American Nevada plans ‘urban village’ near casino

David Strow

Friday, Dec. 14, 2001 | 9:33 a.m.

To the east of Green Valley Ranch Station Casino lies 30 acres of barren desert land.

But American Nevada Corp. executives say it won't stay that way for long. By the end of 2003, the development company plans to open an "urban village" there, a mix of retail space, office space and, possibly, up to 100 high-end apartments. Trees will line the streets, and small streams will run throughout the center.

American Nevada President John Kilduff describes it as a "pedestrian-friendly Main Street concept," designed to resemble the downtown areas of small towns in the northeast and midwest.

"It will look like this center was built over 60 or 70 years," Kilduff said. "It will look like you're going through different neighborhoods. One building might be brick, the next stucco. This will be a unique retail product in Las Vegas."

Few details are being released by American Nevada on the center, beyond plans to begin construction in the third quarter of 2002 and open by the end of 2003. The budget has yet to be finalized, a name has not been selected, and discussions are under way with potential tenants.

They won't be Wal-Mart, Target or Best Buy, though. The 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space is divided up into relatively small parcels, none larger than 30,000 square feet. Kilduff describes them as "lifestyle retailers ... high-end, unique retailers."

The center will be linked to Green Valley Ranch by a pedestrian walkway, which will lead directly into the hotel-casino's movie theater.

"(Green Valley Ranch) is an integral part of this project," Kilduff said. "It provides the cinemas, the restaurants, the gaming entertainment, the spa, the hotel rooms and the conference facilities. It helps make up the fabric of what we're trying to create at this intersection."

The key to success, one local broker said, will be which retailers American Nevada can bag.

"It's not without challenges," said John Knott, managing director of CB Richard Ellis. "The market for (specialty retailers) is not particularly deep, and you have to go around the country looking for specialty stores that are pretty well-heeled who aren't in our market. If they're successful at that (recruitment), the property will be very successful over time."

The retail center and the casino are just one element in an ambitious five- to seven-year build-out plan for the intersection of Green Valley and Paseo Verde parkways, one designed to make the area a center of commercial activity for Green Valley. The city of Henderson is already working on one of those elements, building a $28 million, 36-acre recreation center at the southeast corner of the intersection. The center, which includes a library, gymnasium and 3,000-seat amphitheater, is expected to open by January 2003.

To the west of the casino lies 90 acres of largely empty land, stretching out to St. Rose Parkway, lining the south side of the Beltway. Over the next three to four years, Kilduff said, American Nevada plans to fill the land with office buildings totaling several million square feet.

The marketing pitch includes the amenities offered in the immediate area and the thousands of nearby homes that provide close residential bases for employees.

"Certainly we will assess market conditions before we start more speculative office buildings (a term referring to office buildings built without a signed tenant)," Kilduff said. "But the tenants seem to have a longer timeframe than a single quarter. We certainly recognize the impact Sept. 11 had on this economy, and we'll take that into consideration with each building we build."

The vacancy rate for office space is up, said Knott, who is handling the marketing of the office space for American Nevada. But, he insisted, "there's a rational basis for the pace with which the product will come along."

"I don't feel we're getting out of our skis at all in terms of building this product," Knott said. "We lost some jobs in Las Vegas, but our job growth is now starting to recover those losses. We'll be pretty well corrected by the middle of next year."

The Greenspun family owns both American Nevada and the Las Vegas Sun.