The new investor for a project which now comes with a $4.9bn (£4.4bn/€5.02bn) price tag, is Todd Owen, director of the Clearwater Perpetual Master Trust investment fund. Owen told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that a mutual friend wanted him to meet with Robinson as the project had faced “prior financial stumbles.”
Torben Welch, an attorney for All Net Resort & Arena, said Owen’s bond portfolio is “well in excess of this project and many other projects.” He added that the funding package for Robinson’s venture comes to $6bn with the ability to raise “whatever else is needed”.
Speaking at this week’s presentation, John Delibos, director of community affairs and government relations for All Net Resort & Arena, said the project has been “near and dear to our hearts for longer than probably some of you have been alive” but has “come to fruition.”
Envisioned as a non-gaming, business, and family-friendly destination, All Net Resort & Arena is located on a site on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip. It is being developed by Dribble Dunk, owned by Robinson, and designed by Cuningham Group.
The complex will be anchored by a multi-purpose arena featuring a retractable roof, which will have a 23,000-seat capacity for basketball and 25,000 seats for concerts and boxing events. All Net Resort & Arena will also include two luxury hotels, a convention centre, world-class restaurants, a dinner showroom, nightclubs, family entertainment, a promenade with exclusive retail shops, and a broadcast production studio.
The project was first announced in December 2013 and received Clark County approval in August 2014. The arena had been scheduled to open in late 2016 but little progress has been made, aside from the site having been made ready for construction following County commissioners approving a major expansion of the plans in October 2017.
Now scheduled to open in 2025, Robinson this week said some construction work resumed several weeks ago, adding that he plans to go before the Clark County Commission next month to seek an extension of project approvals.
Commissioner Tick Segerblom, who once said Robinson had to “fish or cut bait” on the project, this week stated that he “tried to light a fire” under the developer’s feet a few times, before adding that now seeing “this reality is so exciting for me.”
Segerblom, whose district includes the complex site, told the Review-Journal he expects the commission to approve Robinson’s extensions. “Everything I’ve seen to date looks very positive,” he added.
In the time the arena has been on the table, T-Mobile Arena opened in April 2016, bringing NHL ice hockey to the city in the shape of the Vegas Golden Knights. Allegiant Stadium hosted its first NFL game for the Las Vegas Raiders in September 2020.
