Columnist Jeff German: IRS alone can’t save downtown Las Vegas

Friday, Jan. 17, 2003 | 5:43 a.m.

DOES ANYONE else see the irony of the Internal Revenue Service figuring into Mayor Oscar Goodman's grand design to save downtown?

This is the same IRS that has given headaches to casino dealers and other tip earners in the valley for more than 20 years.

And it's the same IRS that Goodman, the defense lawyer, once battled in court on behalf of the city's most notorious criminals.

If all goes as planned, more than 300 IRS employees will be firing up their laptops in search of Uncle Sam's money from a new $25 million headquarters downtown.

While they're thinking of ways to take away the hard-earned dollars of city residents, they'll also be pouring their own money into downtown restaurants and casinos and generating new revenues for the city.

Longtime developer Irwin Molasky plans to build the IRS complex on five acres between Grand Central Parkway and U.S. Highway 95. The land is next to the infamous 61 acres of undeveloped prime real estate just east of the Union Pacific railroad tracks.

The 75-year-old Molasky has played an important role in the growth of Las Vegas for more than 50 years. He built Sunrise Hospital, the Boulevard Mall, the Bank of America tower and Park Towers.

His partnership with the IRS and the city is an important milestone in the city's oft-criticized redevelopment plan, which for the most part has been skewed to bail out the casinos. With Molasky buying into the game plan, other developers now might be steered downtown. Who knows? It might even help Goodman find investors in the 61 acres, which is considered the key to pumping up Fremont Street.

At long last there is some hope.

"This is a kick-start," Molasky proudly says of the IRS project. "It's a red letter day for downtown."

But let's not get too excited. It's going to take a lot more than one community-minded developer and the IRS to save downtown.

The real challenge will be getting the Molaskys of the world to build upscale residential projects that will encourage people to move there.

For that to happen, city officials will have to create a safe environment for the entire downtown business district -- not just the four-blocks of the Fremont Street Experience.

That's what other cities, such as San Diego, have done to heal their decaying downtown areas.

The Downtown San Diego Partnership, a private business organization that promotes redevelopment, uses words like "booming" and "cosmopolitan" to describe the new face of that city's downtown.

"Downtown San Diego has always been the regional center for government, finance, business and law," the partnership says. "But it is quickly becoming a 24-hour center for living, working, shopping, recreation, arts, culture and entertainment."

The partnership says there currently are 75 upscale residential projects under way in downtown San Diego, as well as "numerous" retail, commercial office and hotel developments.

In Las Vegas you can count the number of similar projects in the works, including the IRS headquarters, on your hand.

For downtown to become more than just a gambling mecca, Goodman and city officials are going to have to take a more global approach to redevelopment, something that should have been done long ago.

They're going to have to build parks, restaurants, museums, theaters and shopping centers throughout downtown -- all attractions that will encourage people to live there.

They're going to have to add more landscaping to the streets -- more lights, more trees, more grass and more water fountains.

Most of all they're going to have to realize that there are other businesses with a financial stake in downtown and that keeping the casinos happy is just a small part of the grand design to save downtown.