In Thursday’s (5/7) Las Vegas Sun, Mary Manning reports, “The Las Vegas City Council approved agreements and funds today for the $245 million Smith Center for the Performing Arts, which could begin construction later this month. Plans for the Smith Center, a public-private partnership, place it in the 61-acre Union Park, a mixed-use, master-planned urban center in downtown Las Vegas. The votes were unanimous at this morning’s city council and redevelopment agency meetings. A groundbreaking is tentative on May 26 for the 4.76-acre cultural complex that will feature music, theater and dance companies celebrating cultures from all over the world. The center’s projected opening is early 2012.” The project will be funded through a rental car tax, bonds from the redevelopment agency, and support from the Don W. Reynolds Foundation. “The center will have a 2,050-seat multipurpose main hall and an education building that will house a 300-seat cabaret theater, and a 200-seat flexible studio theater for rehearsals, children’s theater and community events.” The center will be home to the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet Theater.
Posted May 7, 2009
