Thursday, April 29, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.
Las Vegas is talking to BankWest of Nevada about placing a new, iconic bank building on the 61-acre downtown plot west of the Plaza that Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman calls the "jewel of the desert."
The proposed building BankWest executives are pitching would be "second to none" in Las Vegas, Goodman said.
Art Marshall, chairman of BankWest of Nevada, said the bank "is looking at the site."
"We have spoken with the city, but it's too soon to say it's a done deal."
Goodman said the proposal is "part of the puzzle," and further evidence that as the valley grows outward and land becomes more expensive, downtown is the place to be.
The 61-acre development, Goodman said, "will be very vertical, very dense, with very little horizontal."
The proposed BankWest building would have to be vertical to fit with everything now proposed for the site, which is next to the County Government Center and the Premium Outlet mall, as well as the World Furniture Mart and Internal Revenue Service buildings, both under construction.
The city is negotiating with the Cleveland Clinic, a world-renowned medical institution, to be the anchor for a complex that also would include a performing arts theater, a University Medical Center facility, a University of Nevada, Reno medical school campus, and an Alzheimer's research center.
Goodman said the Cleveland Clinic is reviewing a feasibility study regarding whether to move to Las Vegas, and executives from the organization are to "get back to me by the end of May."
The mayor said BankWest contacted the city about being part of the growth on the 61 acres.
BankWest ranked fifth in deposits among banks operating in Southern Nevada last year, with $854.6 million in local assets.
Boyd Gaming Corp. Chairman Bill Boyd and President Don Snyder both serve on the board of directors of BankWest's corporate parent, Western Alliance Bancorporation. Boyd and Snyder are longtime supporters of downtown and enthusiastic believers in developing the city-owned 61 acres. Las Vegas Goodman said plans for the 61-acre site are not yet complete.
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