A Tesla electric car heads into a tunnel during a tour of the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop on April 9.
Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 | 3:18 p.m.
UNLV wants to sell 1.3 acres of land near the Thomas & Mack Center to Elon Musk’s The Boring Company to build a new stop for the Vegas Loop.
The university will be seeking approval from the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents at its quarterly meeting March 9.
According to briefing documents sent to regents, the property is on the corner of Tropicana Avenue and University Center Drive and serves as a parking lot for the arena.
If the regents approve the sale, The Boring Company would be allowed to construct a new station for the Vegas Loop on the campus that will serve as a main connector to Allegiant Stadium and the Las Vegas Convention Center, the documents said.
“The sale price will be no less than the appraised value of the property, to be determined by a licensed real estate appraiser(s), in accordance with Board of Regents’ policies and procedures,” according to the documents.
The university will not be able to sell the property for less than the appraised value and will also be seeking an “additional measure of compensation” for the cost of replacing the parking lot.
UNLV believes a new loop station near campus will increase access to campus for those lacking a mode of transportation and will better connect students to job centers in the city.
Two weeks ago, the university sent out an email announcing it was in discussions about developing a station on the Maryland Parkway campus and conducting a survey to “understand if and how faculty, staff and students would utilize this service if it were available at UNLV.”
Only two loop systems currently exist in Las Vegas, an almost 2-mile track with four stations at the Las Vegas Convention Center and a connector from the convention center to Resorts World. The Boring Company is in the process of fully connecting the two tracks.
Plans to bring a Vegas Loop station to UNLV have been discussed since 2021, according to UNLV spokesperson Keyonna Summers.
The Boring Company said it won approval in 2021 from the Clark County Commission to build a 29-mile underground track that ultimately would connect 51 stations throughout the resort corridor, Allegiant Stadium and downtown near Fremont Street.
Additional stops could include Harry Reid International Airport and the Las Vegas Medical District – where UNLV’s medical campus resides – according to the document.
