Downtown dreaming

With summer officially upon us, it's easier to be distracted by the type of fare most of us would ignore during more vibrant times of the year. That's why we can be suckered into the third installments of film franchises knowing full well that the Black Pearl, for example, has already sailed.

So in this slower, more casual time, it seems fitting that the city of Las Vegas would be up for a gamble. Only with this City Council, it's the future of downtown at stake, not just a $12 movie ticket.

It's fitting the marketing geniuses have dubbed this latest dice roll "Project Pulse." When it flat lines, it'll be just another addition to downtown redevelopment lore.

There was the trendsetting Minami Hole, a planned office tower project that left the city holding not just a $3.7 million debt, but a big, fat hole. Luckily, the federal government needed a good deal and got one there for its courthouse.

There's the eminent domain disaster ... er, the Fremont Street Experience. And the always good-for-a-laugh Neonopolis, which is apparently still open with just two operating businesses.

Downtown's successes have all come despite local government attempts to steer something elsewhere.

It was artists who came to the city and asked for live-work zoning in the area now championed as the Arts District. And everything that still buzzes in the area -- which I always mark by the giant insect on the pest control joint near Main Street and Charleston Boulevard -- has happened on its own.

There's no doubt Mayor Oscar Goodman's infectious cheerleading has drawn some development to the area. And at Wednesday's council meeting, the hyperbole once again flowed from Hizzoner. "I think each project is the most important, of course," Goodman said about development plans for the 61 city-owned acres now known as Union Park. "But this is very, very special. Union Park is the epicenter as far as I'm concerned."

Union Park is getting snatched up for medical office space and a hotel because two private foundations are pushing ahead for a performing arts center and an Alzheimer's clinic. The master-planned development is making progress only because of the initial seeds planted.

Goodman will argue that the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute wouldn't have come if the city hadn't gotten the 61 acres in a land swap with Union Pacific Railroad. But what is making Union Park happen, at least initially, is more a result of the maturation of the valley and the need for assembled acreage.

When the city tries to push those natural economic factors, it begins creating a false demand.

For instance, the new Project Pulse appears to be alive thanks only to some creative defibrillation. The project is a $9.5 billion -- with a "b" -- development on 85 acres in the area of the aforementioned Main and Charleston.

Real Estate Interests Group of suburban Detroit is in charge of trying to buy property from 120 different owners. It also has to compete with a half-dozen other potential arena developers to keep the centerpiece project -- a 22,000-seat sports facility -- under its thumb. The rest of the 85 acres is supposed to include housing, retail and lots of gaming -- at the expense of 2 1/2 blocks already earmarked for the arts district.

The city is basically permitting REI to cannibalize what, for many, is downtown's one true success.

REI has never had a project in Las Vegas and has never come close to building anything the scale of Project Pulse.

A sports arena can no longer be viewed in terms of "if you build it, they will come." Sure, it helps to have the blueprint and financing finalized to land a major-league team. But Las Vegas will mature and sports will eventually follow. Someone who wants to be on that cutting edge will figure out the best way to get it done, regardless of the city's chosen master developer.

And then what? What happens to the high-rises and time shares and casinos envisioned in Project Pulse once someone builds a version of the hallmark arena and "sports mart" part of the project somewhere else?

An arena may be the panacea downtown needs to truly revitalize the aging core. But it is still far from the best location (either in terms of traffic, parking, taxes or existing infrastructure). Remember, when a private equity group was seriously floating plans for a baseball stadium a few years ago, it was eyeing land just off the Strip.

Goodman may not want to hear it, but the Las Vegas franchise may not play within his city limits. But by then, he won't be mayor anymore (despite his self-aggrandizing belief that a move is afoot to lift the three-term limit in Las Vegas).

No one thinks the Pistons are any less Detroit because they play in the 'burbs, or that the Jets are any less New York despite playing in Jersey. The Vegas Whatevers will probably call Clark County home despite Goodman's best efforts to squeeze into that cheerleader's suit.

Erin Neff's column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.