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Exec Eyes Freemont Changes

"This is the original Las Vegas," Fremont Street Experience President Mark Paris said of Fremont Street and its surroundings. "It's somewhat retro-Las Vegas, is kind of a funky place and is continuing to evolve more and more that way.

"When you come downtown ... people can watch the shows, they can smoke, dance and take pictures or shoot video. It's more wide-open, what this city was founded on," said Paris. "People want that flavor more and more, and I think that's what's going to help the downtown Las Vegas area succeed over the long-term."

Despite the area's outdoor party ambiance, however, last year's reported downtown visitor total was about 15.4 million, the lowest full-year total since the Experience opened in December 1995.

Paris concedes changes are needed to continue to draw visitors and locals to downtown, which is why he's already excited about this year's scheduled debut of a more than $16.5 million video-display system mounted on the Experience's four-block-long canopy.

Developed by the LG Group, a South Korean electronics manufacturer, the bulbs used in the new video display system will be spaced closer together than those currently in use. Coupled with the improved technology supporting its more than 12.5 million light-emitting diode bulbs, the new system's resolution will be more than 600 percent clearer.

The system is currently being assembled in Las Vegas and South Korea, Paris said. Workers will begin installing the first modules of the video canopy later this month in time for the system's expected debut near the close of this year.

"You have to continue to upgrade," said Paris, who has served as Fremont Street Experience president and chief executive officer since 1996. "Technology has changed significantly in the last eight years and it needs to be changed to allow us to do more things."

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority pledged $7 million toward the upgrade in December. The balance would be paid for by the privately owned Fremont Street Experience, its member casinos and LG Group.

Paris is also buoyed by recent or proposed ownership changes at several downtown hotel-casinos. In December 2001, Gary, Ind.-based Majestic Star Casino took over Fitzgeralds, while new management groups could soon separately take over the Four Queens, Golden Nugget, Lady Luck and Las Vegas Club.

Thomas Breitling, who with business partner Tim Poster plans to buy the downtown Golden Nugget and its sister property in Laughlin from MGM Mirage for $215 million, said proposed changes at the Fremont Street Experience and other nearby properties played a significant role in their decision to buy into downtown.

"It's all about momentum. The enhancements to the Experience, the planned monorail station and all of the other business moves planned or under way were very important to us," said Breitling, who hopes Fremont Street could soon rival chic tourism hotbeds such as New Orleans' Bourbon Street and San Diego's Gaslamp District.

"We've talked to a lot of people about their plans for downtown and think you're going to see an even larger investment of capital in this area. It takes time, but we think it will happen and hope to play a part in it."

Said Paris: "You're seeing the downtown area starting to emerge into its own. There seems to be an emergence across the country of people wanting to go back downtown; people looking for the way things used to be and we've started to see that here."

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