Businesses concerned by plans to close Hacienda for stadium events

With up to 30,000 fans expected to use the Hacienda Avenue bridge to travel between the Las Vegas Strip and Allegiant Stadium for Raiders games, officials want to ensure the trek to the stadium is a walk in the park.

Clark County plans to close Hacienda from Polaris Avenue on the west to the Mandalay Bay parking garage entrance on the east during major events at the $2 billion, 65,000-seat stadium, according to Dennis Cederburg, director of planning for the county.

Depending on the event, whether it’s a sold out Raiders football game or a smaller concert, the length and size of the bridge’s closure will vary, with some events requiring only a partial closure of Hacienda, Cederburg said.

“Some events may only have to use the widened sidewalk that’s being constructed by the stadium,” Cederburg said. “Some may only use half the street, leaving one lane open in each direction.”

Limited vehicle access would remain between Polaris and Aldebaran Avenue for shuttle pickups and dropoffs.

Events needing to shut down Hacienda will be required to file for a special events permit, which are subject to county, police and fire department approval. Advance notice will be sent out to area businesses ahead of any event-related closures.

Still, some businesses in the area are worried about the impact of closing Hacienda will have on them.

David Diffley of Lewis Operating Group, whose office has been on Polaris for about 30 years and has owned a business park located directly across Hacienda from the stadium just as long, said he was concerned about how many events each year would lead to closures of Hacienda.

“We have not heard any details about how it would work,” Diffley said. “There is a significant difference if there are eight games and maybe six of those would be on the weekend, really not much of an impact from that. Maybe there are 50 closures per year, that’s a very significant impact to us and to our tenants.”

Raiders Senior Vice President Don Webb met with Diffley and his associates following a Clark County commission meeting Wednesday to open a line of communication between the parties..

“We’re certainly concerned with the impact the stadium has to local businesses. We’re a local business now,” Webb said. “We would want people to be considerate of our business as we intend to be considerate of theirs. We want to actively work with the businesses with not just informing them of what the actual impacts will be, but to help, with their cooperation, minimize those impacts.”

Raiders game days, with fans usually showing up several hours in advance, would see the biggest impact, Cederburg said.

With most Raiders games taking place on Sunday, the impact on businesses surrounding the stadium should be minimal, Webb said. With select NFL games occurring on Monday and Thursday nights, those game days could pose a larger effect.

“A Monday Night Football game, which on the west coast means broadcasting very early in the evening, with people starting to come to the stadium midday, that will be an impact,” he said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean those businesses can’t continue to operate, it means we (Raiders and businesses) develop a plan to minimize that.”

County and stadium officials said they plan to hold open houses with neighboring businesses to get everyone on the same page as the stadium completion rolls toward July 31.

A traffic study that is underway will give planners and stadium officials a better idea of what the preferred closure plans and traffic circulation plan will be, Cederburg said.

Plans show $1 million in upgrades will be made to Hacienda, which includes expanding the sidewalks.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.