Developer pitches film studio-campus for Cashman Field in Las Vegas
Cashman Field is a valued commodity, potentially home to the next professional sports franchise in Las Vegas, but one developer is appealing to city officials for a project to shoot movies and television instead.
“That industry needs to take root in Las Vegas,” Michael Lentine, owner of EarthArtist Studios in South Carolina, told the Las Vegas City Council this week. “We need to develop Cashman Field into the most technologically advanced motion picture studio in the world.”
In a letter submitted to the council, Lentine said the Las Vegas Studio-Campus would be a partnership among private, public and academic sectors to “transform the economic and cultural life of Las Vegas.” The first phase would cost $363 million to construct, he said.
But the proposal comes at a time when city officials are inching toward cementing a development deal with the Renaissance Cos. on a new soccer stadium for city-owned Cashman Field just north of downtown in hopes of luring a Major League Soccer expansion franchise.
Mayor Carolyn Goodman told the Review-Journal on Thursday that she first heard about the studio proposal when Jack Woodcock, a longtime real estate broker in the Las Vegas Valley, introduced Lentine on Wednesday to the council.
“We are going to talk to him and see, but, as you know, right now we’re in deep dialogue with Renaissance Cos.,” Goodman said.
A development agreement with Renaissance is expected to come before the council on Feb. 19, and the city and the company are in exclusive talks to redevelop at least 62 acres of Cashman Field to include not only the stadium but residential properties and retail outlets too.
Lentine requested that the city also give “fair and equal consideration” to his plan. He could not be reached Thursday.
He pitched the studio-campus as ideal to attract companies desperate for production capacity, such as Apple, Disney and Netflix. He said he also submitted an economic impact analysis to city officials that estimated the project would produce a $1 billion annual benefit to the city and create up to 10,000 high-paying jobs.
“This is Las Vegas,” he said. “If you’re the capital of entertainment, we’ll show you what you’re going to get and we’ll build it in 30 months.”
But Goodman said she had not yet received specifics of the plan.
Lentine offered details into his background: He crafted and promoted the passage of legislation to induce the motion picture industry to locate in South Carolina, according to the letter he provided the city. The bill was emulated across the county, including in Georgia, where the film industry has a $9 billion economic impact, he said.
Meanwhile, the council on Wednesday approved paying law firm GreenbergTraurig LLP up to $150,000 to represent the city in drafting legal agreements and transaction documents related to multiple agreements on the stadium project.
City lawmakers agreed to pay the firm up to $50,000 in October, meaning that legal fees for the project soon could reach $200,000.
Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.
A previous version of this story misidentified the state where the film industry has a $9 billion economic impact. That state is Georgia.
Lentine Letter by Las Vegas Review-Journal on Scribd
