Funds for new state museum fall short

Friday, Jan. 5, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

CARSON CITY - A month ago, state and local officials trumpeted the groundbreaking for a new Nevada State Museum at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve.

What they didn't trumpet was that the project was $11.5 million in the hole before the first spadeful of dirt was turned. The 76,000-square-foot museum to replace the old one at Lorenzi Park was to be funded with a $35 million bond measure approved by voters in November 2002. But officials now say the cost of the museum will be $46.5 million.

Officials are looking to the Legislature to find the additional money to complete the work.

The museum is to open in 2008 and construction is to be managed by the Las Vegas Valley Water District. The Clark County Commission is the board of directors for the district.

The Water District is forecasting annual visitors of 500,000 to see the many attractions, including a botanical garden, said Scott K. Sisco, interim director of the state Cultural Affairs Department. Sisco said he expects 130,000 people to visit the museum each year, or 90,000 more than go through the existing museum at Lorenzi Park. That museum will be converted to other state uses.

The new museum, at U.S. 95 and Valley View Boulevard, is being built next to a $2 million water tank, whose roof will serve as a parking lot. Sisco said the museum will have space for a 10,000-square-foot expansion.

Gov. Jim Gibbons said Wednesday that no decision has been made on whether he will recommend spending the additional money.

In explaining delays in the construction, Sisco said that after the 2000 election, the state Conservation and Natural Resources Department took about eight months to distribute the money. Other delays included several months to persuade the state Public Works Board to allow the Water District to manage the construction and a year in design, because the site is small.

In recent years the Public Works Board has been involved in controversy, including a $10 million judgment against it for construction of the Nevada State Veterans Home in Boulder City and falling panels from the outside wall of a state office building in Las Vegas.

The Water District has chosen Tiberti Construction Co. as contractor on the museum.