Monday, June 15, 2015 | 9:45 p.m.
UNLV’s efforts to purchase 42 acres just west of the Thomas & Mack Center have been ongoing since March, but officials will have to decide soon exactly what they want to do with the land.
The deadline to draw up a plan for the property is December, when higher education officials are scheduled to decide whether to move forward with the purchase.
It’s more than big enough to hold a stadium, which is the university’s first choice, but UNLV now has to figure out how it will pay for the space as well as what it would do with it if it can’t build a stadium.
The lot, about a half-mile west of the Thomas & Mack Center, costs $50 million and the university will have to foot the bill, said UNLV finance chief Gerry Bomotti. The money would likely not come from fundraising or state sources, but a 30-year finance plan.
Revenue from two billboards currently on the site are expected to make up for some of the purchase costs, as would leasing out a portion of the expansive space to commercial developers.
But first the university has to come up with a blueprint for the land, which sits on a busy stretch of Tropicana Avenue between McCarran International Airport and the Las Vegas Strip.
Officials believe a stadium on the site could help clean up the area and make it more attractive to visitors coming from the airport.
“I think it’s an exceptional location for a stadium,” Bomotti said. “There’s plenty of space for it here.”
The university told the board of regents last week that they would still seek to buy the land even if they don’t end up using it for a stadium.
“It’s close enough that it can be connected to campus, it’s easier to service for traffic and transportation and a lot of the activities in the venue would be ones that tourists would come for,” said Bomotti. “If you could connect it to campus, you could also develop and maximize the use of existing parking.”
The site is also attractive because it’s not in the airport flightline. The Federal Aviation Administration vetoed the university’s first choice for an on-campus stadium — across the street from the Hard Rock Hotel — as it would have been unsafe for airplanes landing and taking off from McCarran’s two north-south runways.
Right now the university is working out how it could connect the land to the main campus.
The next step is a December meeting of the Board of Regents, where higher education officials could review and approve a proposal for the land.
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