Goodman departs from policy with downtown idea

By Erin Neff

It has been eyed for everything from a domed stadium to the best chance downtown Las Vegas has for housing, cultural activities and tree-lined streets.

But now Mayor Oscar Goodman has a new vision for the triangular expanse adjacent to downtown -- gaming.

In a complete 180-degree turn from his mayoral predecessor, Goodman on Thursday said he'd like to petition the state to extend the gaming overlay district to include the undeveloped parcel of land that once served as Union Pacific Railroad yards.

"I would like to see a hotel-arena built," Goodman said. "This is just myself talking, but I'd like the first three floors to be a casino, and then floors 4 through 8 could be the arena and everything above it could be hotel rooms looking down on the arena."

Confused by that design?

So are those struggling to redevelop downtown.

"That's pretty wild," said Mike Forche, president of the City Centre Development Corp., who is working on a possible land exchange between the city and the property owner. "I'd like to see a rendering of that. It sounds like a giant beer can."

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. owns the 61-acre site nearest the railroad tracks. Another 178-acre parcel stretching toward the County Government Center is owned by Union Pacific.

The city is negotiating with Lehman to buy its property in exchange for other city-owned land and cash. Lehman appraised the site in September 1998 at $48.3 million, and an internal city appraiser has recently conducted another appraisal.

If the city takes ownership of the land, it would have more to offer potential developers of either a sports arena or a performing arts center, Goodman said previously.

But Thursday was the first time gaming publicly entered the dialogue.

"We are very, very, very premature to discuss the site," City Manager Virginia Valentine said after Goodman made his remarks at a televised press conference. "That's a vision, it's a concept, it's an idea he had.

"It's a decision we wouldn't go into lightly," she added.

Former Mayor Jan Laverty Jones viewed the two parcels as the last chance for Las Vegas to create a real downtown. When the acreage was zoned for planned development in early 1999, she said: "You can't have gaming there if you want to create a true downtown like you have in other cities."

Valentine noted Goodman's vision as a "departure from past policy" and said it was possible the mayor was subliminally receiving messages of futuristic buildings from a space-age mural in the city clerk's conference room where he holds his weekly press conferences.

"Jan Jones had a policy that gaming would go there only over her dead body," Valentine said. "I don't think any of the rules from that mayor apply to this mayor."

Jones, now an executive with Harrah's, was in Reno after Goodman's remarks Thursday and was unavailable for comment.

If the city did acquire the land from Lehman Brothers and wanted to amend the gaming overlay, it would require state legislation.

Goodman didn't go as far to suggest that his idea was worthy of one of the city's four bill-draft requests before the state Legislature next year.

But that's what would be required, Valentine said.

Forche said he was surprised Goodman mentioned the gaming overlay, although he has heard the mayor discuss his hotel-arena concept before.

"I know it affects the value of the land," Forche said. "But in reality, I don't think Lehman ever intended to market the property for a casino."

Gaming in downtown Las Vegas is currently limited to Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard. The parcel in question is roughly 500 feet outside the 1,500-foot gaming overlay district.

In 1999 city planners led the push to rezone the entire acreage for planned development in an effort to limit uses on the site.

Cynthia Sell, spokeswoman for the planning department, said Planning Director Tim Chow would not comment on Goodman's idea.

"We would defer that back to the mayor," Sell said.

Despite the change in policy, the idea is also another snub toward the National Basketball Association.

Last year Goodman led a delegation of local officials to New York City to meet NBA Commissioner David Stern. Stern made it clear that Las Vegas would likely never be approved for a pro basketball franchise because of gaming.

Stern said he wasn't limiting his concerns to betting on the team or the NBA, but rather wouldn't allow a team where casinos operate.

"The idea that you could even mix up gaming with sports is something the NBA would cringe at," said Valentine, who also met with Stern during the New York trip last year.

Goodman, never one to guard his statements with political correctness, saw no problems with his proposal.

In fact, he crowed, "I told it to an NBA owner and he said I was a genius."

In the past, Jackie Gaughan, the owner of the Plaza hotel-casino, has expressed a willingness to sell that property. Some suggested the hotel be razed and rebuilt like one of the newer megaresorts on the Strip, possibly as the gateway to downtown's cultural centers and tourist district.

Gaughan could not be reached.

Recreating the Plaza and building an arena nearby could have a similar effect to the one Goodman suggested Thursday. But Goodman laughed when asked if the city is negotiating with Gaughan.

"Jackie will see the light," Goodman said.