Thursday, January 09, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Editor's Note: Fremont Street: Boom or bust?

The fate of Fremont Street gets a lot of ink, perhaps more than some readers think it should. After all, the big action these days is on the Strip. That's where the high-rollers and celebrities are. That's where the post-neon architecture is the most audacious. That's where the water dances and the conventioneers congregate.

Despite all that, Fremont Street still gets attention. City officials fret. Urban planners salivate. Hipsters hope. There is a pervasive feeling in influential segments of the community that a vibrant downtown is important, that Las Vegas will be a lesser place if it does not have a downtown full of gourmet restaurants, cutting-edge art galleries and, above all, warm bodies with more than tattered drink coupons in their wallets.

Reviving city centers is a front-page topic in cities across the country, so Las Vegans aren't out of step on this. Whether we fully understand the reasons, we recognize the intrinsic value of a bustling downtown district.

For Las Vegas, downtown means Fremont Street. It's where the city began 98 years ago. It's where the first casinos were, evolving into the kaleidoscopic spectacle of Glitter Gulch, the world-recognized face of Las Vegas. Even after a dozen big hotels rose along the Strip in the '50s and '60s, Fremont Street continued to be the most recognized image of Sin City.

That changed eventually. While the Strip resorts got bigger and fancier and offered more thrills, and neighborhood casinos took over the locals market, the downtown casinos did the same old thing. They failed to compete, in part because of shortsighted management, in part because they were landlocked. It's not like the downtown joints could add golf courses or giant swimming pools or roller coasters.

The solution concocted by downtown casino owners and city leaders was the Fremont Street Experience, the $70 million lighted canopy covering five city blocks. Computer programmers created dramatic choreographed light shows accompanied by music that are shown several times nightly. Tourists and residents alike stop and crane their necks to take in the, um, experience. Parts of Fremont Street are closed to traffic, creating a pedestrian mall beneath the canopy. Street vendors have been added to the mix, and concerts are held on the street.

The results have been mixed. Downtown still gets a share of the tourists, partly by specializing in specific markets, such as Hawaiians and regions of middle America. It stills gets a pretty good crowd on New Year's Eve. But the Fremont Street Experience has proved to be little more than a place-holder--it's kept the downtown casinos above water rather than sinking like rocks, but just barely.

So, people are constantly thinking of ways to jumpstart Fremont Street. The $100 million Neonopolis restaurant, shopping and movie theater venue is the most recent example. Again, mixed results. While Neonopolis has some decent restaurants and a nice cineplex, it's not exactly drawing big crowds.

Some believe the key to downtown's future is the vacant 61 acres just west of Glitter Gulch, the old Union Pacific railyard that was Las Vegas' original raison d'etre. Mayor Oscar Goodman's top priority since taking office has been to put together an ideal development plan for the property. He envisions an academic medical center on the site, as well as a performing arts center. He'd like some high-rise housing, too. These ideas sound promising to residents who care about downtown, but they don't have much to do with Fremont Street. In any case, the process has moved slowly, largely because potential developers are understandably skittish about the prospects of big-money investment in downtown.

Probably the most intriguing news recently is the purchase of gaming veteran Jackie Gaughan's downtown properties by an upstart company, Barrick Gaming Corp., with ambitious plans to improve and expand the aging casinos. A healthy infusion of enthusiasm and investment will be welcome on Fremont Street.

So many questions: Can Fremont Street ever compete with the Strip? Should it even try? If it doesn't, what is its market? What can the Fremont Street casinos do to bring locals back to downtown?

Surely these concerns run through the minds of downtown casino execs every day as they consider new ways to make a dollar. But for political leaders and citizens, the questions should be more expansive in nature: Should the Fremont Street casinos be the focus of downtown redevelopment or should we look at downtown's future differently? What are the characteristics of vibrant downtowns in other cities that we'd like to emulate? Are the characteristics of other downtowns even applicable to our situation? What are the best uses for the vacant 61 acres? Is strict master planning the answer or a more organic development process? Is it possible in this era to attract large numbers of suburbanites to the urban core?

These questions and others like them strike at the heart of downtown's fate, a topic of never-ending interest, as exemplified by this week's cover story. Answering them wisely--and tapping a wide range of voices in the process--will determine whether downtown returns to its former glory or slowly fades into history.

--GEOFF SCHUMACHER