City Council Approves Selection Of Whiting-Turner To Handle Pre-Construction Services For The Smith Center For The Performing Arts
Landmark Project Takes Major Step Forward
January 16, 2008 – At its meeting today, the Las Vegas City Council approved a $1.71 million agreement with the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company to handle pre-construction services for the Smith Center for the Performing Arts. The $475 million complex will be built in downtown Las Vegas.
Whiting-Turner will immediately begin constructability reviews, construction cost estimates and value engineering input regarding material, methods, systems, schedule, labor and other conditions affecting construction for the project. Groundbreaking for the Smith Center for the Performing Arts is planned for late this year, with an opening in 2011.
Don Snyder, The Smith Center chairman of the board said, “We thank the city of Las Vegas for its very thoughtful selection process, and look forward to working with Whiting-Turner. The company is equipped to play an important role during the design process, and an even bigger role during construction. I have said that The Smith Center is the most important project to be built in Nevada in our lifetime. Whiting-Turner has the opportunity to be a part of Las Vegas history.”
Funding for this project is derived from the rental car fee established in the 2003 Special Session of the Nevada Legislature and by private funds secured by the Las Vegas Performing Arts Foundation, a Nevada non-profit corporation.
The project is an anchor for the city’s Union Park project, a 61-acre, mixed-use development being master planned by Newland Communities and the city of Las Vegas. Additional planned projects in Union Park include:
- Keep Memory Alive, the Foundation for the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute.
- 1.9 million square feet of Class A office space.
- 363,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
- 3,100 high-rise residential units.
- 15,800 parking spaces contained within vertical structures.
New hotel/casino. - 1,750 hotel rooms.
