(This story first ran Monday and was updated to reflect the Henderson city council action Tuesday)
By Alan Snel
LVSportsBiz.com
The Vegas Golden Knights are spreading the gospel of hockey to the city of Henderson, where the city council Tuesday approved a land lease deal with the Golden Knights for the NHL team to build a $25 million ice rink center on 3.2 acres at the corner of Water Street and Atlantic Avenue in Henderson.
The council meeting NB 61 agenda item includes the city of Henderson kicking in $10.75 million to the Golden Knights for the two-rink community ice center that the city believes will be a good economic investment and an amenity for Henderson residents. Here’s the resolution calling for the public contribution of dollars for the NHL team.
Golden Knights President Kerry Bubolz gave the Henderson City Council a “Go Knights Go” chant after the council approved the ice center lease deal in downtown Henderson.
Mayor Debra March used the “game changer” term for the lease agreement.
The annual rent for the first year will be $40,000 and will increase by 2 percent each year. The city will pay $6.7 million along with $4 million in Redevelopment Agency funds toward the cost of design, development and construction, for a total contribution of $10.75 million. Henderson will acquire the building at completion of the lease.
Here’s the specific part to the resolution that referred to the $10.75 million payment to the Golden Knights: “due to the tremendous economic benefit and recreational opportunities to the
City and its residents, the City has determined that it is in its best interest to
contribute up to Ten Million Seven-Hundred and Fifty Thousand and no/100
Dollars ($10,750,000.00), including the Agency Funds, to be deposited into a
construction control account monitored by a third party construction control agent
for reimbursement of the Tenant’s design, development and construction
expenses related to the Project as further specified in the lease documents.”
The 20-year deal includes the city of Henderson demolishing the convention center on the site and preparing a pad for the Golden Knights to build the ice center, which would include two ice rinks, a restaurant, meeting room and VGK retail space. The Knights believe the ice center can be built in a year.
It would be similar to the Golden Knights ice center in Downtown Summerlin, which is called City National Arena. The Golden Knights did not receive public money for its Summerlin ice center, which is next-door to the Las Vegas Aviators ballpark that is owned by Summerlin master developer Howard Hughes Corporation.
In this case, the money being used by the city of Henderson for the convention center will be re-directed toward the new VGK ice center in the city. Check out the entire Henderson city council agenda item here.
The Henderson community ice center would provide rink space for youth and adult hockey leagues, public skating sessions and figure skating training and lessons in Henderson.
The Henderson city resolution cites these reasons for the city entering the land lease deal with the Golden Knights:
City has determined that: (1) the development of the Project on the Property
would provide an extraordinary economic development opportunity to expand the
recreational facilities available to the community, (2) the construction of the
Project will create new jobs at the Property, (3) the construction of the Project will
result in a significant increase to the number of visitors to downtown Henderson
resulting in an increased demand for services from existing businesses, (3) the
increased visitors to downtown Henderson will be an important catalyst to create
opportunities for new businesses to open, thereby creating additional new jobs;
(4) name brand recognition resulting from the construction of a National Hockey
League-affiliated facility will result in national recognition for the City; (5) since
the Project will result in the construction of the first ice hockey arena in the City of
Henderson, it will create a broader range of affordable recreational and athletic
opportunities for the City’s residents, and especially the residents of the
Redevelopment Areas; (6) the construction of the Project will increase civic pride
for the City of Henderson; and (7) the economic effect of the Project on the City’s
existing businesses will provide further social and economic benefits to the
community
It’s common for NHL teams in sunbelt markets to build ice centers around their city’s metro area to grow hockey and get young kids involved in liking the sport.
The city of Henderson also celebrated in January the groundbreaking of the Raiders’ $75 million headquarters in Henderson near the executive airport.
Here’s the Golden Knights press release on tonight’s city council approval.
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