City Council later voted to authorize $10.7 million through a 10-year tax-exempt bond to the Fremont Street Experience. The project has already received $9.5 million in grant money from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).
The Fremont Street Experience is funding the remaining $12.6 million, with $11.6 million financed by the city s Reinvestment Development Authority.
Downtown Las Vegas is amidst an economic boom. While statewide gross gambling revenue grew 2.8 percent in 2017, and Strip resorts saw their fortunes increase only 1.3 percent, downtown casinos surged nearly 12 percent.
A 2016 LVCVA study found that 53 percent of all visitors to Las Vegas now venture downtown at some point during their stay. The report said 59 percent of tourists credited the canopy as the main reason for going downtown.
The canopy is the spine of downtown visitation, Hughes stated. The LED overhaul will be completed by June 2019, with work starting from east to west and completed in increments to minimize experience disruptions.
The canopy is 1,500-feet long, 90-feet wide, and currently has 12.5 million LED lights and a 550,000-watt sound system. The attraction is the world s largest video screen, and features free light shows every night of the week.
Who is Fremont Street?The Fremont Street Experience is a five-block entertainment destination. The company is a private entity controlled by the district s casino operators. They include Binion s, California, The D, Four Queens, Golden Gate, Golden Nugget, and Main Street Station.
The D Las Vegas owner Derek Stevens is demolishing Las Vegas Club, Glitter Gulch, and Mermaids to make way for a of the Fremont Street Experience.
Stevens hasn t unveiled many details of the resort s plans, but the Las Vegas City Council said in a statement this week that the development will cost $1.1 billion.
It s rumored that the casino resort might be called Grandissimo, the moniker of Las Vegas visionary Jar Sarno. Stevens acquired the naming rights many years ago and has long been a fan of Sarno s.
City Council expects the new resort, which will offer at least 700 hotel rooms, to generate $2.1 million in annual occupancy tax revenue.
