Editorial: Downtown is ideal for performing arts

Friday, May 23, 2003 | 10:18 a.m.

There is a lot to be said for building a performing arts center in downtown Las Vegas. Existing facilities at UNLV and at various hotel-casinos are fine for local productions, but they cannot attract national touring groups staging operas and plays that need a venue designed for bigger productions and bigger audiences. A performing arts center downtown would attract such groups and would also be an anchor for continuing revitalization.

This is why we were impressed with this week's City Council decision to set aside five acres of downtown land for the performing arts, provided plans for a center are appropriate. Located within the 61 acres the city purchased from Union Pacific for downtown development, the site would be almost ideal. We say "almost" because five acres seems minimal for the type of center that has been proposed. Thousands of people will need space to congregate during intermissions and, of course, landscaping should match the center's aura and certainly parking should be plentiful.

The Las Vegas Performing Arts Foundation, co-chaired by Boyd Gaming Corp. President Don Snyder and cardiologist Dr. Keith Boman, has proposed a center featuring two theaters -- one with 2,500 seats and the other with 650 seats. There is room for discussion about the acreage needed but we hope the concept of where it should be located is firmly settled. Another proposal calls for a center in Summerlin. If that center could be built entirely with private funds, we'd love it. But any center receiving public funds -- the proposal for the downtown center would need at least $120 million in state money, plus a deal from the city on the land -- should go where the public would most benefit, and that's downtown.