Goodman hopes the Big Apple takes bite of Vegas

Sito Negron

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 | 9:42 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman spent Monday selling Las Vegas in New York City, where he said a man stopped him in the street on the way to a presentation about downtown Las Vegas and said, "good morning, Mayor."

"My city manager almost fell over," Goodman said.

Goodman said he gave presentations to: the Related Cos., which already is investing in the World Furniture Mart; a group of investment bankers, organized by downtown casino operator Barrick Gaming Corp., at the Park Avenue Racquet and Tennis Club; casino and real-estate mogul Donald Trump; and Alan Greenberg, chairman of Bear, Stearns & Co.

"I talk about us being poised to go to a level we don't even know where it's leading other than that it will be limited only by our imaginations," Goodman said. "I showed my enthusiasm; it's contagious. And at the end of the day people felt very confident ... they couldn't go wrong."

Goodman said that while he received no specific commitments -- "I was not there to deal," he said -- the Manhattan meetings had a different value. "If they (Bear Stearns) say something positive about us, it has a reverberating effect."

The most immediate task for the city is to send out a round of requests for proposals, Goodman said. "We're going to be on a fast track right now," he said. "The market is ripe."

Goodman said the future of the 61 acres the city owns in the former railroad yards west of downtown Las Vegas may not include the Cleveland Clinic, the internationally known medical outfit upon which he previously has said he's pinning much of his hopes.

"We have to find out where they are, and (the same) with our own medical community," Goodman said. "All the developers we talked to want (all 61 acres for) an urban village, but we want a medical center."