Bells rang loud and clear to signal a new era for Las Vegas at the groundbreaking on May 26 for The Smith Center For The Performing Arts in the Symphony Park 61-acre, mixed-use, master-planned urban center in downtown Las Vegas.

"This sends a clarion call from the desert that a center of cultural excellence has been born," said Mayor Oscar B. Goodman.  The groundbreaking guests included the center’s namesake Fred W. Smith, a former Las Vegas Review-Journal executive, and now chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, which put up $150 million for construction.

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is a public-private partnership that will become the centerpiece of cultural life in Las Vegas. Designed to address the cultural needs of the community, The Smith Center will offer a blend of performances by local arts groups as well as first-run touring attractions. The 4.75-acre cultural complex will feature music, theater and dance companies who celebrate cultures from all over the world. It will be home to the city’s two premier performing arts organizations – the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet Theatre.  It will also provide an outstanding venue for touring theatrical and musical productions, including Broadway shows.  

Plans for the world-class performing arts center include a 2,050 seat multipurpose main hall and an education building that will house a 300-seat cabaret theater facing onto Symphony Park; and a 200-seat flexible studio theater for rehearsals, children’s theater and community events. The Smith Center is projected to open in early 2012. 

The city of Las Vegas, through its non-profit corporation City Parkway V, is providing the land for the project. In addition, the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) is contributing $76.78 million for the facility, which includes $68.78 in RDA bonds. In addition, the city, Clark County and State Legislature collaborated on a car rental fee that resulted in a bond of $105 million. The city used its general obligation bond backing to maximize the funding generated by the rental car tax revenue. A portion of the RDA funds will be repaid once rental car tax proceeds are sufficient to do so.

The Smith Center is located on what is now being called Symphony Park. The City Council recently approved the name change from Union Park. According to Mayor Oscar B. Goodman, who first began working to create this downtown neighborhood in Las Vegas 10 years ago, Symphony Park better reflects the significant role this new community will play as the cultural and artistic center of Southern Nevada. The name, Symphony Park, also embodies the complementary mix of uses being developed in this new neighborhood, he said.

According to Rita Brandin, senior vice president of Newland Communities, the company retained by the city of Las Vegas as project manager of the community, the decision to change Union Park to Symphony Park was the result of considerable research and careful deliberation about the development’s connection to the local community.  “This change has been several months in the making,” she said. “Working closely with our project partners, we concluded that Symphony Park is a stronger name for this urban community that is helping to revitalize and re-energize our city’s core. Symphony Park obviously connects to the neighborhood’s art-centric focus; serves as a powerful metaphor for the many and diverse facilities, uses and experiences that will ultimately be created here; and shares its name with the community’s central park.”

In addition to the performing arts center and the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain as anchors, Symphony Park will be the future home of The Charlie Palmer, a luxury boutique hotel developed by renowned chef Charlie Palmer and City-Core Development; the World Jewelry Center,  an important centralized marketplace for the international and domestic gem and jewelry trade developed by Probity International; a boutique-style business hotel; a first-class casino/hotel with significant retail space developed by Forest City; abundant street-side retail offerings; a two-acre park; and an estimated 2,600 urban style residences developed by Newland Communities. 

According to Las Vegas City Councilman Ricki Y. Barlow, Symphony Park marks a new and exciting chapter for those who live and work in downtown Las Vegas. “Symphony Park is a shining example of redevelopment at its finest.  It is destined to become the center of commerce, entertainment and culture. It will be a place all Southern Nevadans will be proud to claim as their own.”