Payments to city to start
Las Vegas soon will start being paid the more than $11 million it is owed for acquiring land for the Fremont Street Experience's parking garage.
It took almost two decades since the acquisition for the city to figure out the bill.
And it will take almost three more decades for the city to get paid in full.
In 1993, the city's Redevelopment Agency signed an agreement with Fremont Street Experience LLC and the Fremont Street Parking Corp. that, among other things, called on the agency to obtain the land for the garage. The city agreed to spend up to $6.4 million, with any additional amount to be reimbursed by Fremont Street Parking.
The acquisition turned ugly. The land belonged to the Pappas family, who fought Las Vegas' use of eminent domain to force them to sell.
They eventually settled for $4.5 million in 2004 after taking the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The legal fight is part of the reason the money is still owed, said Bill Arent, director of Las Vegas' Office of Business Development.
"I think that's a big part of it," Arent said. "Because of the time it took to resolve everything, we didn't know a dollar amount."
Furthermore, the original agreement needed to be clarified to specify the amount owed and the payment schedule, he said.
In all, the agency spent $17.5 million obtaining the property for the garage, which is between Las Vegas Boulevard and Fourth Street at the east end of the Fremont Street Experience. Subtract the $6.4 million city contribution and $11.1 million is owed.
City officials did not provide a breakdown of the debt, including how much was owed before the Pappas lawsuit was filed.
Under an ordinance that will be introduced to the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday, Fremont Street Parking Corp. will pay $58,000 a month starting in January. The annual interest rate will be 4.15 percent.
The funds will come from retail businesses that lease space on the garage's ground floor, Arent said, and will go to the Redevelopment Agency for investment in other downtown projects.
Construction of a new city hall could be one of those projects.
According to a debt calculator, the debt will take about 26 years to repay.
Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.
