Downtown Las Vegas was potential site for campus

Sito Negron

Friday, March 26, 2004 | 11:24 a.m.

A medical school that is to formally announce the opening of a new campus in Henderson on Monday tried for months to find a place in downtown Las Vegas.

Touro University was prepared to spend about $4 million to build at Cashman Center, said Dr. Jay Sexter, the university's vice president for national affairs.

The project would have taken the approval both of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which owns and operates Cashman Center, and the city of Las Vegas, which gave the property to the LVCVA in 1981 to build the center.

"I was led astray," Sexter said. When asked by whom, he said "that's the problem. I don't know."

Sexter said developer Rohit Joshi was working to secure the deal, which was far enough along that Touro hired an architect to assess Cashman Center and design construction drawings.

"It's a triangle," Sexter said. "It's the city, the convention authority and Rohit Joshi. I met with all of them and I can't get to the bottom of what the issue was."

Joshi, reached out of state by telephone, declined to discuss the issue.

Mayor Oscar Goodman in August announced the plan for Touro to build downtown. Thursday he said that Touro was locating in Henderson "with my blessing." The school plans to open a $6 million campus in Henderson this fall.

He said Sexter is a "good guy, and Touro is a great institution, and I wish him well."

Goodman said he didn't know why the deal fell through.

Of Joshi, Goodman simply said: "The fellow couldn't make the deal."

LVCVA spokesman Rob Powers said: "Cashman has not been and is not for sale. However, when we were approached by Touro about the possibility of selling it to them we felt we were obligated to hear what they had to say."

Cashman Center was built through a legislative action that mandates its use as a baseball field, a convention center and a performing arts theater. A clause in the quitclaim deed, which gives the property to the LVCVA, appears to state that if the complex ceased those operations, the premises revert to the city.

"There was some speculation we had put Cashman on the market, but that's not so," Powers said. "We are not in any negotiations to sell the facility."

Powers said: "We're not actively trying to change the use of Cashman. We're currently not involved in any discussions to make drastic changes to Cashman."

Sexter said that although he wanted to locate downtown, his school needed to meet construction deadlines to maintain its accreditation.

"On the mayor's behalf, he was the only one who told me, 'Watch out, this isn't going right,' " Sexter said.

Randy Barnes, with HMC Architects, said he didn't know what happened to the project, for which he had completed 80 percent of the construction drawings.

He said he worked from November through January.

"I wouldn't say it (stopping work) is typical. It happens. Sometimes projects stop for whatever reason. It's beyond my control," Barnes said.

Sexter said the situation worked out well.

"The Henderson mayor (Jim Gibson) and the people in Henderson have welcomed the university with open arms," Sexter said.

The city of Las Vegas is working with the Cleveland Clinic to locate a proposed medical campus on 61 acres of land downtown, between the Interstate 15-U.S. 95 interchange and the railroad tracks.

Goodman, who said Thursday that he expects to hear the results of a feasibility study from the clinic within a week to 10 days, has made that the major component of the city's downtown rejuvenation efforts.