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The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday discusses a proposal to build an arena and entertainment district in the downtown area.
By Dave Toplikar (contact) 
Published Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009 | 12:38 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009 | 5:14 p.m.
City to Study Downtown Arena Plans
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The Las Vegas City Council votes 6-0 vote to approve an agreement with the Cordish Co. of Baltimore, noted for its downtown development expertise around the country, to study the prospects of building a sports arena, a casino/hotel and an entertainment district on about 20 acres that includes the existing city hall.
City Hall now sits where Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman wants to build a new casino/hotel. It's also adjacent to where he envisions a new downtown sports arena and entertainment district.
Las Vegas took what could be a giant step today in getting a sports arena built in the city's downtown — and luring an NBA or an NHL team to locate here.
The City Council voted 6-0 to enter into an exclusive agreement with the Cordish Co. of Baltimore, noted for its downtown development expertise around the country, to study the prospects of building an arena, a casino/hotel and an entertainment district on about 20 acres that includes the existing city hall.
Councilman Steve Ross, who said he supports the project, abstained. Ross said he has been advised by the city's lawyers not to vote on projects involving the city hall, because of his efforts to negotiate for union jobs on a new city hall project in his job as secretary-treasurer of the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council.
Before the vote, Mayor Oscar Goodman called the agreement a "tipping point" and said the redevelopment project would "take us from a great city to a world-class city."
The city's "Exclusive Negotiation Agreement" with the Cordish Companies Inc. provides a two-year window for Cordish to study the feasibility of a sports arena, a casino/hotel and an entertainment district on about 20 acres split between two sites at Las Vegas Boulevard and Stewart Avenue.
"We think that's tremendously important when you hear a little about the Cordish companies, their reputation and the accolades they've received, not just from their clients, but from groups such as the Urban Land Institute," Bill Arent, director of the Las Vegas Office of Business Development, told the council. "We thought it was really important to get exclusivity with this company for studying this project, mainly the arena, in downtown Las Vegas."
Cordish will look into building a casino/hotel on the 7.75 acres that is now the site of City Hall and the Stewart Avenue Parking Garage.
On the site just east of city hall, the company will check into the feasibility of an arena with at least 18,000 seats and an entertainment district that would include retail shops, restaurants and bars.
The agreement calls for Cordish to determine the economic viability of an arena, including seeing if public financing is available. Cordish would look into recruiting an NBA or NHL team and an arena operator.
Cordish would also develop a strategy for getting tenants for what it calls a "Live District" and for the casino/hotel. It would set up business terms for acquiring and developing the two sites.
The company would work on a viable financing plan, using a combination of public and private funds for the Live District and hotel/casino.
The pact with the city also calls for Cordish to come up with a schedule and a scope from when the project would be designed through getting permits, beginning construction and completing the improvements on the two sites.
Under the agreement, Cordish will put up a $100,000 deposit, as an act of good faith, which it would get back at the end of the two-year period or if Cordish finds that the development isn't feasible, Arent said.
The city would also reimburse Cordish for up to $150,000 toward the cost of third-party expenses in studying the plan. That money would come out of the city's Industrial Development Revenue Fund.
Arent said Cordish was likely to spend much more than that on its research. But if the plans fall through and Cordish decides not to do the project, the city would be able to recover the studies and reports that the $150,000 generated.
"The arena itself is a challenging project. It's an ambitious project," Arent said. A 2006 study by the Convention Sports & Leisure group study showed that such an arena could cost about $500,000, he said. Cordish will look into a combination of private and public financing for an arena, he said.
Port Telles, Cordish's development director, told the council the Live District would also include amenities such as comedy clubs, art walks and have open air areas that could be a community gathering place for events like high school pep rallies and be the start or finish of a community running event.
Asked to explain the "Live" concept a little more by Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian, Telles said the Live districts are pedestrian friendly. Cordish provides free entertainment acts, up to 200 per year in such Live districts, including big-name artists.
"They stay before the game and after the game," he said. But the Live districts are self-sustaining and don't actually require an adjacent sports arena, he said.
The company, which has developed 26 urban redevelopment projects, just won a Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence this year for the Kansas City Power and Light District.
The Kansas City project transformed an area of urban blight into an $850 million entertainment district that includes 45 retail outlets, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues, linking the convention center in Kansas City, Mo., to its downtown sports arena.
Telles said Cordish has found, during the nearly 100 years the company has been in existence, that the smart developers and the smart cities are those who plan and position themselves for success during difficult times.
"We see an opportunity for us to get started with that process right now," he said.
Cordish has also found that arenas and the venues around them have created steady economic growth for communities, Telles said.
Councilman Stavros Anthony asked if the sports arena could proceed if the city hall land was not in the mix.
Tellis said if that did occur, it's something that the company would analyze and try to make work.
"My preference is the National Hockey League, to bring the Detroit Red Wings out here," Anthony said.
Mayor Pro-Tem Steve Wolfson asked if all the projects needed to be done as one large project, because their success of one would depend on the others.
"You want to take a holistic approach to it and look at the entire package," Telles said. "That's how you get, really, the bang for the buck in terms of what we can plan."
Wolfson noted that a hotel-casino would be the first such facility to be built in the downtown in decades.
He also indicated, because the city does own the 20 acres in the project footprint, that city-owned land could be leveraged as the public's part of the project, rather than having the city come up with funding or increase taxes.
Arent said it would be premature to speculate what incentives might be put on the table this early in the process, but the land does have a lot of value and is something that could be put into the public-private equation.
Councilman Gary Reese said he saw the project as a way for the community to come together in a common gathering place for entertainment downtown.
"I just hope I live long enough to be able to go to a basketball game here," Reese said. "I'm not a hockey fan. I'd like to see the Detroit Pistons here."
Goodman told Tellis the council had been steadfast in trying to move Las Vegas into being a world class city. But the city has had to endure impacts of 9-11, which put everything on a standstill and now it is dealing with the worst recession in memory, he said.
He asked Tellis to tell Cordish that "a miracle" has occurred in Las Vegas with the building of the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute in the building designed by famed architect Frank Gehry in the downtown as part of the city council's vision to bring a world-class medical facility here. The council has also pushed to improve cultural offerings in the city and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in the downtown is evidence of that, he said.
"Today is one of the final pieces that we're heading towards," Goodman said. "For a city to be a great city, to be a world class city, it has to have a place with which the people who live in a community can identify."
He said many people who relocated to Las Vegas started identifying more closely with the community as the result of rooting for the nationally ranked UNLV Rebels basketball team. Building an arena and an entertainment district would extend that sense of community, he said.
"We're counting on you, because this is our dream," Goodman told Telles, "to have this kind of venue in the heart and soul of the entire valley here."
Yes! Get it built and get a NBA team here ASAP. NHL would be cool too.
Great news. It will be great for downtown. Let's get the project underway!
I moved here from Houston 4 years ago where this company (Cordish) developed the Downtown area. Before the area was like Las Vegas downtown, full of bums, random crime, really lacking direction or an entertainment theme. After the company developed the downtown Houston area it is vibrant, SAFE, cool place to hang out, no more abandoned buildings, well lite, nice clubs, business started moving in, the older buildings were transformed into nice restaurants, clubs, even an area for outdoor concerts that is really cool. Before nobody wanted to go downtown, not only because of the reputation like most big city downtown areas suffer from, but there was nothing to do! So please support this plan so us locals can have a nice place to hang out besides the strip !!
The related story on this page does not mention Houston as being one of the six cities that this company help their downtown transform and this is because they did not develop a "sports anchored" complex within the district, the Toyota Center in Houston is located in a separate area, nonetheless this company has a proven track record of Downtown development projects. A sports arena in Las Vegas would make the downtown area that much better. I would hope that this project would also include increased security, or additional Metro presence to keep us safe like the other cities have done !
Hey wakadoo, I want you and your kind out of my city!!
I hope that they have a good plan for parking, this is the only complaint most people have about these type of districts, Tow trucks will have a field day, And companies like Boot-it,inc are really smelling blood !! Beware of parking lot scams as well (People posing as lot attendants taking your money to park on someone else property !)
Cordish should consult with The Related Companies on their feasibility analysis on the same property. They were granted a 2-year exclusive and could not make the project work during boom times!
wacka - racists like you are the scum of the world. and if you don't know that you are racist, then you are a retard too.
I would rather to see a football/baseball dome stadium. Build it and they will come.
It seems to me that there already are way too many restaurants, bars and retail stores in the area!!! A concert/sports arena would be nice but maybe they should line up a team "before" they go ahead with this project! I think the city/county needs to start doing something about all the abandoned buildings and vacant strip shops too!
Ok, Cordish had some successes - they also had abysmal horrible failures which seriously damaged downtown Niagara Falls, NY. They couldn't pull off a project in Buffalo. In St. Louis Ballpark Village was a swamp for at least two years - maybe they have something going now? The projects basic premesis are off the wall - that in a limited market they can make something happen. This is likely the wrong time for Vegas - but on the other hand if some of you folks like wachadoo and vegasfun have a few extra billions laying around I am sure that Oscar would drink a few Martuni's with you and some show girls would be happy to stroke you for a price!
NHL is likely to be a bad choice. Even in Pittsburgh (where they sell out the Penguins games every night), it is difficult to turn a profit. They nearly lost that stadium/franchise several times. That's how lemeiux got to own a large part of it! They owed him a ton of money.
I suspect it would end up being NBA then. MBL isn't a big profit turner either... :-/
poor traffic infastructure over there already will make this a nightmare
perfect time for this. if it doesn't get done now, then Vegas will never have a professional sports team - at least not for 20+ years. anyone against this, doesn't have the best interest of Vegas in mind. this will help diversify the economy and bring millions of dollars into the city. no downside, NBA does not bring crime, like, uh, gambling!!!
It takes a committed municipality to make this work. Cordish's Walk Outlet Shops in Atlantic City are the ONLY thing working in that town now. But if you're expecting them to come up with any money, that's not their formula. They'll take public money and try to make it work, but no guarantee. And I was in St. Louis this summer, went to a ballgame and can't even remember seeing this area that they supposedly built up. What's the deal there?
Why on earth do they want another hotel/casino as part of this project? A sports arena is great for all the reasons listed above by other posters, but more friggin' hotel rooms? No way!
I'd also be concerned about parking and ingress/egress before and after events.
First Symphony park and now this. Lets hope this brings some sort of diversification like symphony park is slowly bringing.
David S. Cordish - Baltimore-based financial advisor and developer. With Manhattan-based Richard Fields, Cordish owned Power Plant Entertainment. Robert Toussie, who provided almost $3 million to Richard Fields to invest in Power Plant Entertainment, was indicted in federal court in Central Islip on four counts of tax evasion in June 2004 and struck a deal with the IRS. (Source = Statement from United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc. -- USET) Cordish advised the Seminole Tribe of Florida with 2 casino complexes. The Seminoles severed ties with Cordish after the IRS came after them for using tax-exempt bonds for refinancing. The IRS has opened at least eight similar audits of Indian financing across the country. Tribes argue the government is being too restrictive of Indian bond issues. Power Plant's fee = roughly $1.275 billion (Source = Baltimore Sun). Cordish had worked with Donald Trump.
Cordish also leased the-vacant Rainbow Centre Mall in Niagara Falls, NY, saying he would renovate, but he continued to let the mall run down. Cordish secretly lobbied Albany politicians and the Seneca Nation of Indians to take the mall off his hands for use as a casino.
DONALD TRUMP:
has sued a former associate and the developers of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, alleging that the parties bilked him out of a profitable contract. The 1980s icon accused Richard T. Fields of lying to him when the latter advised him to jettison a deal that "the Donald" had spent three years nurturing with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, according to the suit. Then, in Western-movie parlance, Fields went in cahoots with Baltimore-based Cordish Co. and, the lawsuit said, they fraudulently represented themselves as Trump associates to land the deal. The suit, filed Dec. 30 in circuit court in Broward County, Fla., charges Fields with fraud, misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duty. It also names Cordish Co. officials David S. Cordish and Joseph Weinberg, and several related companies owned by Cordish and Fields. Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Fields, scoffed at the lawsuit.
The City Counsel Members, should have thought twice, before they decided among themselves to
"commit your hard-earned-tax-payer-dollars to this unpredictable plan of thers.