Space at furniture center in huge demand

Diana Sahagun

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2001 | 11:05 a.m.

The demand for furniture showroom space at the yet-to-be built downtown World Market Center is so heavy that the developers are considering adding 300,000 more square feet to the first construction phase.

The City Council in May approved the first phase of the 57-acre home furnishings trade center -- a 10-story, 1 million-square-foot showroom at the corner of Grand Central Parkway and Bonneville Avenue.

Shawn Samson, a managing partner of the World Market Center, said his office has received hundreds of requests from wholesalers and manufacturers wanting to lease space inside the showroom.

"We're very pleased with the demand by the wholesalers and manufacturers," Samson said. "It's indicative of what we've said all along, that Las Vegas is a perfect host city for this type of project."

Because the demand exceeds the available space, he said the developers are discussing adding 300,000 additional square feet, or three more floors, to the first-phase showroom, which is proposed for completion in 2004.

When fully developed by the year 2007, the World Market Center would consist of multiple towers with 7.5 million square feet of showrooms for home furnishings.

Once estimated to have a total construction cost of $750 million, the World Market Center is now projected by developers to ultimately cost nearly $1 billion, including water landscaping features and parking garages.

The idea of a wholesale furniture mart has left lingering questions in the minds of Las Vegas City Council members. They are unsure how the facility would improve downtown because it is mainly for wholesalers and manufacturers, not tourists or the general public.

But an economic impact study for the furniture mart prepared by R. Keith Schwer, directer of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, found that the finished project would annually generate more than $60 million in additional local and state revenue, and lure more than 1.7 million new visitors to Las Vegas.

The furniture mart developers were scheduled today to make a presentation about the project to the City Centre Development Corp., a private, nonprofit group that advises the city's redevelopment agency.

The developers also were to present a proposal that asks the city to rebate half of the property taxes the project is expected to generate over the next 15 years.

Steven Houchens, deputy city manager, said that under this proposal, the developers would receive a tax break of about $4 million a year.

The developers' first request for a tax incentive didn't sit well with the City Council last month after city staff said it could negatively affect the city's bond rating.

That proposal, which was ultimately withdrawn by the developers, asked the city to reimburse all of the property taxes the project is expected to generate over the next 25 years.

Houchens said the latest proposal is acceptable. City staff, though, will not make a recommendation when the City Council considers the proposal Sept. 5.

"Staff is going to take a neutral position on this and let the CCDC and the City Council make the determination as to whether they want to approve this," he said.

As part of their presentation today, the developers planned to submit letters of support from former Nevada Gov. Bob Miller, Nevada Development Authority President A. Somer Hollingsworth, and Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce President Pat Shalmy.

By Sept. 11, the furniture mart developers must purchase the first 20 acres of old Union Pacific Railroad Property, at a cost of $654,400 per acre. Ground is expected to be broken on the first $136 million phase in 2002, with an opening in early 2004.