Building continues at Corporate Center in Green Valley

Jennifer Robison

Friday, March 1, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

Stricter lending criteria from banks hasn't been a deterrent for American Nevada Corp. as it continues to build office buildings in its Corporate Center in Green Valley.

That's because American Nevada taps into an unusual source for money to build its projects.

"We do all the construction with our own parent company's (The Greenspun Corp.) line of credit," said John Kilduff, president and chief executive of American Nevada. "We don't do any construction loans. When we reach stabilized occupancy, we get permanent financing, mostly with life insurance companies -- national lenders with well-known names."

American Nevada is using that line of credit to construct at least two new office buildings at Corporate Center this year despite the closure of Providian's Henderson call center, which occupied a 50,000-square-foot building in the park.

Corporate Center's build-out calls for those two buildings, a third and final office building and a restaurant.

One building, a build-to-suit for engineering firm PBS&J, is under construction just north of Providian's building.

PBS&J will occupy 49,000 square feet of the 55,000-square-foot building; Kilduff said American Nevada isn't yet negotiating leases on the remaining space.

The developer also plans two spec buildings just north of Interstate 215 and west of Green Valley Parkway.

The first, a 70,000-square-foot, two-story building, will be out of the ground by May or June, Kilduff said.

"We're calling it a (Class) B-plus building," he said. "It's a new product type we think will be more competitive on the lease rates, but will still give someone a handsome building for their offices."

The final office building at Corporate Center will be a two-story building with 40,000 square feet of back-office space. The timeline for its construction will depend on market conditions, Kilduff said.

In addition, American Nevada is negotiating with what Kilduff said is a regionally renowned restaurant operator to open a location at the corner of Green Valley Parkway and Corporate Circle Drive.

"It's a well-known name -- I think everyone is going to be very excited about it," he said. "It will add a significant amenity to the park."

Kilduff said American Nevada would announce the restaurant deal within 30 to 60 days.

Though the Providian building has no occupants, Kilduff said Providian is current on its rent and is seeking a sublessor, so the empty building is still producing cash flow for American Nevada.

That means the building technically isn't considered vacant -- Providian still has an active lease on the property.

Kilduff said the vacancy rate for the entire office park is about 6 percent. That compares to a valley-wide average office vacancy rate of anywhere from 13 percent to 15 percent, depending on which commercial brokerage's numbers are used.

The only exception is 2285 Corporate Circle Drive, a 45,000-square-foot spec building that was completed in November and is currently empty. It has leases or "serious interest" from potential tenants for about 30 percent of the building -- a number that doesn't concern Kilduff.

"It's the product type. Back-office tenants come in and they'll lease 40,000 square feet," he said. "In this building, they're smaller tenants -- they're 2,000- to 5,000-square-foot tenants. You've got a lot more tenants, so it takes longer to lease them up. This is the normal lease-up period for a building like that. The rest of our buildings are at more than 90 percent (leased), and most of them are at 100 percent.

"I think the economy here is recovering. For several months, there were very few inquiries. We're starting to see more inquiries. We've been able to lease buildings that have not yet completed construction."

Other American Nevada developments near I-215 and Green Valley Parkway are also progressing.

Kilduff said the developer is talking with the same mix of retailers signing leases at Rampart Commons at Charleston and Rampart boulevards about opening stores in American Nevada's urban village east of Green Valley Ranch Station Casino on Green Valley Parkway.

Kilduff wouldn't name the specific retailers his company is negotiating with. Retailers planning stores in Rampart Commons include Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Williams-Sonoma, Talbots, the Gap and Banana Republic.

Construction on the urban village is scheduled to begin in the next nine to 12 months.

The developer is also completing construction of two buildings totaling 95,000 square feet in its Green Valley Corporate Center South office park just south of I-215 and west of Green Valley Ranch Station.

Kilduff said both new buildings at the park are totally leased.

The 110,000-square-foot Ford Credit call center is the only completed building in Corporate Center South, which Kilduff said will have about 800,000 square feet upon its projected build-out in four years.

American Nevada, in partnership with Del Webb Corp., plans to begin residential land development on its 1,900-acre North Las Vegas property in the next 60 to 90 days, Kilduff said.

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