Court action on failed Henderson arena land deal delayed

The city of Henderson's request for an injunction to stop Texas developer Chris Milam from using 480 acres in the city for anything other than a stadium-arena complex has been moved to March 18.

The new scheduling includes a new date for a potential U.S. Bureau of Land Management transfer of the desert site to March 28. The BLM had been scheduled to close on the sale with Milam today .

The new dates were announced Tuesday morning in Clark County District Court before Judge Susan Scann.

Lawyers for both the city and Milam agreed on the delays.

The city alleges that Milam conspired with four other defendants to conduct a bait-and-switch land scheme involving a promise to build a city-endorsed arena complex but actually planned to flip the property for residential and commercial use.

The city is not trying to block the BLM land sale to Milam. Instead, the city's legal team wants a judge to prohibit Milam from flipping the land or using it for anything else.

Milam told city officials in November that he needed to bail on the stadium project because it was no longer viable. In court papers filed Monday, Milam's lawyers said funding fell through when he could not get the Sacramento Kings or another NBA team to serve as an anchor tenant.

City Attorney Josh Reid welcomed the delays.

"This is good for the city. Nothing will happen to the land until we have a full hearing on the facts," Reid said outside the courtroom.

Nicholas Santoro, Milam's lawyer, said he is comfortable with the new dates for the hearing and potential land closing. He would not comment on why he pushed for the extension on closing date.

The scheduled March 18 hearing could take as long as three days as both sides lay out their cases.

Contact reporter Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273.