Henderson Arena Gets $650M Financing Deal

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

A $650 million sports arena in Henderson has taken a major step forward with the memorandum of understanding between developer International Development Management L.L.C. and CSST Smart Cities International. The support  of the latter entity’s Chinese banking partners CSST will provide the full  financing for the construction of the Silver State Arena.

The partners announced on Feb.9 that they had secured a financing agreement with their Chinese bankers for a 750,000-square-foot, 17,500-seat facility. The project would rise on a 485-acre site which is currently under the stewardship of the Federal Bureau of Land Management, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Construction could begin as early as mid-2012 and be completed in 2014,
according to the developers. A city official told the Review-Journal that a fall groundbreaking was more likely, given the lead time for acquiring the site and for the city’s review of the project. Other milestones for the project will be approval of tax increment financing and of funds from a state economic development fund.

The arena would be the first phase of the proposed $1.5 billion Las
Vegas National Sports Complex. Besides the arena, IDM is proposing three stadiums for soccer, football and baseball, the Review-Journal reported.