By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Every few weeks I would take a bicycle ride from Summerlin to the Raiders stadium construction site off Hacienda Avenue — the key road for me to reach the 62-acre site via human-powered two wheels. It was a nice way to document the progress of a stadium being built for $1.8 billion (including $750 million in public dollars.)
Then, I would ride behind the Luxor and pedal my way underneath big ol’ Tropicana Avenue to reach T-Mobile Arena, its copper-toned veneer gleaming with pride thanks to the sun up over the horizon during my early-morning jaunts.
I would pedal along The Park and make a left on the Strip, heading north on Las Vegas Boulevard as a few joggers blended in with the drunks staggering back to their rooms around 7 a.m. or so.
You want to stay safe while bicycling on the Strip? Take the full right lane, wave motorists and bus drivers around you to pass and check out Bellagio, Caesars, and even little Casino Royale before zipping by the Venetian, Palazzo, Winn and Encore.
And just before I cruise by SLS Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara I’d take a peak at the prepared dirt site of the Jackie Robinson arena and non-gambling hotel and wonder if an arena with a retractable roof would ever get built.
I’d pedal a few miles north to Alta Drive and make the uphill sojourn back to Summerlin, where I would check out the Vegas Golden Knights’ $31 million training center and its next-door sports neighbor — the future $150 million Las Vegas Ballpark, a Triple A ballyard being built by Summerlin master developer and 51s owner Howard Hughes Corp. along South Pavilion Center Drive at Downtown Summerlin.
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And then I realized the bike route linked together most of Las Vegas’ major stadiums and arena projects and construction sites. (UNLV, I will include a special expanded route to include Thomas & Mack Center and the new football training complex.)
And here’s a fresh look at these sites along Friday’s 31-mile bicycle ride.
Mile 14: Raiders stadium. $1.8 billion venue opens in July 2020.
A worker told me through the fence that the stadium the foundation, footings and pilings are going in.
And a half-dozen cranes have set up shop at the site off I-15 and Russell Road.
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Mile 16: T-Mobile Arena. $375 million venue opened April 6, 2016
It’s been exactly a week since Vegas Golden Knights woke up for the first time without VGK hockey.
But the signs are all over the arena exterior. Still.
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Mile 18: Jackie Robinson arena. $1.4 billion arena and hotel project next to SLS
Robinson, the former UNLV and NBA basketball player, staged a groundbreaking at the 27-acre site in October 2014.
The site has been prepared and dirt has been moved.
But there is no sign of construction.
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Mile 30: City National Arena. $31 million venue opened in mid-2017
The center of the Las Vegas universe for two months this spring, the Vegas Golden Knights’ training center along South Pavilion Center Drive near Red Rock Resort attracted crowds of 500 to 600 daily during the magnificent and wonderful Stanley Cup run.
It’s also a community center for ice skaters and owner Bill Foley’s Mackenzie River pizza tavern sits between two rinks on a second level.
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Mile 30: Las Vegas Ballpark. The Triple A ballpark opens March 2019. Groundbreaking was Feb. 23.
Next door to City National Arena is the $150 million ballpark being built by Howard Hughes Corp.
The detonations to move dirt rocked the Golden Knights’ neighboring building and now there are signs of construction. The 51s will undergo a new branding, complete with new name and home in 2019.
A construction cam documenting the progress went live Monday.
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