Las Vegas to Build a New City Hall

The City Council has voted its approval and the bonds have been sold; Las Vegas will be getting a new city hall. It will be a stone's throw from Clark County's office building on the other side of the railroad tracks. The land is a block off of Bonneville and Main Street, bordered by Clark and Lewis Avenues. The cost of the 310,000 square foot building is $146.2 million. The city has sold bonds for $185 million.

The city is using a "lease-purchase" financing, which gives the borrower the option of walking away from the deal. Part of the financing has been offset by the federal stimulus bill in a program that rebates some of the borrowing costs. With the stimulus funding, the effective interest rate is 5.26%.

Construction is slated to start in January 2010 and is expected to take 24 to 26 months.
Forest City, a developer, has plans to build a 900,000 square feet project of office and retail space next door in return for access to a parcel in Symphony Park for a hotel-casino when the building is complete.

According to the Review-Journal, the first payment of $3.5 million will be due in the 2013 fiscal year, followed by payments of $9.3 million in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Thereafter, the amount due will be $13.4 million annually for the remainder of the 30-year term.

John Laub is the CEO/President of the CEO-CFO Group.

1. "Council Approves Bond Sale for New Las Vegas City Hall. Work to Begin on Project in January." Dave Toplikar. Las Vegas Sun. December 2, 2009

2. "New Downtown: LV OKs City Hall Project." Alan Choate. Las Vegas Review- Journal. December 3, 2009.