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The Las Vegas City Council voted today to approve a name change of the 61-acre, city neighborhood development of Union Park to Symphony Park. The name change was approved just days before the scheduled groundbreaking of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts – Las Vegas’ first world-class performing arts facility within the heart of this planned $6 billion, 10-million-square-foot downtown community.
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.
“The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is the single most important artistic advancement in our city in recent history,” said Goodman. “As home to Las Vegas’ premier performing arts companies and national touring productions, The Smith Center puts the world on notice that Las Vegas has arrived. We will soon have a performing arts venue on par with the great theatres of the world. It is only fitting that the name for the community surrounding this magnificent structure better reflects the nature of the new neighborhood. ”
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.”
Encompassing a variety of uses that create a modern-day city community, including residential, retail, office, medical, hospitality and civic facilities with open space, Symphony Park is on track to become the single most important redevelopment project in Las Vegas history, according to Scott Adams, chief urban redevelopment officer, city of Las Vegas.
“It’s a place that will finally give those who live and work in Las Vegas the true urban experience they have been seeking and that they deserve,” said Adams, “We are designing the community to attract individuals, proprietors, businesses, researchers, artists, scientists and thinkers – a vibrant mix of diverse and engaging people who will help create an energetic downtown neighborhood in the historic heart of our city. We believe it’s a project that is both long overdue and one that will enhance the quality of life for Valley citizens, ensuring our city continues to prosper well beyond the glitz of the Strip.”
Symphony Park is anchored by two key projects, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. As such, it enjoys an impressive commitment to leading-edge medicine, as well as a substantial art influence. In addition to these two catalytic facilities, 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.
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is the future performance home of the city’s two premier performing arts organizations – the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet Theatre. It will also provide a new and unparalleled venue for touring theatrical and musical productions, including full-scale Broadway shows. In the park outside The Smith Center, Symphony Park will host outdoor concerts, art exhibits and a generous dose of public art, making art and culture accessible for all who visit.
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.”
About Symphony Park:
Symphony Park is a planned 61-acre, mixed-use city neighborhood located in the heart of downtown Las Vegas on land owned by the City of Las Vegas. Newland Communities, a privately owned company that is developing nearly 40 residential and urban mixed-use communities in 14 states, is development manager. Considered the single most important element of the revitalization of downtown Las Vegas, Symphony Park is anchored by two key public projects: the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, a highly specialized clinical center housed in an iconic facility designed by famed architect, Frank Gehry; and The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, a magnificent facility designed to become the city’s center of culture by renowned architect David M. Schwarz. Planned to encompass more than 10 million square feet of office, medical, residential, retail and hotel/hospitality space, Symphony Park will be developed over a multi-year timeline with a project value of approximately $6 billion. www.symphonypark.com  .
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