Promoters see district as artwork in progress
Three years ago, when Mark Rowland brought his family graphics business to Las Vegas, he picked a location near The Orleans, well away from downtown and the nascent Arts District.
“I could see it was going to be slow going,” Rowland said of the effort to redevelop downtown. “I didn’t see any necessity to move into the Arts District immediately.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
Last week the Rowlands’ company, Homage, merged with S2 Art and moved into offices at the corner of Main Street and Charleston Boulevard at the heart of the Arts District.
That’s only one of the new developments in what could be a breakout year for the district, which hasn’t had the kind of visible progress lately that other parts of downtown can brag about.
This year brought completion of improvements to the East Fremont District, and rave reviews about the new nightspots there.
Towering over East Fremont is the Streamline condominium tower, which has gone from a metal skeleton to a gleaming building.
Construction is well under way on the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute at Union Park, where the Smith Center for the Performing Arts also announced promising fundraising news and plans call for two high-end hotels and medical offices.
The World Market Center keeps expanding.
But the Arts District — an area bounded roughly by Hoover Avenue, Las Vegas Boulevard, Colorado Avenue and Commerce Street — remains stubbornly shabby, with galleries and showrooms buried among used furniture stores and automotive businesses.
While critical mass for a fleshed-out Arts District may be years away, 2008 should be a year when progress is a lot more visible that it has been, said Jack Solomon, founder of S2 Art and a longtime district champion.
“We’ve got a lot of things that are about to pop after the first of the year,” Solomon said. “It took a while. There are several tipping points now happening.”
Those include:
•The planned installation of “gateway” sculptures at Main and Charleston, and at Las Vegas Boulevard and Charleston.
•$1.5 million in improvements to Hoover Avenue and Casino Center Boulevard, including wider sidewalks, landscaping and new lighting.
•Construction of dedicated bus-only lanes on Third Street and Casino Center Boulevard for a bus route from Imperial Avenue to the Las Vegas Premium Outlets.
•The presentation of plans for Vegas Moderne, which Solomon envisions as a campus for artists just north of the intersection of Main and Charleston.
•An answer on whether REI Neon will proceed with its ambitious $10.5 billion sports arena development on land adjacent to the Arts District.
Dick Geyer, president of the Arts District Neighborhood Association, noted one bright spot of 2007: the fifth anniversary of First Friday, a monthly party showcasing what the district offers.
There’s been a lot of progress in pitching downtown as a safe place to spend an evening, Geyer said.
Now all that’s needed are more people.
“There isn’t enough mass there to bring people there during the week,” Geyer said. “That’s all we need is one attraction there to get it started.”
Solomon’s Vegas Moderne development could help. He listed a Bible museum and the Herb Barker Character, Comic and Cartoon Museum — now located in Cheshire, Conn. — as potential tourist-drawing tenants.
The Arts District isn’t supposed to be just for tourists, but providing places for locals to live might have to wait until the real estate market rebounds.
Eddie Haddad, the developer behind the proposed Hue high-rise lofts at Charleston and Third Street, said he’s about 60 days away from being ready to apply for building permits, but he’s not making any promises about getting started in 2008.
“Unfortunately, we got caught up with this whole high-rise condo craze mess,” Haddad said. “There are projects that haven’t sold a unit in five months. It’s really ugly right now.”
He still thinks downtown is attractive, however, attractive enough to invest in four additional parcels of land in the area.
“We have a masterful piece of downtown here that can be linked to the Strip,” Haddad said. “We’re right in the shadow of Strip development, and it’s all coming north.”
The REI Neon project — which calls for a sports arena, hotels, retail and residential space, and a casino on 85 acres north of the Stratosphere — could provide that link, if the development has legs.
“They’re kind of struggling with the funding right now, but so is everybody else,” Haddad said.
The sheer size of the project makes its fate very important to the Arts District’s future, Geyer said.
“It will establish what goes on over the next five years,” he said.
“It’s hard to say what next year will bring except progress, with or without REI. With would be good. I hope they get it done.”
The Las Vegas City Council has given REI Neon until Feb. 20 to say whether it will proceed.
Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or (702) 229-6435.
