Las Vegas Sun NewsCity alleges developer with arena plan only wanted cheap land
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29 January 2013
11:22 a.m.
Updated
29 Jan. 2013 12:18 p.m.
Developer Chris Milam repeatedly lied to Henderson officials about the viability of his massive sports arena complex as a way to buy cheap public land and then sell for profit to other developers, the city alleged in a lawsuit. Milam, his lawyers John F. Marchiano and Christopher C. Stephens, land consultant Michael Ford and public relations-lobbying chief Lee Haney are accused of using a city-approved development pact to fraudulently buy roughly 485 acres near the M Resort from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for a proposed Las Vegas National Sports Complex. Instead of following through on the project plans, ...
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Milam is the biggest BS artist I have ever encountered in my long development career. He pulls a team together, gets drawings done, pulls nonsense off the web, refers to his obscure website claiming he built billions in Europe (there is no proof that he did!). He comes in to convince you that he built a AAA stadium in Texas so he can build 1, 2, 3 huge arenas here now in the Las Vegas on its Symphony Park until they run him out. Then he goes to Clark County and pitches one site they own and then another site along the 15 that can hold 3 arenas!!!--holy cow! County skeptical, does not hand him checkbook. So he goes down to sweet, naive Henderson and convinces them pretty easily to get into bed with him over this 3 arena / 485 acre BLM land swap. Hooterville wants it so bad that they do no background on Milam AND do not call Las Vegas or Clark County to ask why those bigger, smarter entities called off their deals with this guy. Now Hooterville will be in court for months while Milam tries to defend his reputation so that he can go rip off another city down the road.....
A sleezy developer...who would have thought?
The author might have also mentioned that current Henderson city attorney Josh Reid was (is still?) a partner at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, the firm that Stephens is a shareholder in.
What a coinky-dink, as they say.
When I covered Clark County, Mr. Milam had one pie-in-the-sky arena proposal after another. None of his grandiose plans had feasible financing. He made the rounds to every local government in the valley. He once claimed to have locked down a deal with an NBA team, which proved greatly exaggerated. Every one of his plans evaporated. And this was after he proposed building the tallest tower in the world. Looks as though Henderson bit the bait and got bitten.
This guy Milam is a big phony and deserves to lose everything. Actually he should go to jail for lying to the City of Henderson. There is no way the federal government is going to convey the land to Milam.
Well...duh. A lot of us told you that the guy was a fraud BEFORE you decided to stupidly proceed with the sale.
Every member of the Henderson city council that voted for this should hang their heads in shame and resign immediately, having demonstrated their unfitness for all to see, but they won't, proving it beyond a shadow of a doubt. So we will need to do it for them in the upcoming elections.