UNLV sets timeline to reclaim leased lab space

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, hoping to reclaim 73,000 square feet of campus lab space leased to the Environmental Protection Agency for decades, set a new five-year timeline on Friday for the agency's gradual departure from the school.

The Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education voted unanimously in favor of a plan from UNLV that would require the EPA to stop using about half of 200 borrowed parking spaces by the end of this semester and vacate a portion of the leased property by next year. Under the deal, the EPA would slowly move out of the campus over the course of five years. UNLV says it should receive $9 million in base rent, operating expenses and utility spaces and special event parking fees from the EPA over that time period.

The EPA has borrowed four buildings from UNLV since 1962. Now, the rapidly growing school wants their space back.

The original lease agreement was instituted in 1962 and has been renewed periodically over the years, with the last renewal taking place in 2000 and expiring on Sept. 30, 2015. UNLV's new lease moves the EPA off a month-to-month rent agreement the board approved in September at the university's request.

"The plan is still for us and for the EPA to ultimately have them move off our campus," UNLV President Len Jessup told regents on Friday. "It's taking them longer to do that than any of us had wanted, and we think it's appropriate to shift the lease from its current form to a longer-term lease to give them the runway they need to ultimately take off and move off campus.

Contact Ana Ley at aley@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512. Find her on Twitter: @la__ley.