Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Las Vegas is moving quickly to establish a nonprofit corporation that would do the legwork on downtown redevelopment deals, then forward the agreements to the City Council for approval.
Council members Wednesday told a city consultant they wanted to get the nonprofit operating quickly, hoping to reproduce the successes that similar entities have had in San Diego, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
"I want it done yesterday," said Councilman Matthew Callister.
The board, made up of business leaders and an executive director familiar with real-estate matters, would bring private-sector expertise to bear on redevelopment issues. Best of all, council members said, the business leaders would serve on the panel for free.
"That's one of the things I've heard for the past 1 1/2 to two years I've been involved in redevelopment, is the need for greater expertise," Callister said. "I don't know of a faster, cheaper way to get that."
"We're going to have somebody, to me, who's going to be working on their money," added Councilman Gary Reese, who shares representation of the downtown area with Councilman Michael McDonald. "We've got somebody who's going to work for us for free."
Reese said forming the nonprofit is not a statement that the city's current redevelopment staff couldn't do its work; instead, he said the city is just tapping outside expertise.
Callister and Reese have studied the nonprofit redevelopment corporation operating in San Diego, and the council hired Gerald Trimble as a consultant for $30,500 on Nov. 6. Trimble, now of Keyser Marston Associates Inc., headed San Diego's first redevelopment corporation.
Trimble said the corporation would plan development, package deals, negotiate projects and generally "broker" redevelopment in the downtown area. Although the city's redevelopment area extends beyond downtown, the corporation will focus exclusively on downtown land.
The council, which will appoint the board for the nonprofit, will still have final approval of all projects, and the board's meetings will be public, Trimble said.
"I think it's an incredible idea," said Councilman Arnie Adamsen. "What we're going to do is get in front of this market-driven process ... and have the best minds available giving advice to the City Council."
Trimble said business leaders he'd talked to said they also liked the idea, and several indicated they would serve on the nonprofit's board.
"It appears there's a willingness on the part of the business community to pursue this," Trimble said.
However, Trimble added, if the city decides to form the nonprofit, it should let board members work the projects. "The mayor and the City Council have to step back and allow the corporation to operate," he said.
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