News
7-7-2010
LOCAL CONTRACTOR TO OVERSEE WORLD-CLASS TEAM OF SUB-CONTRACTORS TO PRODUCE FILMS, EXHIBITS AND INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES
(LAS VEGAS, NV) --- Progress on the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement - aka “The Mob Museum” - is advancing with the Las Vegas City Council’s vote today to approve and award the Museum’s exhibit construction contract to Hardy Construction, Inc., a Las Vegas-based general contracting firm. The $7.1 million contract includes the fabrication and installation of more than 30 video and interactive exhibits throughout the three-story, 41,000-square-foot Museum that is scheduled to open next year.
Hardy Construction, an 18-year-old construction firm, is currently building Craig Ranch Regional Park in North Las Vegas and the Hollywood Aquatic Center for Clark County. Under the Mob Museum contract, Hardy will oversee a team of world-class sub-contractors responsible for fabrication, digital media and film production. The sub-contractors will be announced at a later date.
The exhibits, designed by Gallagher & Associates, a renowned design firm that creates visitor experiences and graphic packages for public and private museums throughout the country, are highly experiential and encourage interaction with visitors, according to Dr. Dennis Barrie, the Museum’s creative director. Exhibit subject matter covers a broad range of mob-related topics from the perspective of both mobsters and law enforcement. Exhibit fabrication construction is expected to begin this month, with completion scheduled for next summer.
The Mob Museum is expected to cost approximately $42 million to construct and is being funded through local, state and federal grants, in addition to matching grants and Redevelopment Agency funding sources that can only be spent in the city’s redevelopment area. To date, the Mob Museum has received more than $8.3 million in grants, including nearly $1.9 in Economic Development Initiative grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; more than $500,000 from Save America’s Treasures from the National Trust for Historic Preservation; more than $5.6 million in Centennial Committee Awards from the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial; more than $87,000 from the State Historic Preservation Office; a $250,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services; and $200,000 from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
The museum is expected to employ 227 individuals during construction and permanently employ approximately 92 people; 52 jobs are directly attributable to its operations and 40 additional jobs throughout the local economy.
Not only will new jobs be created, but downtown as a whole will benefit from this project. The museum is projected to generate a combined economic output of more than $62.3 million during construction and generate annual visitation of hundreds of thousands of tourists to the museum and downtown Las Vegas when it opens in 2011. The museum is projected to generate annual revenues ranging from $8.5 million to $13.9 million during a ten-year study period and a total economic output of approximately $20.2 million during the same ten-year study period. Stated otherwise, for every dollar generated by the museum, nearly $2 will be generated throughout the regional economy. CIM, which owns the former Lady Luck site, also has plans to develop a shopping and entertainment complex around the museum, including a new hotel-casino.
The Mob Museum is under construction inside an historic former federal courthouse and post office at 300 Stewart Avenue in downtown Las Vegas. The Mob Museum preserves a fascinating chapter of Las Vegas and American history and is located in an historic building that is home to the very courtroom, where, in 1950, the Kefauver Hearings on Organized Crime were held to expose and control organized crime, according to Barrie.
One exhibit, titled Mob Mayhem, furthers the understanding of violence as a way of life within the world of organized crime. Visitors will see some of the weapons used by mob hit men and learn more about the hidden messages of murder. This exhibit is the setting for the Museum’s iconic artifact—the wall from Chicago’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
The Skim, the illegal skimming of profits off the top of a casino’s earnings, was commonplace in Las Vegas for decades. The exhibit illustrates how money could be taken off the top in a casino count room, walked out the door, handed off to couriers and sent to the cities where the hidden crime syndicates were located.
Bringing Down the Mob focuses on wiretapping – one of the most important tools used to effectively investigate and prosecute organized crime cases beginning in the late 1960s.In this highly interactive exhibit, visitors will learn about the technology, listen in on the mob, learn to interpret coded conversations, examine photos and surveillance footage, take part in a weapons training exercise and learn about living a new life in witness protections programs.
About The Mob Museum
The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement – The Mob Museum – is a world-class museum dedicated to the history of organized crime and law enforcement now under development in downtown Las Vegas. The museum will present the real stories and actual events of mob history via interactive and engaging exhibits that reveal all sides of the story, with considerable focus on how law enforcement defeated and continues to battle organized crime. Located at 300 Stewart Avenue, inside an historic and former post office and federal court house, the museum is an important component of the city’s downtown redevelopment now underway and is projected to generate a combined economic output of more than $62.3 million during construction, employ approximately 227 individuals during construction, and generate annual visitation of hundreds of thousands tourists to the museum and downtown Las Vegas when it opens in 2011. The 41,000-square-foot Mob Museum includes approximately 16,800 square feet of exhibition space on three floors in addition to a specialty retail store, special event areas, educational areas and office space. The Mob Museum is expected to cost approximately $42 million to construct and is being funded through local, state and federal grants, in addition to matching grants and Redevelopment Agency funding sources that can only be spent in the city’s redevelopment area. The city of Las Vegas, which is currently overseeing the museum’s early development, owns the building and the land on which it sits. Ellen Knowlton, former FBI Special Agent in Charge, Las Vegas Division, and a 24-year FBI veteran, is president of 300 Stewart Avenue Corporation, a non-profit board formed to oversee the Museum’s development and operations. For more information, visit www.themobmuseum.org.
