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City approves $18,000 to help renovate downtown 7-Eleven

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The property as seen before renovations.

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A rendering of the property after renovations are made.

7-Eleven project

A shuttered car wash and convenience store across the street from Las Vegas City Hall will soon get a new look when it reopens as a 7-Eleven, thanks to action taken today by the Las Vegas City Council.

The council unanimously approved spending about $18,000 in matching redevelopment funds to renovate the exterior and upgrade the signs.

The property is in a high-traffic gateway area to downtown, just off the U.S. 95 ramp on the southeast corner of the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Stewart Avenue. It's about two blocks north of the Fremont Street Arts District.

"We're putting in money for the exterior for repairing the stucco, landscaping, as well as neon signage," Bill Arent, the city's business development director, told the council.

Before the vote, Councilman Ricki Barlow said he had not yet seen a landscaping plan for the project and wanted to make sure it was in place before the project was approved.

"I want to make sure that the landscaping is in accordance with the beautiful landscaping that we have coming down the center of Las Vegas Boulevard," Barlow said.

Flinn Fagg, the city's planning department director, said the company has applied for a special use permit to sell alcohol on the premises, but hasn't filed a landscaping plan.

He said it isn't required as a special use permit, but the company could add that before the council votes on the special use permit during its afternoon session.

According to city staff, without the city's Redevelopment Agency's assistance, the new 7-Eleven wouldn't be completed at a level that would enhance the surrounding neighborhood.

The public will benefit because the project would help stabilize and increase the business climate in the neighborhood, city staffers say.

The 7-Eleven is expected to bring in eight full-time and six part-time jobs when it opens later in the spring as a car wash, gas station and convenience store.

The property, which was built in 1992, was purchased by Fremont Place LLC in February 2002, which ran it as a car wash, gas station and mini-mart for several year. The business was then sold to a new operator who didn't maintain the property and it went out of business.

Since that time, Fremont Place LLC has secured a 7-Eleven franchise and is in the process of renovating the interior and exterior of the property to the standards of the 7-Eleven corporate office, the city staff said.

The funds for the project come from additional taxes placed on projects in the Redevelopment Area that are reinvested in that area.

CORRECTION: An early version of this story incorrectly stated for a few minutes that the city approved $300,000 for the project. | (March 16, 2011)

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