UNLV eyes expansion site in NLV

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004 | 11:25 a.m.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is going forward with plans to build a new campus in North Las Vegas that would be almost double the size of its current landlocked campus on Maryland Parkway.

University officials went to the North Las Vegas City Council Wednesday night to reserve 640 acres off the northern part of the Las Vegas Beltway for a second campus.

City and university officials will ask the Bureau of Land Management for the land, which is almost twice the size of the 337-acre campus at Tropicana Avenue and Maryland Parkway.

The move to expand comes as President Carol Harter is pushing to turn UNLV into a premier research university, a goal she emphasized heavily in her State of the University address released this month.

University spokesman Tom Flagg said, "There's no doubt that it will move forward our agenda for the future and in big ways."

City and university officials said it's too early to say exactly when school buildings could open. But one regent said construction could begin in three to five years, and North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon said it could be 20 years before the land resembles a college campus.

Montandon said any city would want to be home to a major university, and university officials said they are desperate for room to grow.

UNLV spokesman Tom Flagg said the Maryland Parkway campus is expected to be built to capacity by 2010, "which isn't that far from now."

"We're at 26,000 now," he said. "Our projections show that for fall of 2009, we will have enrollment of 35,000. That will be pushing the envelope for this campus."

Flagg said the consent from the North Las Vegas City Council, given in a 5-0 vote, was only the first step. The Board of Regents will be asked next week to approve the plans.

"Of course we can't do anything until we get the approval from them," he said.

But during a City Council meeting Wednesday night, University Regent Linda Howard, who represents the area, sharply criticized the university administration and city officials for not telling her they were working on such a large project for her district.

"I'm not sure what all this is about," she said. "I don't know why it's so difficult to let the elected officials know what's going on in their districts."

Howard said she will probably support a new university campus in North Las Vegas because the school needs room to grow.

"But the issue is what are they doing and why aren't they telling us," she said about university administrators. "It's their arrogance."

Regent Thalia Dondero said she didn't think administrators have done anything wrong, and now is the right time to go public with the long-term growth plan.

"They're doing their job, making plans for growth and it takes a long time to do those plans," Dondero said.

Dondero said she and administrators toured several possible sites for a future campus, including the one off the northern part of the beltway, several years ago.

"We've been looking for places to grow for years," she said.

Flagg said the land is an ideal place for the school to grow because it is large, vacant and just off a highway.

"It's a clean slate," Flagg said.

The location, he said, would draw on the population growth in the northern part of the Las Vegas Valley.

"There are huge pockets of population in this valley now that are removed from this campus," he said. "Part of the attraction of the location is it's right on 215."

The price is also attractive.

Under the current proposal, the university system would first lease the land for $1,280 a year, and then buy the property for $10 an acre, or $6,400, according to the regent's agenda.

Montandon said the property is probably worth more than $100 million.

"This is one of the best examples of way forward planning," the mayor said. "UNLV is landlocked and I don't see a better opportunity to get 640 acres of land ever."

If the regents follow the council's lead, the land would be reserved for the school while construction of a new regional campus is studied. Flagg said the university would then ask the State Legislature for money to design a campus for the land.

The university would go to the Legislature next year for money to plan its first building, he said. UNLV has already committed the money for the required master plan of the entire area, Flagg said.

Construction funds would be requested in subsequent years, officials said.

Dondero said there could be construction on the land in three to five years.

The first building, Flagg said, would provide classroom and office space.

Flagg added that eventually it could provide space for Nevada State College and Community College of Southern Nevada programs as well.

"While it would be a UNLV regional campus, if folks out in North Las Vegas want technical classes that the community college offers and we don't, there would be space out there for that," he said. "Similarly with the state college."

Montandon said it could be 20 years before the land resembles a college campus with eight to 10 buildings on it.

"A major university is an asset to any community, with the research money and surrounding development it brings," the mayor said.

Montandon said if university officials decide the project wouldn't work for whatever reason, the land would be sold to private developers.

The 640 acres is not among the 2,300 acres of BLM land set to be auctioned in November, Montandon said.

The North Las Vegas campus wouldn't be UNLV's first venture off the main campus. The school's dentistry program is preparing to move to a satellite campus at Shadow Lane and Charleston, Flagg said.