City To Extend Negotiation With Arena Developer

LAS VEGAS-The Las Vegas City Council next week is expected to extend the city’s deadline for a signed deal with Real Estate Interests Group for a Downtown sports arena. The Bloomfield Hills, MI-based company’s proposal calls for the arena to be developed in the first phase of a $10-billion, 85-acre mixed-use development on the West side of Main Street.

The city approved the development plan for the overall project in June and selected REI Group as its preferred arena developer in July. The 60-day extension gives the two until the end of February to turn their Memorandum of Understanding into a binding development agreement.

The plan has been to have the arena up and running in 2010 just in case an NBA team wants to call it home for the 2010-11 season. For that to happen, site work would need to get under way sometime next year. The overall project is slated to include three casinos; 9,100 hotel, condominium and timeshare units; 785,000 sf of retail; four million sf of convention space; and 500,000 sf of office space.