Innovation, influence and business in America's medical cities.

A development plan showing areas, marked in red, where the Cleveland Clinic is considering expansion in Las Vegas. Its Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health is marked A1.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Cleveland Clinic is considering a broader expansion in Las Vegas that could take up to 8.9 acres for a new medical center and other developments, according to documents filed with the Las Vegas City Council.

The expansion would surround the Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, a cutting-edge neurological treatment and research center that opened in July. The development application continues the Clinic’s five-year flirtation with building a significant presence in Las Vegas.

The contracts and paperwork under consideration in Las Vegas would explore the potential for a site — essentially a feasibility study that will include environmental tests on the land. Part of the expansion would provide parking for the Ruvo Center. The rest is being considered for a research or a medical care facility, according to a City Council agenda summary (pdf). The Clinic and its development partner on the project, a non-profit organization called City Parkway V, have until the end of November to agree on a development pact.

Advertisement

After that, the Clinic has until the end of January to submit a development plan for the site. By the end of March, it would have to submit conceptual designs for the area.

Scott Adams, an urban redevelopment officer with Las Vegas, told the Las Vegas Review Journal the Clinic is re-establishing a long-standing interest in Las Vegas. “I think it would be fair to say that their interest is broader than the brain center,” Adams told the newspaper. “I think that they’re going through their own process of defining exactly what markets they want to enter into … and how that might convert to actual development of medical facilities in Symphony Park.”

Clinic officials would only say they are considering their opportunities.

This isn’t the Clinic’s first foray into a broad presence in Sin City. In 2005, the Clinic partnered with Canyon Ranch to provide wellness care, and Vegas officials had hoped to lure the Clinic in 2006 but nothing materialized. The Review Journal recalls a plan by the city that sought a $500 million, 195-bed Clinic medical center on 25 acres of land.

Las Vegas will consider the proposal on Wednesday.