Regulation of building wraps for Las Vegas business in the works

Building wraps promoting hotels, casinos and shows could become more common in downtown Las Vegas if an ordinance aimed at regulating them comes to fruition.

Billboard companies, resort owners and city officials are meeting privately to construct an ordinance that would regulate the massive signs, which are common on the Strip but rare downtown.

Current rules in the city say they are allowed only temporarily, which makes it too expensive for most businesses to use them.

The new rules could allow building owners to keep the wraps up full time provided they are well-maintained and adhere to city design review standards.

Owners of the D Las Vegas, which until recently was known as Fitzgeralds, used a building wrap to highlight the name change and rebranding effort.

Terry Murphy, a lobbyist and consultant to the D, said once the new rules are in place, other resorts may follow suit.

"I don't think a lot of them are thinking about it, but when it becomes an option, they may," Murphy said.

The idea of changing Las Vegas city code to better accommodate building wraps has been in the works for years but twice has been tabled at the Planning Commission.

Murphy said much of the concern that has stalled the issue has to do with worries about using the wraps for off-premises advertising.

She said the latest round of behind-the-scenes talks include limitations that would restrict wraps to on-premises advertising, meaning that a hotel, could advertise for itself on a wrap but couldn't use its facade to promote an unrelated product or service.

It's an attempt to avoid the potential that a building owner could plaster the downtown skyline with ads for controversial products or services.

"A doctor's office couldn't wrap itself in a sign for Dr. Pepper," she said. "A sign on a hotel should be for a hotel."

Under the ordinance that is in the works, wraps would be allowed on tall buildings in the area covered by the Downtown Centennial Plan, said Flinn Fagg, director of the city planning department.

A group of stakeholders that includes resorts, billboard companies and others, has met twice in private to discuss the issue.

The idea is to use the group's suggestions to craft an ordinance that would be sent to the Planning Commission and, eventually, the City Council.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@
reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.