Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

With Russell Road stadium site set, Raiders turn to traffic, parking issues

NLF Stadium Rendings

Courtesy of MANICA Architechture

An artist’s illustration of a stadium on Russell Road and Las Vegas Boulevard was revealed during a Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee meeting at UNLV Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016.

Las Vegas Raiders stadium: Russell Road Site

A view of traffic on Russell Road near the proposed Las Vegas Raiders stadium Russell Road site Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Launch slideshow »

The sale closed but the process just started.

Securing what most call the Russell Road site for $77.5 million does nothing to change the stadium plans already set into motion by the Raiders. The high-impact study started weeks ago on the 62-acre parcel just west of the Strip hums along as it did before Monday’s closing of the sale to the NFL franchise by Nevada Land Group LLC.

While the land purchase brings the Las Vegas Raiders a major step closer to once-implausible reality, the findings of that study and a required site approval by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board still offer a small amount of pause.

“The Raiders had their eyes on this (land) since the beginning,” Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak said. “(They) realize there are a lot of problems left to resolve, including traffic, ingress-egress, and particularly parking.”

Next week’s meeting of the stadium authority will focus on those issues as county staff report to the board on progress. Chairman Steve Hill wants the board to address questions about the study now, long before a self-imposed September deadline for approving the site as one of a dozen agreements needed to break ground on the $1.9 billion stadium.

“We do have to go through that (approval) process and we do have to make sure that it’s an approvable site,” Hill said. “We’ll work to make that happen. We’re not going to stick them with 62 acres of land unnecessarily.”

Within that process, the Raiders will transfer the land to the stadium authority at no cost and the public entity will own it. The Raiders will lease the facility for free and operate its events through a separate company contracted by the franchise, keeping any profits.

Once the team puts up the initial $100 million for construction, it can access the first dollars of the $750 million public contribution toward the 65,000-seat domed facility. A planned 32-month building schedule starting in December would allow the stadium to open in time for the 2020 NFL season, when the Raiders will begin playing in Las Vegas.

“It’s an immediate boon to the construction industry, so there’s those types of jobs,” said John Knott, executive vice president with CBRE in Las Vegas. “More importantly, we’re an NFL city now, and an NFL city garners worldwide attention.”

Knott first presented the Russell Road site and two others in his firm’s portfolio — 110 acres in the southwest valley and 60 acres east of the Strip at Harmon and Koval — to Raiders owner Mark Davis in July. While the Southern Nevada Tourism and Infrastructure Committee considered the public contribution to the project, Raiders President Marc Badain quickly responded to indicate Davis’ interest in Russell Road.

Knott confirmed an initial $100 million asking price for the parcel, a cost intended to eliminate speculative bidders that a $50 million tag might have attracted. The Raiders agreed on a deal giving them the option to purchase the land on Aug. 25, at a sale price that equates to $1.25 million per acre.

“It’s a fair deal for both parties,” Knott said. “My client got the only large deal to come through this marketplace in the past couple of years.”

Nevada Land Group shows through the Nevada Secretary of State as a group of financial companies including Barclays Bank and Credit Suisse. LV Stadium Company LLC purchased the land.

Recent NFL stadium projects required similar land acquisitions. The Minnesota Vikings opened U.S. Bank Stadium last year after spending close to $60 million in 2007 to acquire necessary land and right-of-way in downtown Minneapolis. This season, the Atlanta Falcons will christen Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which required the purchase of two nearby churches at a cost of $34 million in 2013.

In Las Vegas, proximity to the Strip drove much of the Raiders interest in Russell Road. It will allow close access for tourists attending events at the facility and also will increase its potential appeal to companies interested in the exposure of acquiring the naming rights to the facility.

Those naming rights could generate $50-75 million toward the team’s anticipated $500 million contribution to the stadium, which also will receive $750 million in taxpayer funding through an increased hotel room tax.

The Raiders also like the site’s nearby access to Interstate 15 for moving fans in and out of the area, something Knott knew would appeal to local officials and the Raiders.

“It has to go on the freeway,” Knott said. “All the other locations were like, really, what are you thinking here?”

The state plans hundreds of millions of dollars in transportation upgrades to the area that could help alleviate expected congestion caused by traffic around the facility, though some of the improvements were placed in the pipeline before the Raiders move became a possibility. These include reconfiguring the Tropicana Avenue interchange at I-15 and constructing direct-access ramps connecting a new carpool lane on I-15 to Harmon and Hacienda avenues.

Sisolak and Hill have said parking will be an issue with the site, as its current footprint might struggle to accommodate the number of cars expected for a football sellout. Sisolak said Monday that options including satellite lots and that parking structures might be considered, although neither allows for the game-day tailgating atmosphere that Raiders officials want to establish.

Raiders officials did not respond to requests for comment on the sale.

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