Project Neon Lights is the grand vision of a couple of Las Vegas speculators who claim to have pulled off a major land coup. Apparently, they’ve spent the past three years cobbling together a huge parcel of occupied property downtown, 70 acres in all, by buying one little piece at a time.
The land is bordered by the railroad tracks on the west (just west of Industrial Rd.), Wyoming Avenue on the south (one block north of Oakey), Main Street on the east, and Charleston Blvd. on the north. Occupying a site between Stratosphere on the south and the edge of downtown on the north, the plot is being advertised as the "missing link" between the Strip and downtown.
The extent of what the two speculators actually own is a bit vague. They say they’ve bought a few parcels with their own money, and have, according to a recent article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "more than 50 other sites in escrow."
Still, the speculators are actively marketing the site, which they’ve dubbed Project Neon Lights, to investors and developers with a DVD and pitch booklet; they claim to have sent out the package to 2,000 potential buyers. At this time, they’re asking a minimum of $7 million an acre, though they believe the land is worth more like $10 million per. Analysts have called the property a long-term play, which will become clearer a few years in the future as development continues to move northward from the north Strip.
As for what the development could be, that’s anyone’s guess. The buzzword for projects of this size is "mixed-use," meaning a resort-casino, condos or hotel-condos, retail and office space, or any combination of the above. One thing’s for certain. If Project Neon Lights comes to fruition, it would mean a massive five-by-four-block exercise in urban removal.
