Council to vote on deal for city land

Dan Kulin

Thursday, July 14, 2005 | 10:05 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on deal for city-owned land that would bring another bar or nightclub and possibly a 45-story skyline-altering high-rise to the city's fledgling entertainment district in the heart of downtown.

The proposed deal would give Florida-based condominium developer SunVest Communities control of 1.24 acres at 601 Fremont St., which the city purchased about two years ago from Clark County for $1.2 million.

The building covering about one-third of the land and was home to Sears until the 1960s and was most recently Metro Police's fingerprinting headquarters. A parking lot takes up the rest of the land, which is one block east of Neonopolis.

The area of Fremont Street east of Las Vegas Boulevard as been designated the Entertainment District, which city leaders have targeted as an area to bolster nightlife as part of the reinvigoration of downtown.

In line with that effort, the proposed agreement would require the developer to renovate space for an entertainment club of some kind, Business Development Director Scott Adams said.

Under the proposed deal, SunVest, which is operating as 601 Fremont LLC in this case, would enter into a five-year lease for the land that would require the developer renovate 10,000 square feet on the ground floor for a bar, nightclub or restaurant with entertainment.

The company would pay $1 a year for the first two years of the lease, a figure that Adams said takes into account the expected $1.5 million cost of renovations the developer would have to make.

"What we really want is the club space right away," Adams said. "And if they walk in five years, at least we end up with renovated club space."

In the third year, the rent would jump to $180,000 annually for the land occupied by the building, plus about $46,000 annually for the parking lot.

But at any time, the company could exercise an option to purchase the property.

SunVest Chief Executive Office Louis Birdman said the company will purchase the property at some point. After satisfying the requirement to provide space for a club, the company will first build a 45-story condominium tower on the parking lot site, Birdman said.