City Council briefs for March 18, 2004

Thursday, March 18, 2004 | 9:08 a.m.

Deal made for old Sears building

The Las Vegas City Council approved a deal Wednesday to sell the building at 601 Fremont St. to a group of investors who promised to turn it into the cornerstone of the proposed East Fremont Entertainment District.

"I am enthralled with the project," Mayor Oscar Goodman said. "This is monumental. This is as cool as it gets."

The building will cost the investors $1.3 million upfront and another $500,000 once leasing targets are met. The investors are a coalition of people who initially were competitors bidding on the project, and include such influential figures as John Moran Jr. and John Moran III, and Andrew Molasky, son of prominent developer Irwin Molasky.

The building at 601 Fremont originally was a Sears before the department store moved to the Boulevard mall in the 1960s. It was then taken over by Central Telephone Co. and then by Metro Police, which used it as fingerprint headquarters.

Salary pact with marshals boosted

The Las Vegas City Council added $560,000 to a contract with its marshals that was meant to bring the officers' salaries in line with police elsewhere in the Las Vegas Valley, but which was interpreted by the city in a way that would have left three-year veterans making the same as newcomers.

The contract was approved by the council in November and would boost entry-level pay from about $37,000 a year to about $42,000. Shortly after, when marshals received their paychecks, union representatives challenged the city over who was eligible for the pay raises and when they would get them.