Wednesday, May 21, 2003 | 8:42 a.m.
Jerry and Lois Tarkanian failed to score with the Clark County Commission on Tuesday.
The commission by a 5-2 vote denied their effort to hold onto a bookstore concession at McCarran International Airport. The Tarkanians, well known for Jerry's successes with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas basketball team and Lois' tenure as a Clark County School Board member, tried to renew their lease on what is now the Waterstones bookstore at the airport.
But Borders Books offered a more attractive minimum payment to the county for the lease. Clark County Aviation Department Director Randy Walker told the commission that the difference could amount to nearly $250,000 over the seven-year lease.
The Tarkanians, paired with the national chain Benjamin Booksellers, offered $243,000 or 15 percent of revenue, whichever is greater, for the yearly lease. Borders offered $250,000 a year for first three years and $300,000 a year for the last four, or 15 percent of revenue.
Walker said the revenues from the bookstore are low enough that the airport would probably get the minimum yearly payment. A panel of airport staff and private-sector consultants selected Borders as the best all around, in part because of the additional revenue for the airport and also for the ease people would have in returning products to any of the company's bookstores around the country.
Chris Kaempfer, attorney representing the Tarkanians, urged the commission to reject the Borders bid and in favor of the Tarkanians, who came in third of four companies bidding for the bookstore lease.
He argued that the pair, silent partners with WHSmith Airport Services, which operates the Waterstones bookstore, have had the lease for nearly 18 years and have received high marks for the operation from the airport.
The couple have "given selflessly to the community," Kaempfer said. "Don't take away what they've had for 18 years."
Walker, however, argued that the Tarkanians have not directly operated the store for years since the store sold athletic gear in the 1980s.
Commission Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Commissioner Myrna Williams voted against Borders and for the Tarkanians.
"I think that in a place like Clark County, we have to weigh things differently," Williams said. "We have to give these local people a higher weight than those national companies."
Commissioner Mark James said the difference for customers is between two national chains, and Commissioner Rory Reid urged the board "to think objectively."
The lease for the bookstore expired in October 2002, and the airport has renewed the lease on a month-to-month basis since then. Hilarie Grey, airport spokeswoman, said the lease will continue to be renewed on a monthly basis until Borders is ready to move in, probably early this fall.
archive
