A welcome addition

Las Vegas is a world-class city, and it has been for nearly two decades. But there's always room for big ideas and big improvements, particularly in areas that upgrade the quality of life for this county's roughly 2 million residents.

Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony for the Smith Center for the Performing Arts counts as a major leap forward in this city's evolution from dusty railroad stop to global tourist and convention destination. The $485 million facility, scheduled to open downtown in early 2012, will be a first among the valley's many signature arenas and theaters: a timeless cultural destination built primarily for Southern Nevadans, not for visitors to enjoy high-profile casino headliners.

The heart of the Smith Center is a 2,050-seat theater that will serve as the permanent home to the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the Nevada Ballet Theatre. The campus also includes an educational complex, a cabaret theater and rooms for children's and community functions.

The center is named after Fred W. Smith, a former Las Vegas Review-Journal executive who now chairs the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, and his wife, Mary. (The newspaper used to be owned by Mr. Reynolds' Donrey Media.) The foundation donated $150 million toward the center's construction costs.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith attended Tuesday's ceremony with their grandchildren, which prompted him to remark:

"Their generation will be the true beneficiary of the hard work everyone has put into this project."

There is still money to be raised to complete the project and ensure its operations never go unfunded. But the hardest work -- dreaming it, selling it, designing it and getting construction started -- is over. The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is a reality. And Las Vegas is significantly better for it.