Mayor: Bridge in, underground walkway out at Symphony Park

By Dave Toplikar

Friday, Dec. 3, 2010 | 1:49 p.m.

At least one, possibly two, bridge walkways are being considered for pedestrians who want to cross west over the railroad tracks from downtown Las Vegas to the 61-acre Symphony Park.

However, Mayor Oscar Goodman says his earlier idea to build an underground walkway/mall from the Fremont Street Experience under the Union Pacific railway line isn't likely to make it to the drawing board.

The mayor said he recently presented his underground gateway idea to Tamares Real Estate executives Poju Zabludowicz and Jonathan Jossel, who are renovating the Plaza Hotel.

The Plaza Hotel is on the west side of the Fremont Street Experience in what Goodman calls "a strategic area" and "the natural crossover from the east side of the downtown to the west side of the downtown."

The Plaza sits between the Fremont Street Experience and Symphony Park, the former Union Pacific rail yard the city now owns. It already is home to the Smith Center for the Performing Arts and the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Brain Health Institute. The city recently changed its target to Symphony Park as the site for a sports arena and entertainment district.

"I thought it would be great to have an underground mall, so to speak," Goodman said. Tamares executives "thought about it and they said the water situation is such that they'd never be able to do that."

Goodman said he didn't personally understand why they reached that conclusion. There is already an underpass for Ogden Street just to the north, he said.

"I don't know what the difference would be, but they seem to think that the water table is such that it would preclude such development," he said.

Instead, Goodman said, the Tamares executives had mentioned a possible bridge walkway, which they are discussing with Bill Arent, the city's director of business development.

Goodman said a pedestrian bridge over the railway is already in the works farther south. It's being designed and is expected to be completed by December 2011 in conjunction with the new city parking garage at 500 S. Main.

The new parking garage is being designed for city employees who move to the new City Hall under construction between First and Main Streets and Lewis and Clark Avenues on the east side of the tracks.

The pedestrian walkway will allow the garage to be used by Smith Center for Performing Arts patrons, at least until other parking can be built at Symphony Park.

"We're building the parking garage at 500 Main Street to where we can actually knock out panels on the western facade and connect that garage to the garages (yet to be built) on the west side of the tracks," Arent said. "So in the long term, we think we can have the vehicular crossing."

So far, there are no solid plans for garages on the west side of the tracks.

"Parking plans on Symphony Park will be determined as the parcels become more fully planned," said Jace Radke, city public information officer.