Friday, Dec. 29, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.
Frustrated over the failure to attract a grocery store to West Las Vegas, city leaders have started to get tough with a developer and would like to use the same tactics with grocers.
Las Vegas entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement in December 2005 with developer DLC UrbanCore to attract a full-service grocery store to Enterprise Park at Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards.
The area has been without a grocer since a Vons on Owens Avenue closed in August 2004.
Several times in the past year a deal appeared imminent at the 10-acre site, but was never finalized.
Last week, city officials at a Las Vegas City Council meeting questioned not only the developer's commitment to the project but its ability to negotiate successfully with major grocery store chains.
Lamont Blackstone of DLC UrbanCore countered that the city is prepared to dump the developer just when a deal appears imminent. He indicated the company is close to closing a deal with Kroger Co. to open a Food4Less store at Enterprise Park.
He used the analogy of someone struggling to open a pickle jar. When it was loosened, someone else came along, opened the jar and took all of the credit.
He suggested the city wants to open the jar and leave his company in a pickle.
Blackstone came to the council seeking a 90-day extension of the agreement so he could finish what he started, but left with only a partial extension and a full dose of criticism.
"I'm not here to play with (DLC UrbanCore officials) anymore," Councilman Lawrence Weekly said. "Either they can do it or they can't."
Weekly, whose ward includes West Las Vegas, has shouldered the brunt of criticism for the city's failure to attract a grocer.
Scott Adams, director of business development, suggested the city may have better luck negotiating its own deal.
"My concern is that (some grocery store chains) might want to work through another preferred developer," Adams said. "I would hate to close that off because we have a good faith obligation to (DLC UrbanCore)."
In a later interview, Blackstone bristled at the suggestion that the deal has stalled because grocers did not want to negotiate with his company.
He pointed out that DLC UrbanCore built its reputation on attracting grocers to urban markets and has already closed nine deals with stores that operate under Kroger's banner.
Several factors have hindered attracting a grocer to Enterprise Park, according to Blackstone, including the opening of a Wal-Mart Supercenter at Rancho Drive and Lake Mead Boulevard, which he said discouraged some potential tenants.
Weekly said the company's success in other markets suggests it should have closed the deal here by now.
"I think you all have not stepped up your game as much as you should have," Weekly said.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman was more direct.
"I would do business a little differently if I had the power to do it," Goodman said. "I wouldn't be coddling the potential tenants or grocers."
Goodman supports a policy that would not allow grocers to open stores in more affluent neighborhoods in the city unless they were willing to make a concession to operate in a less lucrative market.
City Attorney Brad Jerbic told Goodman that it would be almost impossible to adopt such a policy because Las Vegas is a charter city with no home rule. As a result, any such change would have to be approved by the state Legislature.
Blackstone later said that the city could achieve the same result by persuading potential investors to focus on the big picture. He suggested letting grocers know that those who accommodate an underserved neighborhood with a store now would gain favorable status for future projects in the city.
Despite the prolonged discussion, the compromise decision that resulted did not seem to satisfy anyone.
DLC UrbanCore was granted only a 30-day extension of the agreement, which is exclusive to negotiations with Food4Less. If a deal is not closed by then, the agreement will expire unless another extension is granted.
The city, meanwhile, has seen another year go by with the people of West Las Vegas lacking a full-service grocery store. And it now faces the potential task of landing a grocery store in a neighborhood where a company with a reputation for making such deals could not.
The city continues to offer a $5 million capital incentive package for a grocer willing to develop at either Enterprise Park or Edmond Town Center, also in West Las Vegas, but has no takers.
"The incentive is not accelerating the decision-making process," Adams said.
There appear to be four tenants that still have at least some interest in opening a store at Enterprise Park, with Food4Less being the most likely candidate to accommodate the 40,000-square-foot store that the city wants.
Other possible tenants include Tesco, a British chain looking to expand into Las Vegas, Wal-Mart and Save-a-Lot.
Save-a-Lot wanted to open a store at the site, according to Blackstone, but was unable to meet the 40,000-square-foot requirement. It is believed to be considering a smaller store in the Edmond Town Center.
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