The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has approved the second phase of its .4 billion expansion plan with the award of a contract extension to builder Cordell Corp. to begin designing a new 600,000-square-foot exhibition hall.
Work on the expansion, authorized by the Nevada Legislature in a special session in October, will begin in earnest early next year when Cordell officials meet with LVCVA staff and some of its partners and customers to solicit ideas. Those will be reviewed by the LVCVA board and a seven-member oversight panel appointed by Gov. Brian Sandoval to develop the building design.
Cordell principal Terry Miller said he hopes to bid the design and engineering of the project by August and have a construction process in place by the end of the year with the groundbreaking of the new hall by early 2018.
The first phase of the expansion, the demolishing of the Riviera hotel casino, is nearly complete, Miller said. Contractors have completed paving and striping a parking lot that will serve as outdoor exhibition space for upcoming conventions. The land is scheduled to be turned over to the LVCVA next month.
