Usually arts district heavyweights Wes Myles and Jack Solomon are on the same page. As respected Downtown business owners, the two arguably have the most invested in the success of a growing art scene.
Myles, a successful product photographer, used his art connections to create the Arts Factory and lay the foundation of the city’s art festivals in the late ’90s. Solomon, an art reproducer and wholesaler from Chicago who relocated his immensely successful art retail business S2 and its world headquarters from New York to Las Vegas in 2001, has brought the high-brow market—as well as its respect and credibility—to the burgeoning Downtown scene.
So what could possibly bring these two self-made men and occasional business partners to near blows in the middle of a district they helped create?
Answer: Just one little adjacent street called Boulder Avenue, and the big plans in store for it.
According to Myles, it all started when city leaders approached him with an idea: turn Boulder Avenue into a world-class sculpture park. Excited, Myles and Solomon got together to assemble plans for the park on the plaza, complete with designs and sculptures from a number of world-famous artists, all eventually to be topped off by a 36-spire sculpture called “Chaos” to be built by famed Israeli sculptor Yaacov Agam.
The project, proposed to cost around $4.5 million, already had $1.5 million ready, thanks to a grant from the Bureau of Land Management obtained through land sales. The rest of the money would come from the city of Las Vegas.
But recent budget cuts changed everything. “Basically, the money from the city is off the table,” says Myles. A completely new solution had to be prepared.
Myles proposed a joint business venture between himself and a California-based business partner to build the park, as well as a 5,000-square-foot culture lounge—a complex of bars and arts outlets—and mixed-use studio and gallery along the nearly two acres adjacent to the avenue. Solomon’s plans involved a more vigorous and traditional approach—fundraising and securing money from private donors.
Both men say their ideas and plans will result in a completed park by 2009, but the approaches have the two leaders at a major impasse as old as business itself: Should the park stay public or go private?
Solomon says that if the park stays public, it will be a world-class installation that the city can proudly affix its name to, as well as a sculpture park for the people.
“I don’t think the park should be a private enterprise,” Solomon says. “This is for the public. You can’t have a private sculpture garden.”
So far, Solomon has been winning the battle. A March 28 City of Las Vegas Planning Commission meeting turned out favorably for Solomon, but not by much. A 3-2 decision halted plans by Myles to have the city vacate Boulder, allowing him to ready construction of the park.
Critics of his plan say that with the credit crunch affecting plans Downtown, private investment in the park could be a mistake, leaving the city and taxpayers—as in the faltering proposed stadium project approved last year—holding the bag.
But Myles says that all of the money—$5 million to build the park as well as his culture lounge—is ready to go, and that his way will get the park done sooner rather than later.
“We’re stable,” says Myles. “And I’ll put my track record for building down here against anyone anytime.”
The proposal by Myles goes in front of the City Council May 16, where it is expected to be greeted with warm arms by the same body that commissioned him to do the project years ago. But Solomon worries that if Myles’ plan is approved, the reality of the park happening with the Agam sculpture could be lost in favor of the culture lounge plan. While Solomon thinks the latter is an amazing idea, his concern that it could end up going belly-up in the way of the stadium project is enough to keep him on the prudential side.
“I hate fighting [Myles],” says Solomon. “But the city is being short-sighted in their plans. I just don’t get it.”
Myles says it best. “[All this fighting] is not going to matter. Either way, we’re going to build this sculpture park. It’s just how we’re going to do it.”