Construction on the Fremont East District will begin next month as officials look to turn six blocks east of Las Vegas Boulevard into a downtown bar-hopping corridor.
The Las Vegas City Council gave final approval Wednesday to levy property owners for nearly $2 million of the $5.7 million in costs to bring in neon signs, widen the sidewalks, add a median in some areas and create a lighted archway over the Las Vegas Boulevard portion of the entrance.
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"We want to get people downtown, and that's good for everyone," said Frank Elam, president of the district's owners association.
Business owners and officials hope the entertainment district will be Las Vegas' version of Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn., or San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter, filled with bars, clubs and live music.
The improvements to Fremont Street between Las Vegas Boulevard and Eighth Street will take between six and nine months, officials said. Work originally was scheduled to begin in August, but putting together the assessment district and getting final approval for an $800,000 federal grant took unexpectedly long, said Scott Adams, director of the city's office of business development. The federal grant is from money set aside for beautification and transportation projects.
A number of bars and clubs are expected to open in the district within the next few weeks, including Downtown, a cocktail lounge, and The Griffin. Two clubs and bars are already open along the stretch of street, and more are planned in and near the area.
Earlier this month, a number of the business owners told the City Council that they favored the project, saying it was important to create a successful entertainment district downtown.
One dissenting voice, though, was that of John Kitchen, owner of a check-cashing store on Fremont Street.
He criticized the idea, pointing to the city's ill-fated history of projects such as Neonopolis and the canopy over the Fremont Street Experience that promised to revitalize the area.
"The track record of the city is abysmal," he said.
Adams said the keys to the project's success will be getting a critical mass of entertainment venues.
"We have a lot of operators we've contacted who want to see the actual work done," he said.
