Advisory board approves proposed Tropicana ballpark project, citing traffic and parking plans

The Paradise Town Advisory Board on March 11 approved use permits, design review and multiple waivers for a proposed enclosed, climate-controlled, 30,000-seat ballpark and associated garage planned for the former Tropicana site at Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

The applicant, represented by Jennifer Lasnick, presented renderings of an enclosed ballpark described as having 30,000 fixed seats plus room for about 3,000 standing-room patrons, a maximum structure height of 320 feet and a planned 2,500-stall parking garage. Lasnick said the design includes a metal "dragon-scale" exterior and large clerestory windows to bring daylight into the interior concourse.

The project request included waivers to eliminate or reduce street landscaping in constrained areas, to reduce the number of required EV-capable/installed charging spaces (the applicant proposed 75 installed-capable stalls in the garage), to reduce required loading spaces, to allow off-site temporary construction staging and to modify driveway geometries. Staff recommended approval of the waivers and design review; the board voted to approve the requests subject to staff conditions.

Jennifer Lasnick told the board the project team had submitted a traffic study and event management plan to the county in October 2024 and is coordinating with public-works staff on driveway and signal modifications. "We submitted the traffic study and event management plan back to the county in October 2024," Lasnick said.

Kinlin Horn prepared a parking demand study the applicant submitted with the application; the study examined parking at 30 Major League Baseball stadiums to estimate demand and potential off-site parking resources. The applicant reported approximately 46,000 parking stalls of various types within walking distance of the site and said the project team plans to use distributed, off-site parking plus the garage to meet demand.

Metro, the county and the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) were listed among agencies the team has coordinated with on event management. The applicant said the RTC’s Game Day Express remains a desired partner but that RTC faces a funding shortfall; the applicant said it will continue to coordinate with RTC should funding be restored.

Public commenters included a representative of MGM Resorts, who spoke in support of the application, and several residents who pressed the applicant on parking, event egress and reliance on neighboring properties for game-day parking. "Our support for the project goes back to the 2023 legislative sessions... the application responsibly provides for various improvements that will support integration to the resort border," said Jason Gray, vice president of government affairs for MGM Resorts International.

Residents voiced concerns based on experience with other large venues in the area, asking for clearer commitments on parking guarantees, shuttle or bus services, and post-event egress to avoid long delays for attendees leaving the site. The applicant said early event-management planning anticipates Metro and county coordination and additional off-site traffic mitigations including signal and lane modifications.

The board approved the use permit, the waivers of development standards and the design review for the 335.11-acre project in the CR (Commercial Resort) zone, noting that final approvals and detailed technical conditions remain with county planning and permitting processes.