Las Vegas Consulting Construction Management Firm Charged With Reviewing Raiders Stadium Plans

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

So many documents. So many numbers.

 

The Raiders stadium legislation has produced a storm of paperwork for Thursday’s stadium board meeting in Las Vegas. We might finally get a more exact number on the construction cost for the 65,000-seat, domed venue as the guaranteed maximum price for the stadium construction costs might come into focus.

 

And we already know that  January’s hotel room tax revenues to help pay for the stadium hit $4.7 million, the first time monthly room tax revenue numbers for the stadium were above budgeted levels since the Oct. 1 Strip mass shooting. (Total room tax revenues for the stadium have reached $45.3 million as part of the public’s $750 million contribution for the Raiders stadium.)

 

But the stadium authority board is not the only folks keeping an eye on the Raiders stadium project on behalf of the public. The public is relying on a Las Vegas construction management firm to make sure the Raiders’ construction plans deliver a premium NFL and multi-purpose venue as spelled out in the state’s stadium legislation, also known as Senate Bill (SB) 1.

 

The Las Vegas Stadium Authority was required, under SB1, to hire an independent consultant to review the stadium construction plans and design.

 

The stadium authority board has not hired many consultants. There’s Jeremy Aguero and his Applied Analysis firm that’s moving the stadium project along at stadium board meetings. Mark Arnold is the stadium authority’s consulting lawyer.

 

And there’s Grand Canyon Development Partners in Las Vegas, picked from 11 companies that vied for the job to be the public representative in reviewing the Raiders stadium construction and design plans to make sure the palatial venue will comply with the requirements in Senate Bill 1. Here’s what Grand Canyon Development will do right from the contract it signed with the stadium authority.

 

 

For this job, Grand Canyon Development bills the stadium authority $225 per hour for its principal staffers and $75 for administrative staff. The total bill is not supposed to exceed $50,000. Expenses such as travel, shipping/postal charges and project document printing will also be reimbursed by the stadium authority.

 

Behind the Grand Canyon Development Partners’ job since November are three men — Sam Nicholson, the company’s president who has a civil engineering background; Tony Cosentino, Grand Canyon’s point man on the review who is an architect by trade; and retired former HOK, then-Populace sports architect Jack Boyle in Kansas City.

 

Cosentino does not talk to the Raiders and their contractors, Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction and McCarthy Building Companies, directly. He receives the construction design plans from Aguero’s Applied Analysis firm.

 

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It should be noted that the Raiders have their own representative on the $1.8 billion stadium project on 62 acres west of Interstate 15 off Russell Road and Polaris Avenue. The Raiders hired ICON Venue Group to be their team owner rep. ICON also were part of the $375 million T-Mobile Arena project in Las Vegas for arena owners MGM Resorts International and Anschutz Entertainment Group. (Golden Knights owner Bill Foley has since bought a 15 percent share of T-Mobile Arena.)

 

Occasionally, Cosentino talks with the Raiders’ rep, ICON Venue Group, and the team’s lawyer.

 

Nicholson and Cosentino have Phoenix area roots, working together at Perini Building Co. in Phoenix. Cosentino worked on the Phoenix Diamondbacks MLB ballpark, Phoenix Suns NBA arena and San Jose Sharks NHL arena. Cosentino also worked as the owner’s representative on the Arizona Coyotes arena and recalled when it opened in the middle of the season in December 2003.

 

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Grand Canyon Development Partners work on big projects such as serving as the development manager of the The Drew Las Vegas (the old Fountainbleau) on the north end of the Strip. The company also worked on the Lucky Dragon hotel on Sahara Avenue, which shuttered recently, and the SLS Las Vegas conversion project on the Strip near The Drew Las Vegas.

 

Cosentino doesn’t offer his own public opinions about the Raiders stadium. He does say that the stadium has some interesting features such as the eternal flame display for former Raiders owner Al Davis; its moving walls and a large electronic signage on the exterior of the venue.

 

LVSportsBiz.com has made several requests to Aguero to review the work submitted by Grand Canyon Development Partners and is waiting for a response.

 

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Follow LVSportsBiz.con on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Contact LVSportsBiz.com founer/writer Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com

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