Officials delay hiring of third party to oversee Global Business District

The go-go pace to get started on the $2.3 billion overhaul of the Las Vegas Convention Center campus took a breath Tuesday.

Members of the board of directors of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority voted to delay action on hiring a third-party owner representative to oversee the Las Vegas Global Business District project.

The board is expected to take up the hiring of Sacramento, Calif.-based Cordell Corp. at its April meeting.

The board also established a six-member committee to consider policy matters and issues involving the project, which will include taking possession of the Riviera hotel-casino, demolishing it and building 750,000 square feet of new convention space while upgrading facilities for the rest of the campus.

The Global Business District committee will consist of three elected officials and three private industry representatives.

Charles Bowling, an executive at Mandalay Bay, will lead the committee, which also will include Caesars Entertainment Corp. executive Tom Jenkin and Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce CEO Kristin McMillan and Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Ross and North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee.

Board members decided to table action on the hiring of Cordell, a company that specializes in developing high-profile public assembly facilities, so that the committee could review details of the authority’s proposed multimillion-dollar contract.

The board initially will commit to spending $270,000 — $45,000 a month — for the first phase of the project. The second phase of the project, which could take an additional four to seven years, will be negotiated separately and brought back to the board for future consideration.

The board initially looked to develop the Global Business District under the supervision of convention authority executives. But because the project’s scope has broadened, the board instead opted to hire an owner representative experienced in building similar facilities.

Cordell seems to fit the bill.

Under principals Terry Miller and co-founder Don Webb, Cordell has overseen convention center projects in Boston; Kansas City, Mo.; San Diego; San Jose, Calif.; and Ontario, Calif. The company also has worked on Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, Sports Authority Field at Mile High, home of the Denver Broncos, Fenway Park in Boston and stadium expansions at the University of Michigan, Oregon State University and Ohio State University.

Besides additional convention space, the Global Business District campus is expected to include a general conference center to seat large groups, a World Trade Center building and a transportation system to shuttle conventioneers around the campus and between the campus and the resort corridor.

“We’re not rushing to do this tomorrow, but we are rushing to do this right,” said Bowling, whose committee will be subject to the state’s open meeting law.

Ross also made it clear to Cordell representatives that he expects contractors on the Global Business District to hire local labor.

In other business Tuesday, the board approved the retention of the Las Vegas law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck at a rate of $25,000 a month to lobby on the authority’s behalf in Washington. The $675,000 contract runs from April through the end of June 2017.

The firm is expected to help authority secure federal grants on the Global Business District project and represent the city’s interests on visa programs, international tourism measures and open-skies agreements.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta.