Fremont Street Experience seen as marketing tool for Neonopolis

Erin Neff

Wednesday, May 24, 2000 | 10:58 a.m.

If you believe Neonopolis' own publicity, the planned downtown Las Vegas entertainment retail center already has its anchor tenant.

The Fremont Street Experience.

The pedestrian walkway topped with a visual display canopy was first built to keep downtown's aging casinos in business. Now, the Experience is being used to draw tenants to Neonopolis.

Consider the slick brochure handed by Elvis himself to potential lessees attending the International Council of Shopping Centers convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

"An anchor like no other ... the Fremont Street Experience floods downtown Las Vegas with 25,000 fun-seekers every night -- over 9 million per year -- year round," the Neonopolis brochure barks from behind a cover photo of tourists gawking at the Experience light show.

World Entertainment Centers began serious leasing efforts Tuesday when the shopping center council's leasing mall opened for a three-day run. Joyce Storm, a New York-based leasing agent hired by World Entertainment to find tenants for Neonopolis, rushed away into a meeting shortly after the mall opened.

"It's obvious what our intent is here," Storm said in the World Entertainment booth where Elvis greeted guests with neon necklaces. "We are leasing tenants."

Neonopolis has been climbing uphill for months after its original anchor tenant, Mann Theaters, pulled out of the project because of the bankruptcy of its parent company.

The $99 million project was originally supposed to open this Thanksgiving, but now the fall of 2001 seems optimistic for the 3-story center planned on Fremont Street between Las Vegas Boulevard and Fourth Street.

Storm said she had no time to speak to media at the shopping center convention, and referred all questions to the glossy brochure. From the back page, which is also being run as a full-page ad in the convention magazine, the caption above Elvis begs, "Will someone please give this man some place to shop!"

But Elvis isn't the only one looking for stores. Alan Merken, director of Acquisitions for Equity One of Miami, told the daily convention newsletter he came to the shopping center convention for the same reason World Entertainment has a booth.

"Primarily the goal is to uncover leads for the leasing needs for our 30 shopping centers in Florida," Merken said.

At the convention, developers, leasing agents, popular retail chain owners and everyone in between stretch to draw attention to their projects.

Free beverages flow from the Starbuck's and Jamba Juice booths. One company promises someone who stops by its booth will win a Palm Pilot. Even the cities of Miami, Sacramento and Chandler, Ariz., beg for notice with chocolates, maps and possible tax incentives.

Neonopolis just needs tenants. And the Fremont Street Experience likely won't be enough to get the 225,000-square-foot center leased. Mayor Preston Daniels of Des Moines, Iowa, told conventioneers during one panel discussion that cities can only offer so many incentives to spur redevelopment of their downtowns.

"Retailers follow other retailers," Daniels said during Monday's Retail and Development Opportunities through Public-Private Partnerships panel also featuring the mayors of Dallas, Oakland, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman would have learned that he's not alone in his frustration over downtown Las Vegas' slow redevelopment process. Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles-Belton lamented that although her city's downtown will have 185,000 residents by 2002, the area still has no grocery store.

Neonopolis is seen as the next step needed to redevelop downtown. The project is designed to give tourists nongaming options in the downtown area, as well as provide a gathering place for downtown's 50,000-plus workers. Neonopolis isn't the only shopping center seeking tenants.

Peabody Place, for example, is a Belz Enterprises development in Memphis, Tenn. The center is adjacent to Beale Street, a performing arts theater, a Triple A baseball stadium and the Peabody Hotel. The retail center features a 22-screen theater including one IMAX 3-D theater, and is looking for other tenants.

Neonopolis developers say they are negotiating with a theater tenant to build 14 screens at their project. Eastman Kodak Co. is also reportedly interested in working with a theater tenant to showcase state-of-the art film technology.

Officials say that once the theater tenant is announced, other retailers will sign on to lease space in Neonopolis. Storm said her goal at the convention isn't just landing one anchor tenant. "It's all of them," she said.