Las Vegas Metro Development News

[dragonsky]

Project Neon finally takes to the air in Las Vegas

Project Neon is finally going vertical this week.

The Martin Luther King Boulevard onramp to northbound U.S. Highway 95 will close for the next two months beginning on Tuesday, when a crew of about 60 construction workers will start erecting several retaining walls around the Spaghetti Bowl interchange in downtown Las Vegas.

A series of concrete slabs — measuring up to 10 feet wide and weighing up to 2 ½ tons each — will be slowly connected, piece-by-piece, to build walls that will secure soil on unstable and steep slopes surrounding Nevada’s busiest freeway interchange.

“We’re excited to start building the project and give everyone something visual to see,” said Jay Proskovec, a spokesman for Kiewit Infrastructure West Co., the contractor hired last fall by the Nevada Department of Transportation to complete Project Neon.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion...-air-las-vegas

[dragonsky]

Nevada Legislature mulls special session on NFL stadium

For the most part, Republican legislators said they hope a special session is called as soon as recommendations for a deal are given by the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, though they noted that a September or October session could burden incumbents seeking re-election. Significant fundraising dollars will likely roll in over the next several weeks as candidates begin proving their mettle in polls against their opponents.

“If we can iron out the details and it makes sense, obviously we’d like to see it happen. But also, anytime you rush something you miss stuff,” said Republican Sen. Patricia Farley, who isn’t up for re-election. “Unfortunately, the business world, they don’t wait around for election cycles. I can certainly see why some people would want to wait.”

Republican Assembly Majority Leader Paul Anderson said that until the details of the deal are ironed out, it’s difficult to talk about dates.

“As soon as we’re at that point, we’ll commit and get it done quickly,” Anderson said. “But until that point — leaving the election cycle out of the picture — it doesn’t even make sense to talk about dates because we’re simply not there.”

Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval isn’t ready to call a session yet, either.

“The Governor has said he will not make any decisions regarding a special session until the committee has delivered its final recommendations,” spokeswoman Mari St. Martin said in a statement.

The tourism committee was originally scheduled to meet next week, but an additional meeting has been called for Thursday to continue chewing on the stadium proposal.

http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/sep...paign=mostRead

[dragonsky]

Lucky Dragon hotel-casino near Las Vegas Strip opening Dec. 3

The Lucky Dragon, the 200-room Asian-themed property just off the Strip on Sahara Avenue, will open Dec. 3, company officials announced Tuesday.

The property, which will have a 27,500-square-foot casino with 37 table games and 300 slot machines, will begin taking reservations for rooms on the company’s website on Oct. 1.

Officials said the property will commemorate the opening with a series of Asian celebrations including a firecracker show, a typical occurrence in many Asian holidays and celebrations, to drive away evil spirits; a lion and dragon dance, bringing good luck and good fortune; and the world’s largest traditional Kung Fu tea service will run throughout the hotel and casino.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/busines...-opening-dec-3
http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/sep...n-in-december/

[dragonsky]

Las Vegas stadium proposal will face its biggest hurdle in Nevada Legislature

“I get the sense from the committee, there is a desire to send it forward, probably next week,” committee member and Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said. “We have to move on it.”

When they do, the real challenge for the Raiders and their partners begins.

“If we can’t close on it there, we don’t deserve it. We’re ready to go to them and make the case. I think we’re all ready to move on to the (next step). We’re ready to go to the Legislature and decide whether we can do this or not.”

“Sure, it’s a difficult timeline, but if they waited until after the election to call the special session, you would have new candidates walking into this thing with little idea about it and in need of being educated on it,” Sisolak said. “Then, you’re into the holiday season and you probably wouldn’t make the NFL deadline for a (relocation vote) and it would be done for another year. That’s a concern.”

This isn’t San Diego, where a public vote in November will need a two-thirds majority to pass a $1.15 billion subsidy for a new stadium to house the Chargers, which has as good a chance of occurring as La Jolla being hit with a blizzard in June.

But once the tourism committee makes its recommendation — which should occur at its Sept. 15 meeting — landing the approval of 42 lawmakers is going to be the toughest challenge yet for stadium folks.

“I don’t know where this ends up,” Sands President Rob Goldstein said. “I hope it ends up positively, but I just don’t know at this point. It would be sad if it doesn’t come to be, but I don’t know. It’s exhausting. It’s time-consuming. I hope we’re making progress. Whether it succeeds or not, I’m not the one to determine that.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion...-hurdle-nevada

[dragonsky]

KTNV EXCLUSIVE: Adelson, Davis attend private meeting in Vegas to try to hammer out stadium deal

Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis and Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson met for three hours Wednesday in Las Vegas with more than a dozen people to discuss a deal on the proposed stadium, KTNV has learned.

The sit-down at the Clark County building was called by Commissioner Steve Sisolak, a member of the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, on the eve of the panel’s meeting to discuss a new draft of a bill to be sent to state lawmakers. Other gaming executives attended the meeting as did fiscal advisers to the SNTIC to help draft a compromise.

The end result, sources said: Adelson & Co. agreed to remove a proposed 15 percent rate of return, which Sisolak had said would not fly, but would not budge on demanding $750 million in public money through room taxes. Any notion of a public-private profit-sharing component seemed unlikely to be included.

Adelson agreed to cover any cost overruns but his folks argued their profit on operating a stadium would be negligible, so the $750 million in room taxes was essential. Jeremy Aguero, the financial maven working for the committee, was expected to draft a new bill to be presented Thursday.

http://www.ktnv.com/news/ralston/ade...t-stadium-deal

[dragonsky]

FOLEY SAYS LAS VEGAS’ NAME INCLUDES KNIGHTS, BUT OFFICIAL REVEAL WILL WAIT

In an interview with Sportsbook Radio’s Brian Blessing, and first picked up by The SinBin, Foley confirmed the franchise has picked its name after speaking with NHL jersey outfitters Adidas. As many suspected, the name will include Knights — not Hawks, as was once speculated — but the official unveiling of the name, jersey and logo will likely wait until October.

“We have our colors picked, we have our basic logo picked, but it’s going to need some refinement,” Foley told Blessing. “We have moved some color schemes around, and the team will be something Knights. K-n-i-g-h-t-s. We have the name. The name is trademarked, we have the domain name. That’s all I can say right now.”

With that decided, the expectation is the team will take on one of the previously trademarked Knights names, which includes Silver Knights, Golden Knights and Desert Knights. Foley did admit, though, that he still wishes he could have landed the Black Knights name. However, he said the choice the franchise has made is “99 percent as good” as Black Knights, and that the name is one the team could “rally around.”
Foley gave Blessing an idea of what the jerseys would like, too, though it doesn’t make it any clearer which of the Knights names Foley and Co. have chosen for the expansion team.

“It almost looks like a steel mesh with another color underneath the steel mesh that brings out that Knight look,” Foley told Blessing. “These are going to be great looking uniforms and great looking jerseys.”
Steel mesh makes one think Silver Knights might be the frontrunner, but Foley added that the jersey also features colors that play on the environment, such as “red rocks,” and that makes it hard to overlook Desert Knights.

“We’re going to be Vegas-oriented,” Foley told Blessing. “But it won’t be a gambling name.”

http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/ar...veal-will-wait

[dragonsky]

Exclusive: Inside Sheldon Adelson’s plan to build an NFL stadium in Las Vegas

Yahoo Finance: When did you first decide you wanted to be involved with financing this stadium?

Sheldon Adelson: My company got involved through my government relations guy, Andy Abboud. He heard about this idea and talked to the people at Oakland. That’s all. So I’m not the expert on this. But that’s alright, I’ve done dozens of businesses in my life and knew nothing about each one before I started.

A stadium project is publicly scrutinized, often criticized, and costly. Why do this?

Stadiums make very little money. And sports teams don’t make a lot of money either. Stadiums are barely profitable. Now, some owners who own teams also own part or all of the stadiums. [New England Patriots owner] Robert Kraft and [Dallas Cowboys owner] Jerry Jones are the only ones I know of that seem to have made a lot of money. But it’s not a business I would get up and start doing around the country.

But sports teams do grow in value. Teams keep selling for higher and higher prices.

Right. It’s the ‘greater fool’ theory—one day you’re going to run out of fools.

So, again, why do it? Are you a big football fan?

No, I’m a minor football fan. My 17-year-old son is a fanatic about sports, particularly basketball and football. But I’m not. I know Bobby Kraft and I got interested in football. But I’m not like a real football fan. This is not something that I have to do. I’m doing it because we see there could be some advantages to the whole community—not necessarily on the NFL side, because it’s very difficult for us to make any money from the stadium just with the NFL team. The only opportunity for us to make money is from activities other than football.

We could package our rooms with prime seats in the stadium for concerts, for mixed martial arts, for boxing, for college football, for major league soccer. The last fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao could have filled a football stadium, it was in extremely high demand. And we think we could bring in Premier League soccer teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, they could come in and do their friendlies. And that would bring crowds. It’s a tourist attraction like conventions are a tourist attraction. [Note: Adelson made his money initially in conventions; he created the computer trade show Comdex.]

And all the other hotels could do that too. They could buy tickets to the events and offer to their guests. I’m not monopolizing the tickets.

So it’s not just about getting an NFL team?

The part of the year that is slow, profit-wise, in Las Vegas, is the summer, and November to December. We have an opportunity to improve that [with the stadium]. We can fill our rooms during the slowest time of the year. Mid-November to December is the slowest part of the year, that’s why it was easy for me to run Comdex the week before Thanksgiving. In college football, that’s the busy season. So we could have a concert on a Friday night, a college game on Saturday, and an NFL game on Sunday. And nobody’s coming in for one day. So each one of those will fill up all the hotels, not just mine.

So I’m doing it as a community effort. I don’t need it. I could live without it. It doesn’t move the needle for our company or any of the four [big local casino] properties to do it, Wynn, Sands, Caesars, and MGM.

How did you get [Raiders owner] Mark Davis on board?

I’ve talked with him several times, I’ve had lunch with him. But listen, this is not something that Sheldon Adelson is selling to somebody else. It takes two to tango. [The Raiders did not respond to requests for comment; KTNV reports that Davis and Adelson met again in Las Vegas on Wednesday to go over the latest draft of the stadium proposal.]

If [Mark Davis, pictured above] wants to come to Vegas, he’s gotta get a team, he’s gotta get a stadium. He can’t build a stadium himself, otherwise he would have built it in Oakland. He needs somebody to build it and he needs somebody with a deep pocket that can guarantee it and somebody with some political influence that can arrange to get the money from the room tax. I’m one of the four big operators in town, so it’s not difficult for me. I’ve done a lot of building and I can guarantee the construction. And if the local government knows I’m behind it, they can feel comfortable because I’ve changed the town, in regards to conventions.

So it’s about past success, when you make the case to others.

But I’m not going to sell Davis; either he wants it or he doesn’t want it. The matter is very simple. I could live with any deal, I could live without any deal. A guy in my position doesn’t need anything. I’ve got everything I need, I can do anything I want. I don’t need this. If I’m going to have to go out and beg Mark Davis or somebody else to do it, I’m out. If they want to find somebody who is desperate as a football fan and wants to be a part of a football club, then they picked the wrong guy. That’s not me.

Look, I’ve built 70 million square feet. I’m one of the largest developers in the world, or at least in the United States. So I’ve done a lot of building. To build a million and a half square feet is like a rounding error for me. So it’s not a problem for me to build that much. No problem. The only other guy that has built big properties is Steve Wynn. MGM has only built CityCenter and that was a massive failure. It’s been seven years in existence and they’re just starting to get a little bit of return. Low single digits. That’s the only property they developed. Then they built some convention space in Mandalay Bay. Harrah’s has never built anything. They’ve just acquired and bought other properties. So, who’s going to build it, other than me? Wynn could build it. Others haven’t built anything.

Steve Wynn is a sort of rival of yours; have you spoken to Wynn about this, has he expressed interest in being involved?

We’re not exactly rivals in this. He has spoken to my people, he would like to be involved. But this is a personal thing and not a company thing. [A spokesperson for Wynn Las Vegas tells Yahoo Finance, “We are certainly supportive of the stadium concept; it would be a tremendous addition to Las Vegas”.]

The stadium is for the community. It’s a community effort to benefit the community. It’s going to have very little benefit for Sheldon Adelson.

But you did say it will help you rent more rooms in the off-season. That benefits you.

Every hotel will benefit. That’s why it’s a community effort.

It appears your challenge now is to get $750 million in county funding – how difficult will that be?

It hasn’t been so difficult. It’s not a one-time grant, it’s $50 million a year for 15 years that will guarantee a $750 million mortgage. [Other reports have suggested it will be less than $50 million per year, over a period closer to 30 years.] And remember, that money doesn’t go to me, it goes to a stadium authority.

The county will collect the room tax that we as hotel operators collect for them. And then they allocate the room tax. We’re only talking about $750 million. [Clark County] collects more than $300 million a year in room taxes. [In 2015 it was actually up to $606 million, according to the SNTIC.] So they’re not taking it out of taxpayers’ pockets. The local residents understand that the tourists will pay for it and they [locals] won’t even notice it.

And is that really the case? The tourists are essentially paying for it?

Yes. In other cities, the local taxpayers pay for it, because they don’t have a tourist base. But all of our hotels, for the most part, are occupied by tourists, who pay a room tax. So the local residents here won’t feel any imposition of taxes. Let’s say the room tax is 12%, maybe the tax goes up to 12.75%. But I know that it will be less than a 1% increase in room tax.

Would you consider raising your own commitment if the public funding does not come through for $750 million?

No, because the cost is too high and we won’t be able to do it without that amount. It would increase the required size of the equity investment to the point where it would be unfeasible.

The general expectation is that if this works out, and the Raiders move, you will get an ownership stake in the team. Is that likely?

I am taking the risk to guarantee the completion of the stadium. I think it’s going to significantly help the value of the team, so I’d like to get some interest in it. But if I took an option on the team, the interest size of the option would have to be approved by the NFL.

UNLV also wants the new stadium. Will you help finance a new stadium even if the Raiders don’t move to Las Vegas?

If I don’t get a professional football team I’m not going to do it. It’s going to lose money otherwise. That’s why municipalities and government have to put up the money. If you want that kind of economic development for your city, the city government has to help to finance it.

Since the NFL owners will vote on whether the Raiders can move, have you tried to talk to owners and win them over? Might they object to you being an owner because you are in the gaming industry? [The NFL declined to comment for this story; there is no explicit prohibition under NFL rules on a team moving to any particular city, but three fourths of the owners will need to approve it.]

I’ve met with Jerry Jones and I’ve talked to Bobby [Kraft]. Bob is the chairman of the committee for relocation in the NFL. He’s in favor of it. It’s an old wives’ tale that they [the NFL] say gambling is no good. I’ve read that 28 of the 32 teams have interest in fantasy sports. Well, that’s gambling. So 28 teams are involved in gambling. [28 of the 32 NFL teams have marketing deals with either DraftKings or FanDuel. For more of Adelson’s views on daily fantasy sports, see this separate interview.]

It’s an ‘old wives’ tale’ that a gambling executive can’t be an NFL owner?

No, it’s an old wives’ tale that they won’t base a football game in a city or state that has gambling, that’s the old wives’ tale. But look, the Rooney family [Pittsburgh Steelers] owns a casino in Yonkers. [Tim Rooney, son of Steelers founding owner Art Rooney, owns Empire City Casino in New York, but sold his shares in the Steelers in 2009.]

What kind of NFL owner would you be? Would you be like Steve Ballmer, going to the games, getting involved?

No, no. Listen, I bought the local newspaper. I haven’t been to the building once. I’ve owned it 10 months now and I’ve only met one editor. I haven’t interfered with the newspaper. [Many critics disagree; more on that further down.] It’s an investment. This is like that.

Would I be a football nut if I took a piece? Maybe, but unlikely. Would I go to every game? No. If I’m an owner, I’m not going to be a fanatic. But my children would be.

Many say an NFL team in Las Vegas wouldn’t have a devoted fan base. Are they wrong?

It’s very difficult to say. I think that any professional sports team that comes to Vegas will find a willing audience. The people that come to town come with their fandom. They are fans of the teams from the cities from which they come. Would they be a fan of a local team? I’ve thought about that, and I think they could be.

They may not be as enthusiastic or want to spend the same money they would on the team they’ve supported for decades, but they certainly would go to the stadium when their former hometown team comes in.

Why else would Vegas be a good place for an NFL team?

Well, there’s 2.1 million people in the Vegas valley.

It is basically a transient town, many people come here in between jobs and leave, but a lot of people do stay. I’ve been here 25 years. My home is no longer Boston. I’ve said in the past that the citizenry was too transient and they come here with loyalty to another team, but hey, they could have two loyalties.

Do you think any potential political contributions you make during this election cycle could have an impact on the stadium project? [Adelson is a major Republican political donor and gave $20 million to Newt Gingrich four years ago.]

I’ve never had such a thought. It’s not an issue. Getting this approved has nothing to do with having given money to politicians. Either it’s a good deal for the community or it’s not.

There was a report that reporters at the Las Vegas Review Journal received a memo asking them to ask local lawmakers how they would vote about the stadium; the suggestion is that you asked the editors to do this as a way for you to gauge which way votes might go. Do you have a comment on this?

The newspaper has nothing to do with the stadium. If the editor thinks it’s worthwhile, let him do stories on it, but I don’t control the editorial and I didn’t give any order about this. [Glenn Cook, managing editor of the Review-Journal, told Deadspin, “We completely deny any allegation that our reporters are collecting information for our owner.”]

Everybody thinks I’m using the newspaper to push my own personal affairs. You know, our family owns a newspaper in Israel [Israel Hayom], and everybody thinks I’m using it to push Bibi Netanyahu. We don’t push Netanyahu. Listen, the paper has been around for 75 years. We’ve got a 350,000 print run every weekday, and 550,000 on the weekends. Do you think we can fool 550,000 people to read a newspaper if they believe the newspaper supports Bibi? This is a narrative from our competitor who wants to discredit the newspaper. The Review-Journal is independent.

How will you feel if, for whatever reason, the stadium doesn’t happen?

I don’t get that passionate about items. Like I said before, I could live with it or without it. I’m not that passionate. Do you think guys like Buffett or Gates are passionate about something like this? They can buy a football team or basketball team with the stroke of a pen, and so can I. So there’s no reason to be passionate about this.

It would be a financial interest for me, that’s all, like buying the newspaper or completion of airplanes. It would be a business hobby.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclu...151026939.html

[dragonsky]

Are Las Vegas roads ready for game day?

As public officials scrutinized plans to build an NFL stadium in Las Vegas during a recent meeting, a question about the football fan experience emerged: Could the stadium sites accommodate tailgating?

“Both provide enough (space) for tailgating,” Oakland Raiders President Marc Badain told the Southern Nevada Transportation Infrastructure Committee on Aug. 25. “You don’t need 15,000 spots for tailgating.”

The developers think the Russell Road and Bali Hai sites would yield the coveted convenience factor, given their proximity to highways and the Strip, as well as adequate parking options. The stadium would feature between 7,050 and 15,500 parking spaces, depending on the site chosen, Abboud said, adding that the Las Vegas Monorail’s planned extension to Mandalay Bay could help shuttle guests closer to the stadium. Even so, a key concern is how badly the extra vehicle volume would snarl local roadways before or after stadium events.

The developers’ traffic-impact study should give a clearer picture based on the venue’s layout and how they anticipate guests will access it, said Denis Cederburg, Clark County’s director of public works. “It’s a lot of wait-and-see.”

http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/sep...-for-game-day/

[dragonsky]

Gov. Sandoval calls for clarity on proposed stadium’s road infrastructure costs

Gov. Brian Sandoval on Monday called for clarity in determining traffic congestion and the cost of road improvements for a proposed 65,000-seat domed football stadium.

The governor’s request comes just before a Thursday meeting of the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, which is expected to recommend a stadium site to Sandoval.

Sandoval also said he wants to know whether it makes sense to accelerate road improvements that are already in the planning pipeline.

“Obviously this isn’t a done deal, and it’s evolving,” Sandoval said Monday during a meeting of the Nevada Department of Transportation’s board of directors.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/busines...tructure-costs

[dragonsky]

UNLV announces Fertitta family will donate $10M toward football facility

From the day Tony Sanchez was hired as UNLV coach, he’s said that building an on-campus football facility was essential to moving the program forward and having success.

Sanchez’s vision for that facility will soon be realized with the announcement Tuesday afternoon that the Fertitta family has pledged $10 million — the largest single gift in UNLV athletics history — toward the construction of a 73,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art training facility that will be known as the Fertitta Football Complex.

“I knew when I took this opportunity that this was a diamond in the rough, that this could be an incredible job in an amazing community, and it could help change the face of the university and this gift allows us to move towards that,” said Sanchez, who was hired by UNLV in December 2014 after building Bishop Gorman into a national prep football power.

The two-level complex will be built in the north end of the team’s practice area at Rebel Park, which is located between the UNLV baseball park, Wilson Stadium, and the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/...tball-facility
http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/sep...-for-football/

[dragonsky]

• Video Link
Construction crews have completed installation of the massive, 100-foot high and 50-foot wide SPEEDVEGAS sign
https://speedvegas.com/en/world-of-s...ive-friday/265

[dragonsky]

Construction ready to begin on Las Vegas NHL team practice facility

The lease is signed. The financing is in order. The permits have been issued. The heavy equipment is moving into place.

For Las Vegas’ NHL expansion team, it’s time to move some dirt, pour some concrete and build its headquarters and practice facility.

Owner Bill Foley plans to have a ceremonial groundbreaking in the next couple of weeks. By then, work will have already begun on the $24 million, 105,000-square-foot project on Pavilion Center Drive across from Downtown Summerlin on land being leased to the team by the Howard Hughes Corporation. The target date for completion of the facility, which will have two ice sheets, locker facilities, team offices and a restaurant, is late August, just in time for the team’s inaugural training camp in mid-September.

When asked if he believes the building will be ready on time, Foley said: “Absolutely. We have every confidence that it will get done for training camp.”

Gillett Construction of Las Vegas will build the two-story facility.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/...ctice-facility

[dragonsky]

Raiders stadium talk drives team value higher as NFL numbers soar

The three teams involved in this year's NFL soap opera around potential moves to Los Angeles saw huge jumps in their valuations, according to figures assembled by Forbes magazine. The Rams, which moved from St. Louis to Los Angeles this season, saw their franchise value double. The value of the Oakland Raiders climbed 47 percent to $2.1 billion — the highest in team history.

The Chargers, seeking voter approval for help in building a new stadium that will keep the team in San Diego, saw franchise value increase 36 percent.

Driving the valuations are media rights, sponsorships and stadium naming rights deals and real estate development controlled by teams, Brand said. "If the components go up together, that's why the values increase," he said.

Another factor driving up sports team valuations, he said, is the limited availability of teams: There are only 32 NFL franchises and 30 teams each in Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.

"You can buy plenty of widget companies and there are plenty of car dealerships," Brand said. "But there's cachet in team ownership."

And if Raiders Managing Partner Mark Davis and minority owners — and hedge fund veterans — Paul Leff, Dan Goldring and David Abrams continue to push toward a stadium deal in Las Vegas, Los Angeles or Oakland, their shares in the franchise only increase in value.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...aluations.html

[dragonsky]

New McCarran air traffic control tower finally ready to open Sunday

Nearly a year behind schedule, the new air traffic control tower at McCarran International Airport will finally open Sunday.

Construction of the $99 million facility began in May 2011, but was stalled by a pair a government shutdowns, followed by the discovery of a massive construction error that kept it from opening on time.

Forty air traffic controllers will start monitoring planes passing through the nation’s eighth-busiest airport atop the 352-foot-tall tower. The facility includes a two-level parking garage, a guard station and a 52,800-square-foot, four-story office building at the tower’s base for Terminal Radar Approach Control, where another 49 controllers will work.

The tower is coming online as McCarran International reports a surge in passenger traffic not seen since 2007. The airport served 530,330 flights last year, nearly quadruple the 140,000 flights recorded when the current tower opened in 1983, McCarran and FAA officials said

http://www.reviewjournal.com/busines...dy-open-sunday

[dragonsky]

Las Vegas committee sends Raiders stadium plan to governor

The developers of a proposed $1.9 billion domed stadium on Thursday got their preferred funding option that requires a $750 million public investment, eliminated a 39 percent public contribution cap and allows them to reap all stadium profits during the lifetime of the lease.

However, where to build that 65,000-seat stadium remains undecided.

The Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee unanimously agreed to the deal, which requires the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson, Majestic Realty and the NFL’s Oakland Raiders to pay the remainder of the construction costs for the 65,000-seat stadium, along with any cost overruns.

Adelson has pledged to contribute at least $650 million, while the Raiders would pay $500 million.

“We could not have asked, in my opinion, for a better team in bringing this project forward, explaining it and making sure that the public was well represented,” Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said. “We vetted every single word in this proposal. I think everybody is a winner today.”

The panel’s recommendation is now headed to Carson City, where Gov. Brian Sandoval will decide whether to call a special session of the state Legislature to consider the financing plan. If a room tax increase is approved by the Nevada Legislature, the Raiders have promised to pursue relocation to Las Vegas.

In a statement released shortly after the meeting, Sandoval said that he will start reviewing the committee’s recommendations, but will not “move forward until all questions have been resolved.”

“Nevada has served as the standard bearer for global tourism, gaming, and conventions for decades,” Sandoval said. “In order to remain the top destination, we must explore potential opportunities and push forward to lead this international industry into the next generation of travel and tourism. I am hopeful the work completed by this committee will serve as a roadmap to Southern Nevada’s unrivaled and continued success.”

http://www.reviewjournal.com/busines...-plan-governor

[dragonsky]

Sea Quest Aquarium set for fall opening at Boulevard Mall

Las Vegas residents and tourists will have a chance to visit the Boulevard Mall’s aquatic tenants when the SeaQuest Aquarium opens in late November.

Visitors to the 31,000-square-foot attraction will be able to hand-feed tropical animals, snorkel with stingrays, and “take selfies with pythons,” owner Shane Shimada said.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/busines...boulevard-mall

[dragonsky]

Updating the New Palace Station Tower, Restaurants, Cinema and More

Introduced to the Las Vegas City Council as a "a significant upgrade," the multi-phase, Summerlin-infused remodel of the 32-year-old Palace Station is ready to begin as soon as October.

Adding restaurants, a 27-story hotel tower, a boutique movie theater, bowling alley, new pool and resort-wide improvements, the current railroad theme will vanish and a "more contemporary" design will rival Station Casinos’ own Red Rock Resort and Strip properties a short drive away.

http://vegas.eater.com/2016/9/9/1285...inema-and-more

[dragonsky]

• Video Link

• Video Link

Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis says ‘everybody wins’ in Las Vegas stadium vote

It’s just the beginning, Mark Davis cautioned, but the Oakland Raiders owner on Thursday expressed more optimism about someday seeing the finish line.

Davis spent Thursday in the Bay Area, where he monitored results from the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee meeting at UNLV. The 11-member panel voted unanimously to recommend a financing proposal for a $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat stadium that would serve as the new home for the NFL franchise.

“I think everybody wins in this,” Davis said in a phone interview. “We’re just really excited.

“A lot of thanks to everybody on the SNTIC because they put in a lot of hard work. It was a lot of hard work by a lot of people, and that’s how things get done. But we still know there’s a lot of work ahead of us.”

“We’re going to make Las Vegas and Nevada proud,” Davis said.

Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak, the most vocal member of the SNTIC throughout the process, was ecstatic about the unanimous vote for the stadium plan.

“I think it moves Las Vegas to a whole new level,” Sisolak said. “Now that we’ve got an NFL team hopefully coming to Las Vegas says a lot. You don’t get this chance very often. It’s putting us on the map with other major cities. People from around the world will be coming here to watch professional football. It’s an exciting time for Las Vegas.

“I was confident the vote would pass, but I wasn’t sure it would be unanimous. The fact that it’s unanimous, it means an awful lot.”

“I think we’ve all dreamed of this day, and it is about to come to fruition,” said Andy Abboud, vice president of government relations and community development for Las Vegas Sands. “We take each step as it comes. There’s a three-step process. This was a big step. The NFL is the final step. We feel confident that we’ll have the support of the NFL.

“We’re going to have a Super Bowl in Las Vegas if we get this done. Who would have thought that was going to happen?”

In comments to the Los Angeles Times in August, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he does not expect widespread league opposition to Las Vegas. Votes of approval for relocation are required from 24 of 32 owners.

“You’ll have certain individual owners with thoughts, but you won’t see people clumping together to try to stop it — not with Las Vegas in the Raiders’ case,” Jones said. “You’re not going to have factions and things like that. Not here.”

The proposed stadium would be the home of the Raiders and UNLV, prompting Abboud to make an optimistic prediction about its impact on the Rebels.

“We know this is going to change the future of UNLV football,” Abboud said, “that we’re going to see them as a perennial Top 25 team.”

http://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/...s-stadium-vote

[dragonsky]

MGM’s buy-in was key to Las Vegas stadium project gaining recommendation

The Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee on Thursday unanimously agreed to recommend financing for a proposed $1.9 billion domed stadium, and perhaps the most surprising moment of the proceedings was which member motioned to approve a public investment of $750 million.

It was Bill Hornbuckle, president of MGM Resorts International. From the project’s inception, MGM had reservations about a deal being led by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson, Majestic Realty and the NFL’s Oakland Raiders.

Those at MGM Resorts never hid their position: While they weren’t totally against using public funds toward the 65,000-seat stadium, they believed plans to expand and renovate the Las Vegas Convention Center took precedent. There was also that underlying issue about MGM Resorts’ privately funded T-Mobile Arena having to compete for events against a stadium that will be publicly funded at such a significant level.

But when the committee voted unanimously in July to recommend the $1.4 billion convention center project, it allowed MGM Resorts to glance directly at the stadium proposal. When it did, the largest employer in the state with the most hotel rooms on the Strip — the company that will delivery most of the room tax revenue allocated for the project — saw it as a unique opportunity.

“It meant a lot to us that MGM understood,” said Andy Abboud, senior vice president of government relations and community development for Las Vegas Sands. “They have been very cautious about this entire project, but they understood it. I think they understand the kind of impact it can have on their company, as well as everyone along the Strip. It meant a lot to us that Mr. Hornbuckle made the motion, absolutely.”

http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion...recommendation

[dragonsky]

The potential Raiders' stadium in Las Vegas will start MLS expansion talk
MLS in Las Vegas? It's going to be tossed around.

MLS hasn't even finished expanding to 24 teams, but it already has committed to going to 28 teams. Naturally, there's a lot of talk about which cities will get those teams, with Sacramento looking like a lock, St. Louis a favorite and a handful of others jockeying for whatever is left. We might have to throw another city into that mix too -- Las Vegas.

Las Vegas has been tossed around in MLS expansion talk for a while, but never especially seriously. It was always a fun idea -- away trips to Sin City will get fans excited -- but who would be the owner? And who was pushing it through? And most importantly, there wasn't any significant movement toward a stadium.

Now there is, at least on the stadium front. The Oakland Raiders are potentially relocating and Las Vegas has emerged as their primary target. The Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee recently recommended an increase in the hotel tax to raise $700 million for the domed stadium to house the Raiders and there is momentum to getting a deal done.

Whenever an NFL stadium is proposed, the backers try to find more ways to build community support. Bringing a second franchise to the building helps, and MLS teams have often been used to justify spending public money on a stadium. After all, it's easier to sell an NFL and MLS stadium instead of simply an NFL stadium.

http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/stor...on-talk-091616