Las Vegas council approves downtown park next to Smith Center

Visitors to the developing Symphony Park neighborhood in downtown Las Vegas will get more than concerts, conventions and culture.

On Wednesday the City Council voted to approve adding a small, privately run park to the area.

The unanimous vote authorizes the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, which is scheduled to open in March, to go forward with a 1.7-acre park that will include a concert stage, seating, grass and shade on a site that was once an abandoned rail yard.

The vote authorized a city-owned entity to hand over the land to the Smith Center, which will use a $10 million grant from the Las Vegas-based Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. Reynolds was founder of Donrey Media Group, former owner of the Review-Journal.

The City Council approval also included a commitment of up to $500,000 from the city for environmental cleanup, if needed.

The park, which will be called the Donald W. Reynolds Symphony Park, will be owned and operated by the Smith Center. It is already under construction.

"It will be privately owned and operated, but it will look and feel like a very public space," said Myron Martin, president and CEO of the Smith Center.

The $502 million project will be anchored by the 2,050-seat Reynolds Hall, which will host Broadway-style performances and be home to the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the Nevada Ballet Theater.

The Smith Center, with the park, is scheduled to open in March.

In addition to grass, trees, concert space and tivoli-style lighting, the park will include a sculpture by Tim Bavington, a Las Vegas artist known for art on canvas on display in dozens of museums in the United States and Europe.

The public sculpture will be a first for Bavington, Martin said.

Martin said the park will not include permanent restrooms, playground equipment or shade structures. Shade will be provided only by trees.

He said the idea is for the space to appear "uncluttered" and inviting to people visiting the Smith Center or children's museum under development.

Martin also said sparse amenities will reduce the risk of vandalism, drug use and homeless encampments that have plagued public parks in urban areas of Las Vegas.

In 2006, citing health and safety concerns, the city closed Huntridge Circle Park at Maryland Parkway and East Franklin Avenue. It was reopened in June.

In 2008, the city closed the small park known as Frank Wright Plaza at Stewart Avenue and Fourth Street for similar reasons. It was razed and the land included in a development deal with CIM Group, the company responsible for redeveloping the Lady Luck and other property on Third Street between Stewart and Ogden avenues in the downtown.

"We wanted the park at all times to be beautiful and uncluttered," Martin said of the new space.

Security measures will include cameras and security guards from the adjacent Smith Center, which will have 24-hour patrols.

Visitors to the park would park at the Smith Center and have access to restroom facilities there.