Developer envisions $4 billion sports resort near Las Vegas Strip

AP

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006 | 10:47 a.m.

Developer envisions $4 billion sports resort near Las Vegas Strip

NORTH LAS VEGAS. Nev. - Developer Matt A. Rose looks out on a 116-acre plot of desert eight miles off the Las Vegas Strip and sees a 26,000-seat arena, a 5,000-seat aquatic center, an air-conditioned driving range and "sports, sports, sports." His Vegas version of a field of dreams also includes a 150,000-square-foot casino, 5,500 hotel rooms and 10 nightclubs.

Rose outlined plans Thursday for the Ultimate Sports Resort, a $4 billion megaresort he hopes will lure amateur, Olympic and - if dreams can come true - professional sporting events to southern Nevada.

"Our goal is to bring to the Las Vegas valley an unparalleled sports experience where our focus is on sports, health fitness and athletes - and we have a casino, too," said Rose, who's making his first venture into the Las Vegas market and still needs financing. The Southern California commercial developer spent the past several years buying and selling apartments and strip malls around Los Angeles.

Rose's privately held Ultimate Sports Entertainment Inc. has $92.8 million in escrow for 116 acres in an industrial corridor in North Las Vegas and is negotiating construction financing, he said. He has lined up support from the city, an experienced casino contractor and has retained a former Strip hotel executive.

What he doesn't have, however, is major money. Rose says he's talking to banks and other investors about funding the project, and hopes to break ground in nine months, depending on investors' interest and regulatory approvals. The resort would open in 2009.

Rose is the latest of several sports fans and southern Nevada boosters to pine after a professional sports team. Chief among them is Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who successfully courted the 2007 NBA All-Star Game but has not overcome major league sports officials' concerns about gambling nor opposition from some in the casino community.

Rose said his dream isn't dependent on a pro franchise.

"Our vision to fill that dream is to have so much sports to play, sports to watch, sports to buy and sports to experience that our visitors couldn't do it all in one day."

He's targeting amateur and Olympic sports - from fencing to weightlifting - that regularly hold annual, well-attended competitions in cities with far less pizazz than Las Vegas. Rose thinks there's enough swimmers, volleyball players and table tennis stars to fill his seven planned arenas year round and support a casino and hotel in a city best known as Las Vegas' growing but grittier northern neighbor.

Real estate analyst Brian Gordon said the off-Strip location may be Rose's biggest hurdle.

"Developing a critical mass at that site is paramount," said Gordon, a principal at Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas-based financial consulting firm. "The project is not going to capture foot traffic like we see in properties on or adjacent to the heart of the Las Vegas Strip."

And it will cost more. In comparison, casino magnate Steve Wynn spent $2.7 billion on his bronze glass Wynn Las Vegas resort that opened last year with 2,700 rooms on the Strip.

Rose said his project will be both a niche market draw and family friendly destination. The site is a mile south of the Las Vegas Speedway, a successful race track and home to NASCAR races, and will feature go-carts, climbing walls, a skate park and indoor skydiving.

Rose said his sports resort will draw families looking for activities who don't have to stay in Las Vegas.

"If Disneyland were 10 minutes away would you go?" he said.

The core of his business model is drawing athletes to the site and keeping them there for the bulk of their stay. His pitch has been well-received by some amateur athletic organizations who are finding it increasingly difficult to locate facilities that can accommodate them.

"We've virtually outgrown every aquatic facility in the country," said Chuck Wielgus, executive director of USA Swimming, which hosts nearly 8,000 swim meets a year and an annual national championship attended by about 4,000 people. "This is absolutely a facility that we would be anxious to use."

Kerry Klostermann, secretary general of USA Volleyball, said the Ultimate Sports Resort would be a welcome option because it's geared toward athletes. One-third of the casino space would be enclosed and nonsmoking; its entrance is separated from the main arena.

Nearly 9,000 volleyball players and their families attend the USA Junior Olympic Girls' Championship every year, an eight-day event that can generate $28 million in its host city, Klostermann said.

"The plan's thrust sounds to me to be based on heath, fitness, providing young people the opportunity to experience the benefits of an active lifestyle," he said.

Gordon said the approach hasn't been tried before in Sin City.

"Other metro-resorts, they've all catered to the leisure and business travel," he said. "This caters to the sports enthusiast. It targets a very specific segment of the market."

Rose has lined up veteran casino builder Perini Building Co., and Larry Woolf, CEO of the Navegante Group, a former chairman and chief executive officer of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, is consulting on the casino management.

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On the Net: Ultimate Sports Resort: http://www.ultimatesportsreport.com

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