Vegas seeks developers’ ideas for Cashman

It’s no secret that the Las Vegas 51s might soon leave the Cashman Center.

What’s less clear is where the New York Mets’ AAA minor league baseball team would go and what would become of the 70-acre stadium and convention center site the team leaves behind.

Las Vegas officials looked to shed some light on the latter question Wednesday, announcing a three-month bidding window for those interested in redeveloping the 31-year-old stadium site.

The city — which owns the land under the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority-owned stadium at 850 Las Vegas Blvd. North — is looking for contractors and investors willing to either rebuild the stadium and leave the baseball team intact, or else raze the place and come up with something new.

The idea, according to Deputy City Manager Scott Adams, is to field as many new Cashman revitalization concepts as possible.

Want to knock over the stadium and build a zoo? Leave it standing to host a rodeo or a soccer team?

Interested in leveling it to build an indoor ski resort or a new mega mixed-use development?

Adams has heard each of those ideas and said he remains open to hearing plenty more, so long as they don’t involve the city paying to help move the 51s into unincorporated Clark County.

Early this year, Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Corp. — the Dallas-based company that owns the team along with three local investors — had asked city officials to help finance a move to an as-yet unbuilt $65 million, 9,000-seat stadium on county land in Summerlin.

Las Vegas leaders balked at the proposal, one that Mayor Carolyn Goodman said wouldn’t work unless county leaders handed over the land to the city or else paid for the stadium themselves.

Thomas Warden, senior vice president for community and government relations for Howard Hughes Corp., Summerlin, declined to comment on whether the company would privately finance a stadium proposal.

Warden said the group plans to keep the 51s playing at Cashman “unless and until” they can find a new home for the team.

City development rights on the property don’t kick in until the 51s move or the team’s lease expires in 2022.

He declined to comment on previously submitted plans that would see the company convert at least some Cashman center ground to a mixed-use development.

Adams said Wednesday’s decision to put Cashman property up for bid will help get the city “off the hook” for any city-subsidized Summerlin stadium plan.

The winning idea should also help the city revitalize an oft-neglected corner of downtown.

“There’s been so many different ideas,” he said. “There’s been talk of a soccer complex, a school. … One of the ideas I’ve heard is redeveloping the property so things like Life is Beautiful and Helldorado can go there, but the 51s would stay there.

“I think from the city’s perspective, we want a major catalyst for that end of downtown.”

The city will accept partial bids on its Cashman properties, up to and including offers on adjacent city-owned buildings currently housing the Natural History Museum and the Reed Whipple Cultural Center.

Adams said the city is in talks to move the Natural History Museum to Las Vegas-Clark County Library District property on Las Vegas Boulevard, freeing up the building for use as a sweetener in any future development deals.

Officials have already fielded several proposals from Strong Cities, Strong Communities, a nationwide city planning initiative sponsored by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration.

The convention authority, for its part, doesn’t have much say in what becomes of Cashman.

Convention authority spokeswoman Dawn Christensen said agency leaders will defer to Las Vegas’ judgment when it comes to determining best uses for the property, as per an operating agreement signed with the city in 2008.

The convention authority, which is in the midst of financing a $2.3 billion convention center face-lift, received more than $318,000 in Cashman stadium rent payments in fiscal year 2014.

The Cashman Center hosted 205 events and collected $1.6 million in revenue over that same time period.

The authority lost $4.5 million on the property in fiscal year 2015.

Christensen declined to comment on whether the group had a preferred plan for Cashman’s redevelopment.

The convention authority holds a seat on the city’s bid proposal oversight committee, though Adams doesn’t expect that appointee to pose much opposition to redevelopment blueprints for the property.

“If you look at the history of (Cashman), it never really served the purpose of a convention center downtown,” he said. “Had you put it where the Plaza is today, it probably would’ve worked.

“It’s kind of been relegated as the retail convention center. … So I think the LVCVA’s eye is on the ball of stopping the bleeding at Cashman so that investment can go into the convention center.”

Las Vegas officials will take developer questions on the Cashman properties, near East Washington Avenue and North Las Vegas Boulevard, through Dec. 8.

The city’s bidding window on the land closes Feb. 2.

Contact James DeHaven at jdehaven@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3839. Follow @JamesDeHaven on Twitter.