Monday, February 16, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

BLM wants casino to cash out

Hacienda on list of environmentally sensitive properties

The Hacienda Hotel and Casino near Boulder City is on a list of potential land purchases this year under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. It is on 37 acres the government has been trying to buy for more than 60 years. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Desert bighorn sheep graze at Hemenway Park in Boulder City, a few miles from the Hacienda Hotel and Casino. The hotel-casino sits in the middle of habitat used by several protected species. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE

On a wish list that includes ranches, creeks, canyons and basins, it sticks out like a tourist.

It's the Hacienda Hotel and Casino on U.S. Highway 93 near Boulder City, and it's on the Bureau of Land Management's proposed list of environmentally sensitive lands that could be purchased by the government later this year.

So what is so sensitive about land now being used as a hotel, a casino, a gas station and a helipad?

For one, the property is "within a congressionally designated unit set aside for environmental and recreation uses," said Jim Holland, park planner for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

For another, the hotel-casino sits smack in the middle of habitat used by several protected species, including desert tortoise and bighorn sheep, he said.

"It's just not a compatible use for a national park," said Roxanne Dey, Park Service spokeswoman. "Can you imagine a hotel and a casino in the middle of Yellowstone?"

The Park Service nominated the Hacienda for the BLM's fifth round of land purchases under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998. The hotel-casino is one of 33 parcels on the BLM's proposed list, which includes nearly 37,900 acres valued at approximately $94.4 million. Most of the land is in Northern Nevada.

The BLM is now accepting public input as items on the list are reviewed and evaluated by bureau officials. Proceeds from federal land auctions in Las Vegas will be used to acquire the property.

The Hacienda operates on 37 acres of private land within the recreation area the Park Service has been trying to buy for more than 60 years, Holland said.

He thought the Park Service would finally get its chance in June 1998, when the casino, then known as the Gold Strike, was destroyed by fire. Instead, Park Service officials could only watch as the new, $30 million Hacienda took the Gold Strike's place.

"With every improvement of the property, we knew the cost of acquisition would go up," Holland said.

Had the Park Service been able to acquire the land in 1958, all they would have been buying was a snack bar, a gift shop and a bar with six slot machines.

The BLM now estimates the cost of the Hacienda property at $20 million, a price based on the owner's asking price plus the projected cost of appraisals, surveys and environmental studies.

By law, the federal government cannot buy the property for more than fair market value.

"We may do an appraisal and come up with a fair market value that's unacceptable to the seller," Holland said.

In other words, the Hacienda and its 260 employees could stay right where they are, said Dave Belding, co-owner of the hotel-casino.

Belding said he and his partners began to talk about selling the Hacienda more than a year ago, after they were approached by several private investors interested in buying the property. The business proposals ranged from keeping it as a hotel-casino to converting it to a residential neighborhood or a high-rise timeshare development.

The owners decided to give the Park Service first crack at the land because of their long relationship with the agency, Belding said.

If the Park Service succeeds in buying the Hacienda, Holland said, one thing is certain: It will no longer be used as a hotel-casino.

Beyond that, Park Service officials haven't decided what they would do with the property. A study of the site's potential for adaptive reuse is under way and should be completed in about six months, Holland said.

One option is to clear away all of the buildings and return the site to what it looked like before a mining claim was filed on the land and the 80 acres surrounding it a century ago.

A more likely scenario, Holland said, is for the government to use some of the buildings and existing infrastructure for operations associated with the recreation area and the nearby Hoover Dam. For example, he said, the Park Service has offices at three different locations in Boulder City that easily could be housed at the Hacienda site.

The property also could become a new entry point for Hoover Dam visitors, who would park at the Hacienda and go inside what used to be the casino to look at displays, buy souvenirs and watch documentaries about the dam at what is now the only movie theater in Boulder City. Buses would shuttle visitors between the Hacienda and the dam for guided tours.

"It could deal with some of the homeland security issues as well as the parking constraints and other congestion problems down by the dam," Holland said.

Assuming the site is not cleared, Holland expects a few of the existing structures to be removed or toned down under government ownership, including the 17-floor, 375-room hotel tower and the marquee out front.

The sale and closure of the hotel-casino, coupled with construction of a highway bypass that will skirt Hoover Dam and Boulder City, could reduce traffic significantly on U.S. 93 near the Hacienda.

The $234 million bypass could be completed as early as 2007, which could be good news for the fewer than 200 desert bighorn sheep living in the north Eldorado Mountains.

Pat Cummings, biologist for the Nevada Department of Wildlife, said the steep, rocky desert around the Hacienda is a "core-use area" for bighorn sheep. Most of the animals live in the mountains south of U.S. 93, but ewes do venture across the road to Promontory Point, where they go to give birth to lambs and protect them from predators during their first few weeks of life.

Cummings said it is much more common for wandering rams to be struck by cars, but wildlife officials have seen an increase in the number of ewes that have been hit and killed on U.S. 93. The herd, already ravaged by drought, cannot afford to lose many more of its healthy females, he said.

Promontory Point, on which the Hacienda sits, also serves as prime nesting ground for the peregrine falcon, a bird of prey recently removed from the endangered species list. The tour helicopters that take off and land next to the Hacienda pose a threat to the falcons and place undue stress on the bighorn sheep in the area, Cummings said.

Other wildlife living nearby the Hacienda include mountain lions and desert tortoise. Cummings said he has found tortoise burrows within a few hundred yards of the casino's parking lot.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area is the fifth most visited national park site in the country, with more than 7 million visitors annually. Almost 1 million people visit Hoover Dam every year, and millions more drive across it.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton will have to sign off on the BLM's final list of Nevada land acquisitions.

Norton authorized $385 million for the fourth round of acquisitions by the federal government. That includes $22.4 million for the Oliver Ranch Science School in the Red Rock National Conservation Area, $38 million to buy the Craig Ranch Golf Course in North Las Vegas for use as a regional park and $7 million to pay for the Kyle Canyon Visitors Center.