Seeing a property on the Las Vegas Strip go from inception to completion can take years. The recent opening of the Fontainebleau casino on the northern end of the Strip serves as an example after taking almost two decades of planning, setbacks, and construction to finally open its doors.
Another planned project near that casino has also taken some time to get going. But this property’s construction plans, to be located between Fontainebleau and the Sahara, was recently nixed by Clark County zoning commissioners after concerns on construction delay sand where the project’s funds were coming from.
In 2013, former NBA and University of Las Vegas basketball player Jackie Robinson (unrelated to the famous baseball player) was approved to build All Net Arena, but that now appears to be off the table.
“Time and time again, we’ve asked, ‘Just one more year, or two years, let’s get this done, we’ll get it done,'” Clark County Zoning Commissioner Tick Segerblom said. “We’ve followed the money everywhere around the world. And truthfully, it just hasn’t happened. So, I’m just prepared to make a motion to deny it at this point. It breaks my heart to do it.”
A Look at the Canceled Project
All Net Arena may have seemed like a good idea when the county gave the plan the go-ahead about a decade ago. The project was to include a non-casino hotel with two towers, a 22,000-seat basketball arena that included a retractable roof, a convention center, movie theater, and grocery store.
A groundbreaking ceremony was later held, but construction never got underway. Robinson’s group kept receiving extensions on the project, but by November the commission finally decided against further extensions in a 7-0 vote.
Robinson told commissioners that his group indeed had financing for the arena-hotel but couldn’t produce documentation to back that up. Sahara officials also asked the commission not to extend a permit for the project after the site had remained vacant for years.
The actions show some of the back and forth seen between developers in the city and local officials. Segerblom had been a supporter of the project as it lies in his district, but the lack of documented funding and the long delay in seeing the project get underway ultimately led to the denial.
Commissioners could reconsider the plan at any time if a member could be convinced that the prospects for the project changed. That looked unlikely after the commission denied extending the permit for construction. Project developers still remained confident they could get a deal done to eventually finish the project.
“We continue to stand by our position that the requirements set by the County Commission will be met, the last of these being the retiring of a Confession of Judgement to Las Vegas Paving,” the group told KSNV in a statement. “Meanwhile we are currently grading the site.”
