Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Fremont dispute reaches high court

Pappas family insists property rights violated

CARSON CITY -- The city of Las Vegas and its redevelopment agency violated the constitutional property rights of the Pappas family when it took their land for the construction of the Fremont Street Experience a decade ago, an attorney for the family told the Supreme Court Monday.

Reno attorney Glade Hall asked the court to rule for Harry Pappas and his family, which would in effect give them control of the portion of a $23 million parking garage built on their property on the corner of Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard.

"This is not redevelopment," Hall said of the Fremont Street Experience. "This was a tourist hook for the downtown casinos."

But attorneys for the city and the Fremont Street Experience said the Pappas property was appropriately taken for the project in 1993. They asked the court to return the case to Clark County District Court for a trial to determine what the Pappas family is owed for the 7,000-square-foot piece of property acquired through an eminent domain action.

The court took the case under advisement following 30 minutes of oral argument. The city had appealed a 1996 lower court ruling by former District Judge Don Chairez in favor of the Pappas family.

Chairez's ruling said the city broke several state and federal redevelopment statutes. He accused officials of taking Pappas' property without just cause and then handing it over to casinos.

Hall said the Pappas property was not taken legally because it was never put to use for redevelopment purposes. Building a downtown attraction and adjacent parking garage for the casinos is not redevelopment, he said.

Las Vegas attorney Sam Lionel, representing the Fremont Street Experience, told the Supreme Court the rules for the redevelopment project were followed and that Chairez erred in his ruling.

There has never been a trial to determine what the Pappas family is owed for their land, he said. The court should return the case to district court so that finding can be made, Lionel said.

Justices questioned Hall at length about the project and whether it was in fact a project designed to increase tourism and help the downtown area reverse a loss of visitors.

"It redevelops nothing," Hall said.

After the hearing, Hall said that if the court rules in favor of the Pappas family, then the city and Fremont Street Experience would have to negotiate a fair market lease for their property. If the court rules in favor of the city, then the Pappas family will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, he said.

The case arrived in the Nevada Supreme Court after years of delays and an effort by Las Vegas Major Oscar Goodman in August 2000 to settle the matter with a $4.5 million payment to the Pappas family. The family rejected the offer, saying it was not enough.