Sun blazing overhead, dust under foot and construction going on all around, Jesse Davis leads me on a hard-hat tour of this massive, Vegas-redefining project in the city’s center. “This is the real Project City Center,” I say, alluding to MGM Mirage’s $7.4 billion complex on the county-controlled Strip.
Over rock-strewn paths we go. We dip in and out of under-construction galleries dedicated to Southern Nevada geo-history (home to bubbling springs that provided water to Native Americans thousands of years ago and Mormon settlers a century ago) and stop along points on a 2-mile trail system. All the while Davis, spokesman for the Las Vegas Springs Preserve, schools me on the 180-acre, $250 million undertaking: It’ll host concerts (Grammy-winner Jewel inaugurates the 2,000-seat amphitheater on June 9; grand opening is a day earlier), educational projects for schoolchildren and classes on eco-friendly cooking and sustainable living. Over there, in a now-barren plot, will be the Nevada State Museum. Round yonder, a restaurant operated by Wolfgang Puck’s Fine Dining Group. Can’t forget the botanical garden.
A tree-huggers’ nirvana, this place: straw bale used for building insulation; enough on-site-generated solar energy to meet 70 percent of the preserve’s power needs.
This is the real Project City Center, I say: “It’s in the middle of the city, it’s the historical origin of the Valley, and it has the potential to bring in people from all parts of the Valley.” –Damon Hodge