Coveted retailer to build on Strip

Monday, May 24, 1999 | 11:54 a.m.

Nordstrom, the Seattle retailer well known for its personal service, ended months of anticipation today by announcing it will enter the Las Vegas market.

A three-level 225,000-square-foot Nordstrom department store will anchor a high-end shopping center on the Las Vegas Strip between the Mandalay Bay and Luxor hotel-casinos.

Nordstrom has signed a letter of intent to build the store with Westcor, a Phoenix-based shopping center developer, and Circus Circus Enterprises Inc., which operates Mandalay Bay, Luxor and other hotel-casinos.

Pete Nordstrom, co-president of the company, addressed a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce event in January and hinted that a deal was close, but he wouldn't confirm specifics.

"Can you believe it?" Nordstrom said this morning. "It's about time, isn't it?"

Nordstrom said negotiations were prolonged because the company wanted to be certain that there were other retailers in the mall to support the anchor store.

"Like I told people back in January, it was a pretty complicated deal," Nordstrom said. "We really wanted to get off on the right foot there and really get it right, and this one is it."

Real estate experts had speculated that the proposed 1.2 million-square-foot center at Mandalay Bay or the Fashion Show mall would house the store, but last month, the Howard Hughes Corp., owner of Fashion Show, announced its own expansion plans and Nordstrom wasn't a part of them.

"We are absolutely thrilled to be opening our first store in Las Vegas," Nordstrom said. "Our priority will be to work hard to serve the needs of the local community. It will be an added bonus for us to serve the tourists and convention customers visiting town."

The store and the mall are expected to open in 2001. It is believed to be the first retail development in the country to link two casino resorts with a major department store.

A release announcing the deal said the mall would be located in a retail bridge spanning Mandalay Bay Road and more than 5,000 parking spaces. The project is being designed by Callison Architecture, Seattle, Nordstrom's exclusive architect, and Klai Juba Architects of Las Vegas.

Westcor owns and operates eight regional malls, three specialty centers and several neighborhood center. Based in Phoenix, Westcor operates more than 13 million square feet of retail projects in Arizona and Colorado.

There was no word on other Las Vegas-area locations Nordstrom may be considering. But in the retail industry, economies of scale often require retailers to have several outlets in a city the size of Las Vegas.