Harry Reid airport buys adjacent land for $135M

Harry Reid International Airport has purchased 65 acres just south of the airport for $135 million.

The airport, which is owned by Clark County and operated by its Department of Aviation, said in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that its lease agreement with one of the tenants of the land, the Las Vegas Golf Center, will continue.

The land — located at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sunset Road — was previously owned by Las Vegas company Urban Land Investment. It falls within the airport’s runway protection zone, and a spokesperson for the airport said it’s common for airports to purchase land within that zone.

The airport is eligible to get up to 75 percent of the purchase price reimbursed through a future Federal Aviation Administration grant, the spokesperson said.

Reid airport had its best September on record this year with 4.8 million passengers arriving and departing. The Department of Aviation said the airport is on a trajectory to reach its capacity of between 63 million and 65 million annual passengers by around 2030, but the earliest a reliever airport could be constructed is 2037.

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.