Las Vegas to decide on pay for planners

Judy Odierna

Monday, March 3, 2003 | 11:28 a.m.

Two companies chosen to help develop a master plan for Las Vegas' 61-acre parcel downtown could get paid more than $600,000 for the job.

The City Council is scheduled to make a decision on the pay Wednesday.

Design Workshop, an architectural engineering firm that developed the Commons in Denver, a 60-acre urban village built on former railroad land adjacent to downtown, is to get $424,000.

Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., a nationwide firm specializing in supporting infrastructure such as sewer lines and streets, would be paid $180,000.

An agreement to pay $140,000 to R.O. Consulting Inc. to retain Richard Oglesby as the project administrator was approved in February.

"It's what the market charges," Deputy City Manager Steven Houchens said. "It's very reasonable but very comparable (to other projects)."

The money would be lent to City Parkways, the name of two nonprofits set up by the city to head the project, through the Industrial Development Special Revenue Fund, which would then be repaid upon sale or development of the land.

"The city is managing our future now," Mayor Oscar Goodman said.

After the city took over as master planner for the 61 acres, city officials picked the three groups in January as the team of experts they wanted for the project.

A fourth group, consisting of Peter Trice of Inova Group and neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Miller, which would have worked on the financial and strategic planning for a medical campus, will not be hired by the city. They could, however, be retained by the chosen consulting firms at the firms' discretion.

"We're staring with a clean slate," Houchens said. "It's taking a lot of pieces that are out there -- the desire of the residents, the transportation issues, where the roads would go, where there would be open space -- and (creating) a plan that encompasses those elements."

Design Workshop, according to the contract, would be responsible for preparing and conducting a two-day design "charette" that would include the City Council, the City Centre Development Corp., the City Parkway Task Force, and potential major stakeholders.

A charette is defined by the contract as an intense effort to come up with a plan within a limited time.

Should the project require an additional consultant to come to Las Vegas, the consultant would be paid an hourly fee. It would range from $150 to $400 an hour for the principal or president to $50 an hour for a project assistant.

Should Kimley-Horn need to send someone from Las Vegas, the consultant would be paid a per diem rate of up to $1,000.

"We want to have a very professional, very comprehensive overview of the 61 acres with the goal being to come forward in four months with a solid plan for the site," Houchens said. "Once we have a master plan, then everyone will be operating on the same page."

The city has not had much success trying to develop the land since acquiring it in 2000. Projects that have been envisioned for the site have included high-rise apartments, an academic medical center, a performing arts center, a park, stores, and a veterans hospital.

Though they specialized in building minor league stadiums, Southwest Sports Group was selected to analyze and assess the feasibility of development on the site in 2001 and was instructed to look at every use but a stadium. After the agreement expired, Southwest Sports was officially out of the picture.

Referring to a trip he will make to Ohio Tuesday and Wednesday to talk to representatives of the Cleveland Clinic about building an academic medical center on the site, Goodman said, "I'll be able to tell the folks in Cleveland that we are sincere. It's one way to show them that we are willing to put our money where our mouth is."

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