Whatever it is called, the site formerly known as the 61 acres and now called Union Park, has gone from being a development long shot to a sure thing.

Located adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks west of Main Street on a parcel bordered on the south by Bonneville Avenue, on the north by Ogden Avenue and fronted by Grand Central Parkway, the project is envisioned as an extension of downtown.

At a recent groundbreaking ceremony for infrastructure development, city officials and the project's development team offered martinis and hors d'oeuvres to supporters and healthy servings of crow for the naysayers.

"There have been several attempts in the past to develop Union Park," said Rita Brandin, senior vice president of Newland Communities. "This groundbreaking is a big old exclamation point to let people know that this is real. It signifies that the city's commitment has been unwavering."

Brandin is the point person on the project and recently detailed Union Park's gain in momentum and how it add pieces to the development puzzle despite a challenging partnership arrangement.

Las Vegas is the land owner and master developer of Union Park, while Newland Communities acts as the project's development manager, overseeing day-to-day operations. Developers that have embraced the city's vision for the site have been added to the mix of stakeholders.

"As we have worked through the sessions with developers, levels of commitment have gotten stronger," Brandin said. "In the early commitment, when they are doing the exclusive negotiating agreements, they are doing feasibility work - not only on the site, but on performance - to ensure that the program they are proposing is going to be feasible. When you move a developer from an (exclusive negotiating agreement) to a development agreement, that's a ... milestone because they are now committed to do a project."

The development agreement sets specific parameters on permitting and construction milestones that ultimately lead to the projects going vertical.

Among projects planned for the $6 billion development are the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute; the Smith Center for the Performing Arts; the World Jewelry Center; the Charlie Palmer, a boutique hotel and restaurant project; and a medical office and hotel campus.

All but the latter project, which is being developed by Access Medical Development, have a development agreement in place.

Other uses for the site include Symphony Park, which will serve as a focal point for civic and cultural events, a resort project to be developed by Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, 3,200 residential units and additional office space.

The entire project is also seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council as a green neighborhood.

"We believe that as a neighborhood development the ranking we receive will be LEED Silver," Brandin said. "We're now going through that validation and verification process with (the council)."

The LEED rating encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through implementation of tools and performance criteria. If approved, the neighborhood will be among the first in the country to achieve the status.

Only two parcels at that site have not received some level of commitment from developers.

One is designed as commercial office, residential and retail. A request for proposals was put out a few months ago on the parcel, and Newland Communities will be working with city officials to determine the best use for the site, based on the responses it has received.

Union Park is going forward at a time when many developers in the valley are scaling back or pulling the plug on plans. While the project is being done in phases, it is still on schedule to be completed in late 2012 or early 2013.

"If there may be a delay, it would be for the completion of all of the residential units on the site," Brandin said. "It will be important to see in the next few years is how the residential market begins to rebound, because you don't want to be out there building residential when there is not a demand for it."

Brandin dismisses the notion that the product could be completed without a residential component. For it to be a true mixed-use, 24-hour neighborhood, she says, it must have a significant number of residential units.

The city still has the final oversight as each project must be approved by the planning commission and City Council.

The significance of the infrastructure groundbreaking is that there will be a visible sign that the project is moving forward. Except for the brain institute, which is well under construction, the site still looks, for the most part, like a big, empty lot.

There is, however, a more practical element to the early installation of infrastructure.

The individual projects would be a major undertaking if developed separately. But with so many so close and with construction dates that overlap, an integrated infrastructure is crucial.

Beyond infrastructure development, significant upgrades in the surrounding area will be needed to allow access. Several improvement plans are in place and some public transportation projects, such as the Regional Transportation Commission's ACE rapid-transit system, are funded. Other plans, such as highway improvements, require additional funding, but Brandin is confident that as the scope of the project comes into focus, so will the recognition that the improvements are necessary.

"Revitalizing a downtown environment takes a number of years, and now that these projects are moving forward, there is a reality that those improvements are needed,"

The combination of cultural, commercial, medical research, hospitality and residential uses might seem like an odd mix, but developers welcome the diversity. There are even opportunities for the individual projects to complement each other. The jewelry center, for example, will have a public museum, and the park could be used in conjunction with events at the performing arts center.

The buildings should also attract plenty of attention.

The brain institute has a modern, Frank Gehry design, and David M. Schwartz's design of the Smith Center was inspired by Southern Nevada's history and reflects the art deco style reminiscent of Hoover Dam.

At 50-plus stories, the World Jewelry Center will be among the tallest buildings in Las Vegas and the 400-room Charlie Palmer hotel will sport a modern look and include a world-class restaurant.

The resort project has only preliminary plans at this point. Forest City has been focused on a land swap that will allow it to develop two parcels at Union Park in exchange for developing a new Las Vegas City Hall as part of its project on Main Street.

Once terms of the swap have been finalized and Forest City chooses a gaming partner, it will introduce a more comprehensive plan that is expected to include a 1,000 "room hotel, 60,000 square feet of gaming and 300,000 square feet of retail.

The brain institute is scheduled for completion early next year. The Smith Center and the Charlie Palmer hotel should begin construction in the next year, followed by the World Jewelry Center and the Access Medical Center.

Ultimately, the plan is to connect Union Park, which is often described as the new downtown, to the existing downtown through one or more corridors. Potential connections include the area currently occupied by the Plaza hotel, if a deal can be worked out with its owners, the Tamares Group, and a separate retail corridor, possibly along Bonneville Avenue.

Mark Hansel covers retail and real estate for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at 259-4069 or at hansel@lasvegassun.com.