FBI dedicates headquarters

With a beige interior, potted plants and landscape paintings on the walls, the interior of the three-story building at 1787 W. Lake Mead Blvd. at first looks like it could be filled with dentists or insurance company executives.

But when you poke your head into the room with rows of Remington 870 shotguns and Heckler & Koch MP5 assault rifles, you know it's not an ordinary office building.

The $49 million building on more than five acres on Lake Mead near Martin Luther King Boulevard is the new Las Vegas FBI headquarters. The agency outgrew its former headquarters on Charleston Boulevard near Las Vegas Boulevard and moved to the new location in November. It houses about 120 FBI agents and 100 support employees, officials said.

On Tuesday, the FBI held a dedication ceremony at the new headquarters, the John Lawrence Bailey Memorial Building, and opened it to the public for tours. The building is named after an FBI agent who was killed by a bank robber he was taking into custody in Las Vegas in June 1990.

The land under the 106,000-square-foot building was donated by the city, and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman relished speaking at the dedication ceremony because when he was a defense attorney he defended mobsters who were investigated by the FBI.

"I wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world. A captive audience of FBI agents? This is a dream I had," Goodman said to much laughter.

Goodman said when the FBI was originally looking for a new location, he heard that the agency might place the headquarters in Henderson because it was having trouble finding a location in Las Vegas.

"Now, I don't even know where Henderson is. But I knew one thing: I wanted to make sure it (FBI headquarters) stayed in Las Vegas," Goodman said.

A contract for the site was awarded in March 2004, and construction began in 2005. The FBI moved in on Nov. 18. Officials said the project was completed on schedule and on budget.

The building is leased from Stella Lake Partners, a partnership with the Virginia-based Harwood & Associates, for about $3 million a year for 15 years.

Joe Ford, a Washington, D.C.-based associate deputy director of the FBI, said that as the area has grown, Las Vegas casinos have "proven to be magnets for criminals looking to hide among the throngs of tourists."

In 2004, for example, the "Ohio Sniper" Charles McCoy was arrested in Las Vegas at a Budget Suites near the Stardust. McCoy was wanted for more than a dozen shootings along Ohio Highways.

Steve Martinez, FBI special agent in charge in Las Vegas, said he was proud of the new building and the agents who work there.

"As time goes by, this location might be seen by some as just another commercial building," he said. "I want the community to know, however, that each day, some of the country's most dedicated, selfless and hardworking professionals will gather here .. with the overarching goal of keeping our country safe."