Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004 | 9:20 a.m.
Three companies have submitted bids to the city of Las Vegas to develop the 61-acre plot of former railroad land into a downtown cornerstone.
"I am elated. The three are as strong as it gets," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said Wednesday. "We're going to have a very difficult decision to make here."
Goodman said the three companies that submitted bids are The Related Companies Inc. of New York, Triple Five Group Ltd. of Canada, and MB Real Estate of New York.
The Related Companies built the 2.8 million square foot, $1.7 billion Time Warner Center, which opened in New York City in February. It also is involved in the financing of the World Furniture Market being built adjacent to the 61 acres.
MB Real Estate operates in Chicago and New York City and, according to its Web site, "is one of the Midwest and East Coast's most prominent real estate advisory and service providers in the areas in which it operates," with more than 7 million feet of office space and 15 million square feet of commercial and institutional properties.
Triple Five has diverse real estate operations and, according to its Web site, is involved in "banking, the establishment of suburban cities, urban entertainment destination, amusement parks, hospitality, residential, commercial and industrial real estate, technology, mining and natural resources." The company developed Boca Park in Las Vegas.
"Right now I see three phenomenal companies running to work with the city and not take from the city," said Goodman.
City Manager Doug Selby said he was not concerned about the number of companies that decided not to participate in the competition for development rights.
"Some of them said they were still interested in the city of Las Vegas but this wasn't the right time, or this was a bigger project then they were ready to tackle," Selby said.
When the requests for proposals were sent out about a month ago, "I guess I didn't know what to expect and perhaps those talking about it didn't know what to expect either," Selby said.
One of the sticking points for some might have been the requirement for the winning bidder to put up $2 million in non-refundable "good faith" money.
"The disclosure of all the details of what we're expecting, the scope of the project, the commitment of that kind of money I'm sure played in the minds of those who weren't quite ready to submit," Selby said. "We heard in some cases the project was a little bit bigger then they were prepared to deal with."
He said the number of applicants might allow the project to move faster, since the original intent was to narrow down the proposals to the top two or three.
"Since we only have three we need to put our heads forward and see if we can move to the next phase of the project right away," Selby said. That would give the three companies 75 days to present more detailed proposals.
The city hopes to use the 61 acres for an urban village of mid- to high-rise buildings clustered around an academic medical complex, a city park, and a performing arts center. The arts center portion of the project is under the supervision of the Performing Arts Center Foundation.
The city already has received a commitment from spirits merchant Larry Ruvo for $7 million toward an Alzheimer's research facility. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has said he anticipates the overall medical complex to cost $125 million, a sum he planned to take the lead in raising.
He said Wednesday he was working with the University and Community College system of Nevada to develop a medical school.
"We're continuing our negotiations," Goodman said.
The land has been under discussion by the city for several years. Plans that have fallen to the side include a sports stadium. Most recently, it was hoped that the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic would bring a medical facility here, but that plan officially was scotched in August.
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