Things aren’t looking quite as golden, or should I say silver, as they did a few months ago when the Golden Knights took over the state of Henderson address announcing the construction of a 6,000 seat stadium.
The plan is to replace the current Henderson Pavilion with a state of the art hockey arena to serve as the permanent home of the AHL team The Creator recently purchased. The team was set to practice at the new facility being built on Water St., play at Orleans Arena for the next few years, and then move to the future arena on the corner of Green Valley and Paseo Verde.
Obviously, the shutdown of the league, and the world for that matter, caused by the coronavirus will present some challenges, but the issues go well beyond that in the eyes of many Henderson residents.
Stories recently published on KNPR and in the Review-Journal show Henderson and the Golden Knights appear to have different ideas than those who live and work in the arena.
Basically there were three meetings, they were hour-long meetings, exact same presentation. Packed packed meeting rooms and long lines to get to the next one… This wasn’t really a meeting in support of this hockey team and this new venue that would support it, these were people who seemed pretty concerned about this new venue in their neighborhood. -Mike Prevatt, KNPR
The issues range from minor to major with the minor ones surrounding traffic and parking while the major issue wondering about the way in which the city is going about making the arena a reality and how much of the money to pay for it is coming out of Henderson residents’ pockets.
Mayor Debra March has said Henderson would pay for half the building with up to $40 million in public money, but the city has since backed off that figure, saying the cost has not been determined. -Blake Apgar, LVRJ
The proposal is expected to be brought to the city council officially on May 19th according to the RJ.
Normally concerns voiced by the people end up holding little weight when it comes to the construction of arenas and the decisions to publicly finance them. However, the current state of the world is likely to at least throw a bit of a wrench into the works for the Golden Knights and their AHL plans.
What seemed like a slam dunk a few months ago may not look so clear when the question of spending $40 million on an arena comes up in a little over a month’s time.
Concerns of traffic, parking, and infrastructure, while probably all fair and valid now, will likely be answered as more plans are unveiled, but the financial aspect of the project will remain uncertain, to say the least.
Erica
I’ve been in Vegas for almost all my life and the Henderson Pavilion is not a good fit for the AHL team at all. If it only seats 6000 people that’s not going to accommodate everyone that has made a deposit, I believe it has surpass the 6000 mark. Plus that area is already congested with traffic at all times. Why not make the arena next to the Raiders training site, or for that matter revamp Orleans Arena, it will be less money for sure.
Ken Boehlke
The deposits were placed for the games at Orleans. The goal was to put the team in Henderson. Having them play full time at Orleans doesn’t fulfill that.
Scott
The pavilion would be torn down, and ahl teams don’t usually play in larger than 6,000 seat arenas. Not all people who put deposits down will end up buying tickets. Lastly, orleans is not in Henderson so that’s it for home rink, and st. Rose is not central Henderson, so green valley is a perfect location and traffic won’t be any more than concerts at the pavilion now, that btw, holds 6,000 people already.
tlm
Do you think there’s a chance the complainers will win, or will things continue as planned? Please say things will continue as planned so I can go about enjoying my day! Just kidding, but what do you really think will happen?
Ken Boehlke
I think the process may end up hitting some snags, but in the end theyll make it happen.
Arlyne R Floyd
I live in this area. I support having the changes. They have plans about how to plan for peds, and traffic. We have a structure that needs to be totally redone and why not something that we can always use in our community that benefits everyone, not to mention financial help. How about some forward thinking?
Ruben
Screw Henderson, build it in Summerlin next to CNA!
Helene M. Araiza
Good idea take it to Summerlin.
Scott
No
A Fan
I’m in that area often and as long as the traffic situation can be handled, I hope it goes where the Pavilion is. But from the very beginning, before they talked about this location, I thought, and still do think it will be out somewhere in the area of the Raiders practice facility. We shall see.
Richard L
Isn’t it nice how politicians can spend taxpayers money without the taxpayer vote. Why not build it with private money, like T-Mobile Arena? Or use the Orleans Arena.
Plenty of parking and easy access to the Orleans.
Walt T
The Henderson city council and mayor normally don’t respond to the voice of the people (too many examples to list here). They normally hold hearings, and then rubber stamp things regardless of what the people want. It’s follow the money with those folks. If they pass on Green Valley (you would think a great fit with dining/hotel/casino in walking distance), the area by the Henderson Airport and Raiders is an obvious choice, and maybe the city will sell the land cheap like they did with the Raiders. Then the VGK can sell the land for a profit like the Raiders did.
Richard L
Don’t you just love corrupt politicians?
Scott
You voted for them, so stop complaining. I voted for them too and I think they are doing a great job. If you don’t like it, you can buy the team or the land or both, and you can then make the decisions.
Jim
They tore up half the mountain by hidden falls park for townhouses. They are morons.
Mike G
I live in Henderson. I say tax me. Everyone wants to use things without having to be a part of it, and be proud of something. Henderson is great, but a lot of people living here can’t get with the times.
Michael Kamai
If it’s half as successful as T-Mobile arena I’m all for it. The revenue generated by all the restaurants and bars in the area alone would be huge. Timeline may have changed now but this too shall be overcome
Helene M. Araiza
Not a good choice for Henderson. Sports arenas should not be built-in the middle of an existing community. Search out St. Rose where you could have a large parking lot and alot less traffic. By the way did the plan call for sufficient parking spaces for the arena. I seem to recall the stadium being built for the Raiders is very short on parking spaces. This is the wrong neighborhood for a sports arena.
Scott
There is already enough parking, the pavilion has the same capacity of 6,000 people. And have your seen the traffic on st. Rose, it’s horrible. They will widen green valley just to make people happy. Pavilion site is a perfect location hands down. The negative Nancys won’t win this fight because they have zero basis for their argument. On top of that, we need the construction jobs and something to bring our community together now more than ever.
Joe Frank
Henderson to some of course not.
Jim
Maybe we like henderson the way it is. You can aways move back to cali..
Joseph Lee
This venture will never, I repeat never be approved. Taxpayers are sick of funding projects for multi millionaires, who should pay for their own dreams. Salaries for players are rediculace. Ticket prices are rediculace, and the prices for concession stand food, and drinks are rediculace. Wake up professional sport’s team owners. You want it, you pay for it. The homeowners in this area of Henderson are not idiot’s, and will never approve of this. VOTE NO TO SAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
Brianna
Sure you’re not an idiot? You spelled ridiculous WRONG three times – count them. THREE! At first I thought it was deliberate – now I’m pretty sure you’re just a moron.
Rick Cummins
There are several arenas on the Strip already where they can play hockey. Building another arena is crazy. We’re in denial here. Las Vegas is done for quite a while. They stopped building that dome on the Strip. We don’t need any more entertainment venues.
Fan
OMG will everyone shut up about this stupid arena no body cares really it tough enough that there is enough Construction going on traffic is heavy no one cares about a arena being next to a casino place it in a different area of town I personally live on this street and there is enough damage that the city is doing Enough and even all the more money is tax people got to put into a all the road work that is taking years to even finish due to this arena thinking Henderson will shine nobody cares about that save your guy’s money and put it to good use that has to do with the community and the children not a dam arena or a stadium for the raiders you white people have no clue what you doing in the industry so take a lesson and go back to school and do something interesting instead of putting money down for things the people of Nevada appreciate…
Richard L
Orleans Arena. Smart move. Cheap and accessible. And no handout to billionaires.
Tim
I’m in the side of why not. My wife and I have been in Vegas since it was a sleepy little town. In those days Decatur was the end of the world in the west and Paradise Valley to the east then you had north town, the Huntridge area, and downtown. We had Western, Vegas, Basic and Boulder City as our only high schools. We had the Strip which was a far cry from what it is today. Here’s a shocker for you the Huntridge Theatre was the tallest building in Las Vegas. The reason I’m giving this history lesson is because in my wildest dreams would I have thought we’d have a professional football and hockey team. I’ve seen the development of our valley that most haven’t and I’m all for a new arena. Located close to the Green Valley casino to provide rooms for players and out of town fans. The District, right off the freeway what’s not to like. One way or another your tax dollars are going to pay for something it might as well be a new state of the art arena. From tumbleweeds to professional sports is like my grandfather who was born in 1878 and lived to see a man go to the moon.
Tim
Whoops I forgot Rancho High School where may wife graduated from.
OG Vegas Guy
All the haters are right ! Don’t build it in Henderson they won’t appreciate it! Let’s look at the northwest area lots of land lots of infrastructure to support it and it would actually be in Las Vegas and not the county. I’m sure Mayor Goodman and all the residents out there would welcome an arena and practice facility with open arms . Let Henderson just be the over priced area they want to be!
Deborah Elsasser
Build it on some of the open St. Rose Parkway space. The Pavilion is a community treasure and should not be torn down or replaced.
Edward Looney
Just build it out at Sam Boyd. Plenty of parking, and land. don’t even have to tear down the old stadium.
Elle Sanchez
I am part of the group that is actively opposing the construction of a hockey arena at the Henderson Pavilion site. Las Vegas is not Henderson. Even Henderson is not Green Valley Ranch. Perhaps it takes a relative newcomer like me to remind people how special the Green Valley Ranch area is compared to other locations. I come from Long Island, the land of the over-taxed, over-built and over-crowded. When we came to Green Valley Ranch, we honestly thought we had found a little bit of paradise. The casino is there, but it is set back, and is surrounded by the District with plenty of restaurants and shopping. The District parking lot was usually full and businesses were thriving.
The Pavilion was designed to be the showcase entry point to the Green Valley Ranch Community. The community members paid tens of thousands of dollars of LIDS money to build the Pavilion and surrounding areas. The entire area is surrounded by homes and two schools.
The City is putting out a great deal of propaganda and flat-out lies about this whole deal. There’s a reason they signed NDAs and sprung this on the community as they did. The City is so bent on sports that they got taken by a shyster in the Milam/BLM land deal in 2013 and then sold land to the Raiders at a ridiculously low price. Now they want the taxpayers to buy an arena for Mr. Foley, who has said repeatedly that it is not the job of taxpayers to build stadiums.
When you look at the abundance of land out here in Henderson, why would you stick an arena in an area that requires building a TUNNEL in order to alleviate the excess traffic? Have Mr. Foley buy some land by the Galleria Mall or Henderson can give some more land away out by the Raiders’ HQ for an arena.