McDonald offering $8 million for LV property

Dan Kulin

Friday, Dec. 17, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.

Eighteen months after leaving office, former Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald is hoping his former colleagues will agree to sell him 18 acres near his childhood home.

McDonald is offering the city $8 million for the mostly vacant property just south of the intersection of Decatur Boulevard and Vegas Drive, and said he wants to build a senior center and apartments there.

Since 1999, the city has paid a total of about $7 million to purchase the properties that make up the acreage McDonald wants, Deputy City Manager Steve Houchens said. The city has also paid about $800,000 to clean up the land, including demolishing buildings such as the former Wonder World shopping center, he said.

McDonald, who was on the council from 1995 until June 2003, said he would like the council to discuss his proposal during a January council meeting, but city officials said the proposal was not scheduled for a council meeting yet.

Houchens and City Manager Doug Selby said the council is allowed to consider unsolicited bids, like McDonald's, when selling property.

Typically the city will have land appraised before buying or selling it, Houchens said.

The city can also make a general request for offers, which Houchens said the council did three or four years ago for that land but received no acceptable offers.

Houchens said the city purchased the properties to get rid of blight and does not have a formal development plan for the land.

Councilman Gary Reese said the city purchased the properties McDonald wants with the hopes that senior housing would be built there. He added that McDonald's $8 million offer seems like a fair price.

"I would support any proposal like that. There's a great need for that," Reese said.

Councilman Larry Brown said he too thinks senior housing is needed in that area. But Brown said he wasn't sure what a fair price for the land would be.

McDonald said that during his time on council he worked to attract development to the property he now wants to develop.

"I tried and tried, and talked to developers and businesses but no one was interested," McDonald said about his efforts while on the council. "When I was on council I said a senior center with some commercial is what we want."

Now McDonald proposes putting several buildings on the land including a senior center, assisted living residential units, maybe some doctors' offices and a pharmacy, plus about 200 apartments for senior citizens.

McDonald said the seniors would probably pay $300 to $500 a month in rent, with additional money going to the apartment owners through federal low-income housing assistance.

Although McDonald is past the city-mandated one-year cooling-off period, during which he was prohibited from lobbying or appearing before the council, McDonald said their may be some people who will criticize him for trying to broker a deal with the colleagues he sat with less than two years ago.

But Brown said McDonald's involvement will "put more scrutiny on the project" from council members who want to avoid even the appearance of favoring a former colleague.

McDonald said he's just doing what any citizen has the right to do.

"This is a big number for a redevelopment project," McDonald said about the money he is offering. "I'm not asking for any favors, I just want to buy it for $8 million."

McDonald said he has the backing of some private investors, but he would not say who they are.

"I grew up in the area and I want to give back to the community. ... This is personal to me because it's my neighborhood. I want to revitalize my neighborhood," he said

McDonald said he has shown his proposal to council members, but has not heard if any support his plan.

Under a best-case scenario, McDonald said his proposed senior center and apartments could be built and open by the end of 2006.