Future in Place: Downtown LV’s redevelopment takes shape with City Centre debut

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2001 | 9:39 a.m.

Another critical piece of downtown redevelopment is in place today with the opening of City Centre Place, the first new office tower to open in Las Vegas in more than 25 years.

City officials and the developers, Colorado-based The Pauls Corp., were scheduled this afternoon to celebrate the opening of the six-story building at the corner of Fourth Street and Lewis Avenue.

Paul Powers, president of Pauls Corp., said the building will be 40 percent occupied when it opens, far exceeding expectations for the project that was begun a year ago without any pre-signed tenants.

In any other part of the Las Vegas Valley, the opening of a professional office building would be barely noticed. But this is downtown -- where businesses in recent years have been more prone to closures than ground breakings.

"This is as cool as it gets," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said. "This will give us a prestige that in large part has been missing downtown."

Located in the heart of downtown, the office tower is opening at a time when other new projects are being built or are in the planning stages.

Cranes are working away at the nearby Regional Justice Center and Clark County Detention Center addition, being built by Clark County. A massive landscaping project that will turn Lewis Avenue -- from Casino Center to Las Vegas boulevards -- into a pedestrian-friendly area with benches and a water feature, will be constructed early next year.

Construction also continues on the city's newest parking garage across from City Hall, and this week the nearby Neonopolis entertainment project announced it was also 70 percent occupied and plans to open in April.

The new office workers will be able to get their caffeine fix at a new Starbucks, which opened inside the nearby Bank of America building. The Tom Hom Group of San Diego has also planned to build lofts for professionals and artists nearby.

Goodman called the opening of the 100,000-square-foot office tower a huge milestone for the redevelopment efforts he has been pushing since he was elected.

"We will really establish ourself as a business center for Southern Nevada at a tine when lawyers were going to other areas, for newer, shinier office buildings," he said. "Now, a commitment has been made to return to the downtown area."

The $23.3 million project came about with the help of the city's redevelopment agency. The city purchased the 1.5-acre site in the mid 1990s for $6.4 million, and later sold it to Pauls for $1.1 million. The city has built and will retain ownership of an attached, 575-space parking garage.

City officials said Tuesday that 90 percent of the parking spots had been leased to employees of City Centre Place and other nearby offices. With the revenue from the parking fees, the city could recoup the cost of constructing the parking garage in 10 years. After that, the city would begin to turn a profit.

Councilman Gary Reese, who represents the area, said the office will help spur other commercial development and services for the employees working in the office tower.

"If the developers fill it up like they say, it's going to bring that many more people into downtown," Reese said.