Friday, July 12, 2002 | 10:49 a.m.
A Henderson development company plans to break ground next month on a 3.6-acre, water-themed shopping center at Eastern Avenue and Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson.
New Urban Developments Inc. is building the $10 million Aqua Center to provide residents with a gathering place.
"The market has expanded to a point where people's needs are generally being met," said Jonathan Borsuk, chief executive of New Urban Developments. "There are enough Smith's and Albertson's stores. People are now asking where they can go to have a good time, meet friends and have a hangout. That's what we feel is the next wave in the market."
Retailers set to lease space at Aqua Center include a South American grill, a sushi and dim sum bar, an international news cafe and a European bakery.
The center will also have a farmer's market with a wine cave and vendors peddling fresh produce, cheese, meat, fish and flowers.
New Urban Developments is also negotiating with an upscale cosmetics and fine-soap retailer. In addition, company officials said they expect to line up a custom tailor, shoemaker and barber at Aqua Center.
The center will also have a 10,000-square-foot courtyard flanked on one side by a cylindrical glass building with a cigar club, lounge and restaurant and on the other by a small body of water with a sand beach.
Matt Bear, a retail analyst and principal with NewMarket Advisors in Las Vegas, said Aqua Center is risky but could work.
"I think it will work, but anything that's really different like this concept has a risk of failing," Bear said. "In the end, it comes down to how they execute it and how they market it to get people in the door.
"What makes the (South Eastern Avenue) trade area so attractive is the affluence in Anthem and Green Valley and the great middle market in Silverado Ranch. Also, there are thousands and thousands of square feet of medical and office space being built around (St. Rose Dominican's Siena Campus). You have the morning business, the mid-day business and the dinner business."
Also working in Aqua Center's favor is the experience of New Urban Developments' principals.
Borsuk has owned and operated New Urban Developments in its various incarnations for the last 15 years. The company, previously known as Imperial Resort Group, is also developing the Keys Resort & Casino in West Wendover, Nev.
Prior to establishing the company, Borsuk worked in Merrill Lynch's real estate investment banking division in New York.
Principal Alan Perlmutter is a former chief operating officer of commercial development for American Nevada Corp.
"Alan is a good developer. He does well with complicated projects like this," Bear said.
Aqua Center should also be easier to lease up because it is substantially smaller than many of the shopping centers being developed in the valley today. It will include just 40,000 square feet of retail space.
That compares to the 80,000 square feet of store space at Rampart Commons, a lifestyle center at West Charleston and Rampart boulevards with a similar objective of creating an upscale retail experience for neighboring, affluent, master-planned communities.
American Nevada Corp., which along with the Las Vegas Sun is owned by the Greenspun family, is planning The Shops at Green Valley Ranch, a lifestyle center that will combine 175,000 square feet of high-end store and restaurant space with gathering places for friends and family.
The Shops at Green Valley Ranch, which will break ground within the next few months at Interstate 215 and Green Valley Parkway, will be relatively close to Aqua Center.
Whether Aqua Center can compete with The Shops at Green Valley Ranch will "depend on the tenants and restaurants (Aqua Center) attracts," Bear said.
"A project is only as good as its tenants. If they can get the tenants to believe in their vision and do something interesting, there are certainly enough people in that submarket to make most developments successful."
New Urban Developments is creating Aqua Center as a prototype -- the first in a series of high-end, boutique retail sites it plans to build across the valley.
Borsuk said the company chose the Henderson area for launching the prototype because residents in the master-planned communities of Seven Hills, MacDonald Ranch and Anthem "have to drive quite a way for a variety of restaurants or places they might want to visit while spending time with family and friends."
"They're trying to convey a concept," said Bear of New Urban Developments' objective. "This is not a real estate deal as much as it is a concept. They just have to get people enrolled in that concept and support it."
Aqua Center is scheduled for completion early next year.
New Urban Developments said it will use the Aqua Center prototype on at least three other shopping centers in the valley, including centers in downtown Las Vegas and Summerlin.
The tenant rosters in other parts of town will resemble that at Aqua Center, but Borsuk said each property would have its own theme that would deviate from the first center's water focus.
Borsuk said New Urban Developments will initiate the site selection process for future shopping centers within the next year.
"We want to have our whole tenant mix (at Aqua Center) in place and be in the ground constructing. Then we'll start to look for our next site.
"We are focused on getting (Aqua Center) to work, but we realize there's a need for other places like it. We don't want to miss those opportunities."
archive
