Las Vegas seeks offers on land for grocery store

Dan Kulin

Friday, Sept. 2, 2005 | 8:55 a.m.

Las Vegas put out a call Thursday for offers on a 10-acre piece of vacant land at Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards, giving hope to some that a grocery store might soon move into the neighborhood that has been calling for a supermarket for over a year.

Las Vegas Councilman Lawrence Weekly, who pushed for the city to seek proposals for the land, said he has spoken with four developers, including three connected to supermarket chains, about the land.

Weekly would not say who those developers or companies are, but he said he is confident the city will receive offers on the land before the Oct. 17 deadline attached to the city's request.

The city's request for proposals requires any offers to include a plan for a grocery store.

"That's a valuable piece of property on a busy thoroughfare," Weekly said. "For sure, it's going to go and it's going to go fast."

Weekly represents that part of the city, a historically economically depressed neighborhood that has been without a supermarket since a Vons closed in the nearby Edmond Town Center in August 2004.

Without that store, some residents have been forced to take longer drives or public transportation to other grocery stores in the area, whereas previously some residents could walk to the store.

The city and Town Center developer John Edmond have been working to try to bring a new grocery store to the closed Vons location but haven't been successful.

In July residents organized by the community-oriented nonprofit group ACORN, held a rally to bring attention to the situation and call on the city to release the land at Martin Luther King and Lake Mead.

At that time, Weekly said if no deal is in place to bring a grocery store to the former Vons location by the end of August, then the city would seek offers on the other property, which it now is doing.

Veronica Jones, chairwoman of the local ACORN chapter and a resident of the neighborhood, said the city's move to seek offers on the land is "very, very good news."

Jones said her trip to the supermarket has turned from a two-minute drive to a 10- to 15-minute drive, but said her efforts are aimed primarily at helping those without cars and single parents who have a harder time shopping.

Edmond did not return telephone messages left Thursday, but he previously has said that any effort to bring a grocery store to another nearby location would hurt his efforts to fill the space in his shopping center, which is at H Street and Owens Avenue. His situation is also complicated by the fact that Vons still holds a lease on its former store location and would have to approve any new tenant.

Weekly said city officials will still try to help Edmond fill his shopping center, but he said the neighborhood has waited long enough already. He also said that he believes the area can support two grocery stores.

Jones said she doesn't wish to harm Edmond.

"But this is all about getting what the community needs. We have to support the whole community and not just one man," Jones said.

The city has put together a package of tax incentives and grants that could be worth $300,000 to a grocery store coming to the neighborhood. Weekly said those incentives could go to a company moving into either Edmond's center or the Martin Luther King and Lake Mead property.

The 10-acre site was part of a 68-acre tract the city purchased in 1995 for about $3.6 million, city spokeswoman Diana Paul said.

Weekly said the 10 acres could be worth $5 million or $6 million now, but he added that the city could sell the land at a discount in order to secure the right project for the site.