REDEVELOPMENT PLANS

The Real Estate Interest Group claims success for its mixed retail and residential Waterstone project, on the site of an old gravel pit in suburban Detroit. But the firm has never attempted a project as large as the $9.5 billion hotel, arena and casino development it now presents to the Las Vegas City Council, targeted for an 85-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Charleston Boulevard and Main Street.

In a downtown where a string of high-rise condo projects have been proposed and never built — developers apparently preferring to “flip” their rezoned land to new buyers for a quicker profit — this project is a long shot. As currently envisioned, Project Pulse would include 6,000 hotel rooms, 1,600 time shares, 1,500 residential condominiums, 1.2 million square feet of commercial space and a 300,000-square-foot casino — transforming what is now a low-rent neighborhood east of Interstate 15 known primarily for its muffler shops and discount furniture stores.

But REI is only one of seven firms that plan to submit proposals to build a downtown sports arena. The city is likely to choose only one, and REI Group President Jon Weaver admits his project can’t succeed without city approval and support — in the form of a property tax rebate — for that 22,000-seat sports facility.

Even with a preliminary OK from the council at this point, REI would be seeking an expansion of the gaming district overlay, a special use permit for the sports arena, the abandonment of some streets and a zoning change — which should trigger some serious discussions of parking and traffic access.

Beyond that, REI doesn’t even yet own the land — though Mr. Weaver contends his outfit has agreements with 120 separate landowners and expects to close escrow later this year.

So let’s not hold our breath.

That said, however, those willing to pour their own entrepreneurial capital into reviving portions of the sagging Las Vegas downtown deserve every encouragement.

The most notable element of this proposal is the 300,000 square feet of gaming space. As every local tavern owner knows, gaming can make a “go” of an enterprise that would otherwise be marginal in this highly competitive market. The City Council has been much too deferential, in the past, to downtown casino owners who expect local governments to protect them from unwelcome competition — but who at the same time seem often unwilling or unable to make the reinvestment necessary to bring their own properties up to the standards being set five miles to the south along the Strip.

Finally, we come to the objections of some who worry Project Pulse will injure the character of the existing Arts District, roughly centered at the intersection of Main Street and Charleston Boulevard.

Yes, artists and galleries often seek out and start the process of boot-strapping low-rent neighborhoods.

Those who have “colonized” this area and started to bring it back to life — especially each month on First Friday — deserve gratitude and support. But they can hardly expect city officials to sabotage the efforts of those who want to upgrade the attractiveness — and, eventually, the tax payments — of a mostly down-at-the-heel district.

Sometimes urban pioneers — like any pioneers — become victims of their own success, as those who follow after them hang curtains in the windows and start to bid up the rents.

Many in downtown Las Vegas have already tried “stagnation.” The City Council can hardly be blamed for now asking, “What else you got?”