Chris Milam is an Austin, Texas-based, 49-year-old. He earned a degree in finance from the University of Texas in San Antonio, where, in 1985, he also went to work for USAA, a large insurance and financial-services company, in its real-estate division. Reportedly, Milam was so aggressive and hard-working that he was hired away from USAA by a Chicago real-estate developer, who dispatched him to Eastern Europe to pursue opportunities surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union.
According to a profile in the American Statesman, Milam, still in his early 30s, helped develop the 700,000-square-foot Warsaw Financial Center, the 600,000-square-foot Moscow Corporate Center, and the 120,000-square-foot Sony Center in Budapest, before settling down in Austin, Texas, in 2001. There, he developed the Village of Bee Cave Mall.
He burst onto the Las Vegas scene in 2007, when it was announced that he and Australian billionaire and casino-mogul James Packer made a deal to build the 1,888-foot 142-story Crown Tower on the former site of the Wet ‘n’ Wild water park next door to the Sahara.
After a prolonged standoff with the Federal Aviation Administration, with negative input from Nellis Air Force Base, Milam agreed to decrease the height of the tower to 1,150 feet -- a foot higher than the nearby Stratosphere. That plan died in the financing.
Apparently, Milam had an alternative plan for the Wet ‘n’ Wild Site: a sports stadium. He entered into an agreement with owners Paul and Sue Lowden to purchase the 27-acre site for a hefty $618 million, just under $23 million per acre. That deal rell through.
Later, Milam announced that he’d negotiated a 100-year lease on the site to build the $750-million 20,000-seat Silver State Arena, but financing never firmed up and that deal, too, fizzled.
Chris Milam’s latest project is a deal that might go through: buying the Las Vegas 51s minor-league baseball team. The 51s sale, which could be completed as early as this summer, would be one piece of the $1.95 billion Las Vegas National Sports Center complex Milam hopes to build on a 63-acre site west of Mandalay Bay. The complex would include a 9,500-seat ballpark for the 51s, a 36,000-seat stadium for Major League Soccer, and a 17,500-seat arena that could be the future home of the National Finals Rodeo and the Professional Bull Riders finals (nearing the end of their contracts with UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center).
According to a recent story, sources close to Milam claim he’s negotiating with 12 banks that own the vacant 63-acre vacant site. The deal has been struck. A deposit has been paid. A heavy-hitter from Goldman Sachs is spearheading the private-equity fundraising.
One aspect of the project that could delay it, or sink it, is the creation of a special taxation district that would leverage a public bond offering. It would have to be approved by the Nevada Legislature and these publically financed private-development deals are getting tougher and tougher to sneak by wary voters, who are becoming all too familiar with the phrase, "socializing costs and privatizing profits."
In addition, a couple of competing arena plans are in the works. In March, the Nevada Board of Regents approved preliminary plans for a 40,000-seat domed stadium to be built on the UNLV campus. Approval by the Regents allowed UNLV to enter exclusive negotiations with Majestic Realty, owned by Ed Roski, who also owns Silverton and is part-owner of the L.A. Lakers.
With this deal also, the Nevada Legislature will be asked to approve a special enterprise district that will generate tax revenue to pay back construction and operating costs, and included in the plan are thousands of on-campus dorm rooms, more than a half-million square feet of retail space, and parking for thousands of cars. If built, the district would occupy 150 of the UNLV campus’ 330 acres.
The third arena plan calls for a $1.5 billion three-venue complex (a basketball and hockey arena and partially enclosed baseball and football stadiums) to be located at Symphony Park downtown.
Indeed, a total of 14 stadiums have now been proposed for Las Vegas in the past 15 years.
Meanwhile, back at the Las Vegas National Sports Center, $1.95 billion isn’t all that easy to raise these days. So it remains to be seen if Christopher Milam’s latest Vegas venture will get off the ground.
