GUESTS
Craig Cavileer , President of the Silverton Hotel and Casino and lead organizer for Majestic Realty on this project
BY MARIE ANDRUSEWICZ -- Majestic was unceremoniously dismissedfrom the UNLVNow stadium project, but that’s not stopping the firm’s representative Craig Cavileer from pushing an alternate plan, one that he says preserves the best of the original.
In pitching his modified version of the mega stadium, Cavileer emphasizes the functionality of the center for big ticket non-collegiate events, claiming that Las Vegas currently doesn’t have a venue for them, and is currently missing out.
“Of the hundred events that we had planned for the stadium, only seven were UNLV. The balance of those were major league soccer to concerts to bowl games ... that sort of thing. The majority of the events were non-UNLV related anyway.”
Cavileer says his plan is also simpler in terms of financing and governance than the original plan for UNLV Now.
“We simply have a piece of real estate that we buy and we give to the state, deed it over to the state, we lease back the property through the stadium authority,” says Cavileer. “A very simple three-person stadium authority and we become the developer operator, and we split the profits 50-50.”
Cavileer’s plan faces opposition. Even though Majestic’s plan is cheaper -- $770 million, compared to the $800 of UNLVNow, getting funding requires the support of UNLV, and the legislature, support he has yet to secure.