Deadline set for proposal for Vegas medical center

Dan Kulin

Friday, April 1, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

As part of the ongoing talks between Las Vegas, Nevada's university system, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center about plans for an academic medical center on 61 acres downtown owned by the city, Pittsburgh representatives are expected to prepare a "bare-bones" proposal for their involvement with the project by April 11, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said Thursday.

Goodman said university system Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers asked Pittsburgh Medical Center officials during a conference call on Thursday to submit a proposal to him by April 11.

John McDonald, dean of the Nevada School of Medicine, said he expects to see a "skeletal" plan that could lay out who would run the planned medical center and what programs would be offered there.

McDonald said the proposal would not be a formal agreement between the schools, and would not ensure they will join forces. But he said the proposal will probably show Nevada officials whether or not the university system could work with the Pittsburgh school.

He said there is no timetable for what would happen after April 11.

Jane Duffield, spokeswoman for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said they are "developing a more detailed proposal" for Las Vegas. She declined to elaborate.

The academic medical center is to be a key component of the development of the city's vacant 61 acres on the west side of downtown. The city is currently working with the real estate development company The Related Cos. on a development plan for the property. Recent plans call for building the medical center, the first piece of which would be an Alzheimer's research center, a performing arts center, new City Hall, baseball stadium, and high-rises for residential, office and commercial uses.

In current plans for the 61 acres, eight acres are set aside for the Alzheimer's research center and medical center, Goodman said.