DESERT VISION: CHRISTIAN THEME PARK MAY ARISE IN NEVADA.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

A group of international investors is searching for the promised land in southern Nevada for an ambitious $1.6 billion amusement park that would bring religion to Sin City.

Las Vegas-based Quorum International believes it can open the first part of Holy Land, anchored by a 33-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ, by the end of next year if it can buy the 3,000 acres it needs for the park, according to Chief Executive Officer Daxx Edder.

The attraction, promoted as a source of spiritual values in the gaming capitol of the world, has already been presented to the City Council of Mesquite, a fast-growing community 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Edder said he also explored sites just north of Las Vegas.

Holy Land would presumably draw from the massive pool of visitors to Vegas, projected to hit 32 million this year. Edder expects Holy Land to attract 8 million visitors annually.

Edder, a native of Switzerland who said he has made a career of putting together financing for entertainment deals, envisions Holy Land as a facility with holographic and physical re-creations of scenes from the 66 books of the Protestant Bible, including the parting of the Red Sea and a replica of Noah's ark.

Edder claims to have rounded up commitments from 58 unnamed international investors who are undeterred by the collapse of the nation's one major Bible-themed attraction, televangelist Jim Bakker's Heritage USA resort in Fort Mill, S.C. The site is now a Radisson Hotel.

``The investors are highly religious people who wish to remain anonymous,'' Edder said.

The theme park, which will bar smoking, gambling and consumption of alcoholic beverages, would house most New Testament scenes in a mile-long, cross-shaped building, while most of the Old Testament sites would be outside. A first phase, consisting of the statue and several re-creations, would cost a projected $173 million.

The rest of the park, including a studio for film production specializing in family movies, will need another 10 to 12 years for completion. ``The studio would not allow productions that have any vulgarity in them,'' Edder said.

Edder's presentation last month to the Mesquite City Council, located near the Arizona border on the Virgin River, was made to persuade the council to take advantage of its ability to buy federal land for the project and resell it to Quorum, according to Edder and City Manager Bill Da Vee. Buying the land from the city would simplify the development process, Edder explained.

``We're waiting for Quorum to get back to us,'' Da Vee said. ``We haven't really seen much on how this would be financed.''

Mesquite has five small casinos and is Nevada's fastest-growing community, having more than doubled its population in two years to 8,100. ``We're very attractive to people from cold climates, especially in the winter,'' Da Vee said. ``Of course, it is pretty hot in the summer.''

Edder has chosen southern Nevada because its desert terrain resembles the landscapes described in the Bible. Should that region not work out, however, Quorum will try to find property in Arizona, California or New Mexico.

``We're ready to pay cash for the land,'' Edder said. ``Once we do, we can break ground in 30 days.''

Edder promises admission to Holy Land will be far less than the current $36 price for a daily pass charged by Disneyland in Anaheim and pledges that some of the profits will be donated to charities. He also said the theme park will not reflect a specific branch of Christianity, adding that he is not affiliated with a particular church.

``I'm strictly a businessman,'' said Edder, who said he has worked mostly in Canada and Switzerland on a variety of movies and venture capital projects that he would not identify. ``What I do is raise capital.''

Tim O'Brien, an editor with Nashville-based Amusement Business, said Holy Land is the latest in a long line of proposals for similar attractions that surface periodically. ``We hear from an amazing number of people, most who don't have financing,'' he said.

Still, O'Brien believes Holy Land stands a chance. ``I think the time is right in our society where something combining Christianity and secularism can succeed if it's a high-quality product,'' he said, noting the strong performance in recent years by Christian music performers such as Amy Grant.

``If they can get the right mix of attractions, food and return on investment, it could work,'' O'Brien added. ``The problem is that people have so much sophistication when it comes to entertainment that you have to offer them something that's really outstanding.''

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Map: Mesquite - NEVADA