Courtesy photo UNLV
This rendering is of a proposal for a 34-acre media production and multi-use facility complex at the university’s Harry Reid Research & Technology Park in southwest Las Vegas.
Tuesday, April 30, 2024 | 10:14 p.m.
The UNLV Research Foundation approved an agreement with Gardner Nevada Tech Park Studios to oversee the development of a 34-acre media production and multi-use facility complex at the university’s Harry Reid Research & Technology Park in southwest Las Vegas, officials said this morning.
The Nevada Studios Campus project would include “full-service film and television studios, and facilities designed to capitalize emerging technologies related to content creation,” the university said.
“UNLV is excited to partner on the Nevada Studios Campus project, which complements our growing innovation ecosystem at the Tech Park and holds great potential to bring new, diverse industries to Southern Nevada and bolster our regional economy,” UNLV President Keith Whitfield said in a news release. “It will also support our region’s growing creative workforce and offer new and exciting opportunities for UNLV’s students, faculty, and innovators. ”
UNLV’s planned production campus will not only be able to serve its current students, but also support development opportunities for work experience and research for K-12 schools across the state. The facility will serve as both a production and immersive learning building with space for industry engagement as well as vocational training and internship experience among other activities.
It was introduced into the 2023 Nevada Legislature as Senate Bill 496 by Sen. Roberta Lange, D-Las Vegas, but failed to make it out of committee. The bill proposed up to $190 million in annual film tax credits in over 20 years — which would specifically benefit two production campuses in Las Vegas.
UNLV said it will be introduced again during the 2025 Nevada Legislature as the Nevada Film Studio Infrastructure Act, and if it’s passed, a lease agreement will be signed.
The studio wouldn’t be Birtcher Development’s first entertainment-related project. The industrial and specialty real estate company has developed, managed or acquired more than 260 projects that includes the Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences headquarters in North Hollywood.
If the anticipated Nevada Film Studio Infrastructure Act passes in 2025, it would join the Summerlin Production Studio complex in development near the Summerlin area.
“This project makes tremendous sense for Southern Nevada for many reasons, including the significant ground lease revenue that will flow to UNLV,” said Don Snyder, a UNLV Research Foundation board member in a statement.
