Cadence master plan officials in ‘preliminary talks’ for 51s ballpark

The owners of the Las Vegas 51s are fast to tell anyone that their Triple A baseball team needs a new ballpark.

Team President Don Logan, the veteran executive of Las Vegas minor league teams through the years, likes to evoke the smelly example of a nasty sewer stench at Cashman Field this year.

And it's no secret the 51s owners, a combination of Dallas-based Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Corp. and local investors Steve Mack, Bart Wear and Chris Kaempfer, like a Summerlin site near Red Rock Resort and Downtown Summerlin as a potential home for a new ball yard.

But now several landowners around the Las Vegas valley have also talked to the 51s about their interest in playing host to a new baseball park.

One is in Henderson.

A spokesperson for Cadence, a 2,200-acre master planned community at Lake Mead Parkway and Boulder Highway, confirmed this week that the CEO of Cadence's developer, LandWell Company, has met with the 51s to express his development's interest in having a baseball park.

CEO Mark Paris met with 51s officials this year, but Cadence spokesperson Cheryl Persinger did not know who specifically were the team's representatives at the meeting.

"It's preliminary talks," Persinger said.

While the 51s are open to criticizing Cashman Field's shortcomings, they are tight-lipped about discussions for their new ballpark.

Howard Hughes spokesman Tom Warden said he had no comments about the ballpark location discussions.

Logan said when the sewer line backed up at Cashman Field, it was emblematic of the problems with the 9,334-seat ball yard that is more than 30 years old. And it triggered more private discussion about a new ballpark — and potential sites.

"A lot of people have talked with us," Logan said this week. "The where, the what and the how are to be determined."

In 2013, part-owner Mack said the 51s would like the city of Las Vegas, Clark County and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to form a three-way partnership to help pay for a new stadium. Mack argued it didn't make financial sense to continue doing maintenance work on Cashman Field.

But there is little support for public dollars for a new 51s ballpark. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has said the proposed Summerlin site is technically outside the city's borders, County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak typically opposes public money to build sports stadiums and the LVCVA's main focus is a $2.3 billion convention center expansion project.

So, expect the 51s to continue playing Cashman Field for the next several years. The Pacific Coast League team can play at Cashman Field until 2022 because the club signed a 10-year lease in 2012.

In 2014, the 51s paid rent of $321,171 to the LVCVA, while the Cashman grounds' budget for 2014 ballgames was $84,000.

Waiting in the wings is a private development team, which has floated a soccer stadium plan for the Cashman complex.

Contact reporter Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal.com. Find him on Twitter: @BicycleManSnel