While some of the country's largest corporations are looking to Washington for bailout relief, some small real-estate developers are reaching out to local governments for help in moving forward with high-profile projects.

In Reno, Nevada the swooning economy and frozen credit markets have prevented developers of a new stadium, a group called Nevada Land, from completing construction on even the first phase of related entertainment space, which is planned to contain 40,000 square feet of restaurants and night club space.

So the developer has asked the city of Reno for help. The $50m stadium was financed partly with about $30m of county-issued bonds backed by a car-rental tax set up in 2003. Now Nevada Land is asking the city for at least $10m in additional assistance, to help finance the entertainment district's retail space, says Stuart Katzoff, the managing partner of Nevada Land.

Wall Street Journal