County pays $5.2 million for Strip parcel

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

Clark County has set a record for the price of land on the Strip with a $5.2 million settlement to acquire about one-tenth of an acre at Las Vegas Boulevard South and Sands Avenue.

The land will become part of a network of pedestrian bridges to be constructed at the site, including a bridge connecting Steve Wynn's new resort, Wynn Las Vegas, to land owned by The Venetian. The county had for nearly a decade argued with the owners of the land, Las Vegas' Rozzelle family.

Attorney Laura Fitz-Simmons, representing the Rozzelle family, said in an e-mail that the settlement is "the highest price per square foot paid for land in Clark County." The price comes to about $1,200 a square foot, eclipsing the $1,165 a square foot The Venetian paid for the Rosewood Grille a year ago.

The county had previously offered $2.7 million for the Rozelle land. Fitz-Simmons had asked for $6.3 million, or about $1,600 a square foot.

Mike Chapman, an eminent domain attorney in Reno working for the county, said the new price may mark a new high for land on the Strip, but it will not necessarily set a precedent because it was in a legal settlement, not a commercial transaction like the Rosewood Grille sale.

The Rosewood Grille sale did, however, push the price up for the county on the Rozzelle family property, he said.

Chapman said the Rosewood Grille sale, the potential cost to the county of hiring expert witnesses for a court case and the fact that the county could be liable for interest on the money involved in an eventual court decision all contributed to the county's decision to settle.

Also involved in settling the price was that the property is on an already busy intersection that is likely to grow busier as Wynn Las Vegas is completed, Chapman said.

"It was a compromise based upon all of those different factors," he said. "This was a very valuable piece of property."

Erik Pappa, Clark County spokesman, said that the settlement would not necessarily affect other county purchases for land in the Strip.

"It's not part of a trend. It's not part of a pattern," he said, because "it is a unique parcel of land."

Public Works has proposed three walkways. The first would span the Strip north of Spring Mountain Road, joining the Wynn property at the entrance to the Fashion Show mall. The other two bridges would carry pedestrians across Spring Mountain and Sands Avenue, immediately to the east and west of the intersection. Those bridges would also link the mall with Treasure Island, the Wynn property and the Venetian.

Bobby Shelton, Clark County Public Works spokesman, said construction of the $19.5 million bridge project should begin in May and be complete by early 2005.

Adjacent property owners, including the Venetian, have pledged to contribute 50 percent of the cost of the bridges. Clark County's share will be paid from an existing Resort Corridor room tax.