MGM Mirage purchase includes El Rancho site

MGM Mirage announced last week that it had struck deals to buy two parcels of land on the north end of the Strip for $575 million, giving the company more than 100 contiguous acres stretching north from Circus Circus Drive to Sahara Avenue.

The Las Vegas-based casino operator, which is building the massive $7 billion Project CityCenter on 66 acres on the south Strip, has assembled the acreage to construct a similar and potentially larger development on the Strip's northern end.

"This land assemblage creates a very interesting and exciting opportunity for our company to create an integrated resort complex on the north end of the Strip," said Jim Murren, MGM Mirage president and chief financial officer.

MGM Mirage will spend $444 million to purchase a vacant 25.8-acre parcel from Gordon Gaming Corp., current owners of the Sahara.

The site, on the southwest corner of the Strip and Sahara Avenue, is one of the boulevard's last major undeveloped locations.

It was the site of the original El Rancho Vegas, one of the first hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, which was destroyed by fire on June 18, 1960.

In addition, MGM Mirage is spending $131 million to acquire a 7.6-acre parcel from Concord Wilshire Partners.

MONDAY

Police patrol UNLV campus

Police were more visible than usual on the UNLV campus as officers hoped to ease fears that what happened at Virginia Tech could happen at home.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas Police Chief Jose Elique said officers were patrolling on foot the 350-acre campus to answer students' questions about the massacre.

Marketing student Amanda Davis said news of the shootings on Virginia Tech's campus, which left 33 people dead, was "pretty scary."

"I was definitely glad to see those two officers over there," she said, gesturing toward two UNLV officers standing in the courtyard next to the student union. "I usually see police around, but not like that."

TUESDAY

Paiute tribe blocks Yucca train route

Energy Department hopes to transport nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain down a western Nevada corridor were dealt a possibly fatal blow when the Walker River Paiute Tribe withdrew its cooperation on a railroad route through its reservation.

The tribal council passed a resolution removing the tribe from a federal environmental impact study that included a rail segment for shipments of spent nuclear fuel along the outskirts of its sovereign lands north of Walker Lake.

The Walker River Paiutes faced growing pressures from their membership and from neighboring communities over the possibility of nuclear waste traveling through Northern Nevada.

WEDNESDAY

City OKs $300,000 for right-turn fight

The Las Vegas City Council unanimously decided to continue its legal fight against the Federal Aviation Administration's "right turn" departures out of McCarran International Airport over the northwest Las Vegas Valley.

The council approved spending up to an additional $300,000 on the legal fight.

The city already has spent about $100,000 on legal fees to fight the FAA's refusal to reconsider a decision to allow more flights to take off west from McCarran and then turn north.

Nearly 200 people showed up at the City Council meeting.

When Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman asked them to raise their hands if they supported continuing the legal fight, arms shot up in a wave.

When Goodman asked for those who wanted the legal fight to stop, only four arms braved the partisan crowd.

THURSDAY

Homeless count

less than expected

A large-scale count of Clark County's homeless population found a significantly lower number of homeless people living in the Las Vegas Valley than many officials and advocates had expected.

On any given day, about 11,370 people are homeless in Clark County, according to results of an intensive January homeless count released by the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Commission's Committee on Homelessness.

Social service providers and advocates for the homeless had estimated 14,500 homeless people lived in the valley.

The last homeless census, conducted in 2005, put the tally at about 13,000.

FRIDAY

Council plans

new city hall

The city of Las Vegas is aggressively pursuing a plan to open a new city hall within four years, hoping to give city workers more space with a new $225 million facility.

The City Council agreed last week to negotiate for a new city hall site.

The deal could involve swapping land with a developer, LiveWork LLC, which wants to build a hotel and casino on the city-owned 61-acre parcel downtown.

Deputy City Manager Orlando Sanchez said the city is "basically bursting at its seams" at its current location.

COMPILED BY MICHAEL SQUIRES READ THE FULL STORIES ONLINE AT www.reviewjournal.com/wir