Lennar looking to buy shuttered state office complex in Las Vegas

Lennar wants to buy the Grant Sawyer state office site, which would expand the homebuilder’s footprint near downtown Las Vegas after winning an auction to buy the Cashman Complex across the street, according to officials.

City Manager Mike Janssen announced the deal to the City Council on Wednesday during a budget discussion.

Earlier that day, Nevada’s chief innovation officer told state lawmakers that Lennar had offered $10.6 million for the shuttered facility at Washington Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard North.

“We need to sell that building,” Jack Robb said.

The state twice put the site in auction with a $19.45 million valuation but received no bids, he added.

Discussions with other entities including Major League Soccer didn’t materialize, Robb said.

Robb said an agreement with Lennar could close in September, pending land-use entitlements for the city of Las Vegas.

The city deferred additional information to the state of Nevada, which owns the site. Lennar and Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office did not respond to inquiries seeking comment.

‘Special redevelopment area’

A Lennar subsidiary last month won a city of Las Vegas auction for the purchase of the 50-acre Cashman site for $36.15 million.

A representative with the homebuilder told the city that it considered the land a “special redevelopment area,” but Lennar hasn’t said what it plans to build there.

Councilwoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong suggested the development could include housing.

A deadline for the homebuilder to negotiate the Cashman purchase and sale agreement was set for April 17, with an anticipated close in mid-September. The city said Lennar planned to meet with the council to discuss its plans for the property, which includes the home of the Las Vegas Lights soccer team.

“That project alone: land, utilities, infrastructure, the build out is easily $400 to $500 million, a huge investment within (The Redevelopment Agency),” Janssen said Wednesday.

Funds from the Cashman site were earmarked to help the city offset a $286 million settlement related to the defunct Badlands golf course, according to the city.

Lennar also paid $350 million to acquire the former 250-acre golf course, where it plans to build 1,480 upscale homes, according to a three-party deal that closed in March.

The state chose to move its offices to a business park near Harry Reid International Airport instead of rehabilitating the Grant Sawyer building that was afflicted by “leaking sewage, unregulated office temperatures and dilapidated infrastructure,” Nevada officials reported in 2023.

Relocating to the McCarran Center in Las Vegas at Warm Springs and Bermuda roads was set to cost Nevada $263 million instead of paying $470 million to refurbish the old space.

In a deal that didn’t materialize, the city of Las Vegas had been in talks in 2024 to purchase the 30-year-old Grant Sawyer complex by early this year, Lombardo’s office said at the time.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.