Knights partner with developer to operate North Las Vegas hockey facility

The Vegas Golden Knights plan to expand their footprint in Southern Nevada by partnering with a developer to manage a North Las Vegas hockey facility.

The hockey rink is left over from the shuttered Fiesta Rancho, with the Knights inking an operating agreement with Agora Realty and Management, in which they will manage and program the facility. That agreement is scheduled to begin next month.

“What we’ve been really focused on is not trying to disrupt the current community that is utilizing the rink,” Cary Lefton, CEO of Agora said. “The current ice rink is going to stay open while we’re constructing a new facility next door.”

That facility Lefton mentioned is a new 100,000-square-foot, $20 million hockey facilty to be incorporated in the Hylo Park mixed-use development that Agora is planning. The hockey center will feature two sheets of ice and have a capacity of around 3,000, Lefton said.

“We are going to have a first-class hotel next door so that we’re going to be able to accommodate tournaments and other types of activities that will be able to use a facility of that size,” Lefton said.

The $380 million Hylo Park will be built in phases on 73 acres where the Fiesta Rancho and Texas Station used to sit. The major project is planned to feature hotel and residential space, restaurants, retail, outdoor spaces and a sports bar in the overall project, which promises to bode well for those using the hockey facility.

“What we envision is creating something similar to an Olympic village,” Lefton said. “Whether you’re organizing youth sports or adult sports, you’re going to be treated like a professional athlete.”

Plans call for construction on the hockey facility to begin in June and is expected to be completed in 18 months, Lefton said.

‘Busting at the seams’

The Knights have other hockey facilities in the valley including City National Arena in Summerlin, where the Golden Knights practice, and American First Center in Henderson, where the Silver Knights train. Both facilities also host youth and adult hockey. As the popularity of the Knights has surged over the past six years, so has the interest in hockey from Southern Nevada residents.

“They (Knights) were mentioning that they were busting at the seams and that they needed another facility,” Lefton said. “That’s when we collaborated together and came up with a project that we thought might be able to accommodate that demand at a much higher level.”

Adding in the Fiesta Rancho hockey facility will allow the team to keep up with the sport’s growth in its hockey program in the valley.

“We had 92 kids in our house league in year two. We (now) have 1,015, and that’s just our house league,” said Darren Eliot, vice president of hockey programming and facility operations with the Knights. “It’s just grown exponentially. The only way to keep that growth going is to stay involved and to help facilities and new facilities being built and be right there at the forefront.”

Once the new hockey arena is completed, the Fiesta Rancho rink will be repurposed into a field house for other sports.

‘Exciting for the city’

Beyond sports, Jared Luke, director of economic development for North Las Vegas, also envisions civic events taking place at the facilities.

“Meetings, gatherings, who knows, maybe we do a State of the City from there at some point,” Luke said.

City officials hope the new hockey center and surrounding development will spur economic benefits and give local youths a place to learn the game that has taken the Las Vegas Valley by storm with the success of the Knights.

“The main goal is to put something on the ground for the residents, especially the kids in North Las Vegas, can benefit from,” Luke said. “A nice, upscale safe area where they can go and participate in sports activities and also be a family gathering area.”

Having a major pro sports tie to North Las Vegas is a big deal for the city, especially one amplified by the magnitude of the Hylo Park project, according to Luke.

“Having some involvement from VGK in North Las Vegas in a project like this is going to change some things in a depressed area,” he said. “It’s exciting for the city.”

When the Hylo Park project is fully built out, Luke said it’s tough to measure just how much it will positively affect the city.

“You’re looking at a development project that is a couple hundred million dollars and the economic impact, honestly it’s hard to put an opinion on what that’s going to be,” Luke said. “We’ve heard from neighbors both in North Las Vegas and the Las Vegas side of things and other businesses in the area that are excited because it’s going to uptick what they’re doing. We expect it’s going to be an economic driver in that area for years to come.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.