A .4 billion expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center has been approved to begin construction.
The massive project was expected to be endorsed at the recent monthly meeting of the board of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors and was.
It’s planned in three phases with a completion date of 2023.
The first phase, the purchase and demolition of the Riviera and construction of a parking lot with exhibition facilities, has already been completed.
The next two include 1.4 million square feet of new exhibit space. Priced at $860 million, this second phase should begin in January after the selection of a design team, a design and a construction manager.
The $540 million final phase is slated to begin in 2020 and encompasses the renovation of existing convention space.
The financing includes a $420 million public obligation backed by a 0.5 percent increase in the Clark County hotel room tax rate. The increase was approved last year in the same special session of the Nevada Legislature that authorized a 0.88 percent hike in the room tax to help fund a $1.9 billion domed stadium for the Oakland Raiders’ pending move to Las Vegas.
