled while it is revamping architectural renderings for the site, which had to be changed after the city discovered an off-ramp would run by the site.

The 10 acres still can be developed, but because of the off-ramp and traffic issues associated with the ramp, the project had to be reconfigured on the site.

Either way, Goodman said, something special will go on the site.