Shaquille O’Neal breaks ground on east Las Vegas youth complex

An NBA legend has taken another step in expanding his outreach efforts to underserved youth in the Las Vegas Valley.

The Shaquille O’Neal Youth Complex broke ground Friday afternoon, signaling the start of construction on a multimillion dollar after-school resource center. The complex will be located near the intersection of East Lake Mead and North Lamb boulevards in east Las Vegas.

The project features a 30,000-square-foot clubhouse containing gyms, mental wellness rooms, technology and innovation labs and an early childhood learning center, as well as a 54,000-square-foot outdoor multisports field. In addition, the Metropolitan Police Department will place a new substation at the site. The Clark County Commission unanimously approved plans for the complex in February.

The $24-million-dollar project by The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, expected to be completed in late 2026, will benefit up to 180 kids daily at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada and Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada. A new CIS Alumni Center will provide former CIS students with help navigating their personal and professional lives. The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation was previously involved in renovating both the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada’s Boulder Highway Clubhouse field and two basketball courts at Doolittle Park.

At the groundbreaking, O’Neal said he chose to pursue creating a youth center because his mother told him to and because he owed the Boys and Girls Clubs “everything.”

“The schools and projects where I lived at, right across the street was a Boys and Girls Club. So my mother’s instructions were, ‘After school, you better be in that Boys and Girls Club when I come pick you up, or else,’ ” O’Neal said.

Close proximity to 6 public schools

Dr. Lisa Morris Hibbler, executive director of The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, said the ceremony marked the beginning of “a bold investment in our youth, our community and our future.”

“When this facility is complete, it won’t just be bricks and mortar. It’ll be a place of hope, of opportunity and transformation from pre-K to career,” she said.

Perry Rogers, treasurer of the board of directors for The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation and O’Neal’s agent, noted that the complex’s close proximity to six public schools make it a prime location for a youth center.

“There are no services over here, so this is absolutely the right place,” he said.

Rogers said the idea for the youth complex stemmed from a 2018 lunch with him, O’Neal and Elaine Wynn, the co-founder of Wynn Resorts who died in April. Rogers said the they were discussing ways to positively impact kids’ lives when O’Neal pitched the concept of opening a youth center in Las Vegas. From there, Rogers said, “we were off and running.”

“We wanted to do something no one has done before,” Rogers said. “Once you have a leader like Shaquille saying, ‘This is our true north’ … you’d be surprised how many people will come alongside.”

‘This is Shaq in the paint’

Other community partners involved in the project include the Las Vegas Raiders, which sponsored the multisports field, and the UFC, which sponsored a mixed-martial arts and boxing center. Sandra Douglass Morgan, president of the Raiders, said having grown up less than 2 miles from the complex site, she knows “firsthand” how it will better the local community.

“I’m hopeful that we’ll see the next Super Bowl athlete or a Hall of Famer that will be starting their first steps on this field right here, and we could say that we played some small part in it,” Douglass Morgan said.

Andy Bischel and Tami Hance-Lehr, CEOs of Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada and Communities In Schools of Nevada, respectively, as well as Clark County School District Superintendent Jhone Ebert praised the positive impact the complex will have on children’s development.

When he first heard of the project, Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill said he wasn’t convinced it would come to fruition, comparing the likelihood of it being completed to O’Neal making a free throw.

“But that’s not what this is,” McMahill said. “This is Shaq in the paint, pivoting (and) slam-dunking that ball.”

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.