Dueling Sports Stadium Plans Proposed in Las Vegas

Las Vegas lacks a professional sports franchise, but that is not stopping a pair of developers from proposing two competing plans to build stadiums. Developer Chris Milam, for example, wants to build a $1.57-billion three-arena sports complex, designed by Kansas City, Mo.-based ThreeSixty Architecture, on 70 downtown acres.

The project calls for a 17,500-seat basketball/hockey arena, plus a 9,000-seat ballpark and 50,000-seat football stadium, both partially covered with tensile roof structures. Romani Group Inc., Greenwood Village, Colo., is program manager, with Turner Construction Co., New York, as general contractor. The Las Vegas National Sports Center would be located on city owned land within the Symphony Park master-plan, northeast of the World Market Center near the Interstate 15/ U.S. 95 interchange. However, the city of Las Vegas already has an exclusive negotiating agreement with Baltimore-based developer Cordish Cos. for a stadium.

The project, which is being floated by Milam’s International Development Management, could break ground as soon as October and be open by late-2013. It has quietly lined-up financing during the last two years and would require no tax money, project officials claim. Yet, the project’s business plan is based on securing professional sports tenants and successfully selling high-end luxury seats. The baseball and football stadiums could be expanded to 36,000 and 75,000 seats, respectively, to host professional sports teams if needed.

Milam has had a rocky time in Las Vegas. He floated a $750-million, 20,000-seat arena scheme last summer, but abruptly withdrew it when 

neighbors complained about traffic overflow. Milam also proposed building a $5-billion, 1,064-ft residential tower, on 27 acres, at 2600 Las Vegas Boulevard South in 2007. The high-rise called Crown Las Vegas drew fierce opposition and was scuttled a year later.

Meanwhile, L.A. billionaire Ed Roski wants to build a new domed football stadium on the University of Nevada-Las Vegas main campus at 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. On February 11, the Nevada University Board of Regents approved exclusive negotiating agreement with Roski who is owner of Majestic Realty Co., which has built 6.7-million-sq-ft of commercial projects in Southern Nevada since 1989.

The 40,000-seat steel-and-glass stadium, which would serve as home to the UNLV Rebels football team, is the centerpiece of a 150-acre mixed-use master-planned village with 3,000 housing units and 600,000-sq-ft of retail space. The scheme entails refurbishing the 28-year-old, 18,776-seat Thomas & Mack Center, as well as acquiring a parcel at the northeast corner of Paradise Road and Tropicana Boulevard, closing Swenson Street and creating parking for 15,000 vehicles.

Roski potentially intends create an enterprise district that would direct incremental tax increases toward project-related bond financing. Debt would be retired through a combination of fees and advertising, sponsorships and sales, as well as operating income. Creation of an enterprise district would first need legislative approval.