$75 million retail center set for former casino property

Phil Levine

Friday, Jan. 28, 2000 | 10:38 a.m.

The heated battle for Henderson shopping dollars is about to get hotter.

Las Vegas-based developer Laurich Properties Inc. plans to build a $75 million retail center -- dubbed SunMark Plaza -- at the northwest intersection of Sunset Road and Marks Street across from the Sunset Station hotel-casino.

The 40-acre parcel of land, located between the Galleria at Sunset Mall and the Costco and Home Depot Center, will soon be home to a 500,000-square-foot retail complex.

Laurich purchased the property from Station Casinos Inc. Gordon declined to reveal details of the transaction, saying the deal is currently in escrow.

Station Casinos previously purchased the land from Santa Fe Gaming Corp.; Santa Fe originally planned to build a hotel-casino on the site.

"It's a great location, and one of the first properties off of the exit from US 95," said Laurich President Hank Gordon. "I expect we can begin construction by about the third quarter of this year."

Gordon said he's currently searching for the project's first anchor tenant, a "big box" retailer.

"We'd like to attract the kind of national, industry-dominating retailers that we have at our other (retail) power centers," he said.

He said SunMark Plaza will likely emulate another retail project his company recently developed at the intersection of Stephanie Street and Warm Springs Road.

"At that project, we've got Barnes & Noble, Circuit City and those types of retailers," he said. "That's what will set SunMark apart from the Galleria (mall). Our customers will be able to find the type of retailers who aren't in regional malls."

Gordon is convinced the Sunset/Stephanie shopping corridor will evolve into one of the most successful retail locations in Metropolitan Las Vegas.

"There will be more than 3 million square feet of retail space there by the end of 2001," he said. "That's one of the highest concentrations of retail space in the country."

Laurich has an active year planned for 2000. The company expects to develop more than 2 million square feet of retail space this year, with much of that development slated for neighborhood retailers such as Albertson's supermarkets and Sav-On Drugs.

Gordon said he didn't rely on market research to determine the need for even more retail space in Henderson.

"I rely on my gut, which has 43 years of retail experience," he said.