Builders’ convention returns to Vegas after nine years

Jennifer Shubinski

Monday, Jan. 20, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.

Just a week after one of the largest International Consumer Electronics Shows ended at the Las Vegas Convention Center, two major conventions -- one returning to Las Vegas after a nine-year hiatus and the other ending a three-year run in the city -- open this week.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said 81,000 people are expected for the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association Super Show at the Sands Expo Center and the Venetian hotel-casino beginning today.

Meanwhile, more than 75,000 people from 80 countries are expected to arrive for the International Builders' Show that begins Tuesday.

The Super Show is in the final year of a three-year contract at the Sands Expo Center after spending its first 15 years in Atlanta. Next year, the show will begin a three-year run in Orlando, Fla. Organizers have said they don't expect to make a decision until later this year on where the 2007 show would be. They said an evaluation of the three shows in Las Vegas would be part of their consideration.

The Super Show is a collection of 20 separate product expositions and in past years has occupied 1.5 million square feet and featured more than 1,500 exhibitors.

The product exhibitions include shows for apparel, bowling, billiards and darts, cycles, fitness, footwear, golf, inline skating, marine and water sports, outdoor sports, nutrition and health, tennis, trading cards and collectibles, trophies and awards, winter wear and extreme sports.

The 2003 International Builders' Show, meanwhile, will feature more than 1,000 manufacturers and suppliers that serve the home and building industry and will fill the most of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Steve Wynn, chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts, Ltd., the developer of Le Reve on the Las Vegas Strip, will open the show Tuesday morning as the keynote speaker.

The TecHOMExpo, a show within the builders' show, will feature cutting-edge technologies and products including software, hardware and services.

Think of the TecHOMExpo as the Consumer Electronics Show for the home.

Everything from conventional ovens that cook faster to solar-powered attic ventilation products and the latest innovations in window design will be on display.

"It will feature companies that only provide products or services for the intelligent home," said Wayne Stetson, senior vice president of conventions and meetings group of the National Association of Home Builders.

Stetson expects it will be emerging technology in the home and in home building that will emerge as the trend from this year's builders' show.

"It hasn't hit its peak at this point," he said.

Another big draw at the builders' show will be the Las Vegas model home tour, which will take thousands of convention attendees on four tours of Las Vegas' model homes, from starter homes, move-up, executive and luxury home models.

Monica Caruso, spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, which is organizing the tours, said the group has been fielding calls since last year about the event.

"We are the fastest-growing community in the country," she said. "The newest, the latest, the greatest -- it is being done in Southern Nevada, that is a fact."

Even though Las Vegas' new home market was flat in 2002, with 22,502 recorded new home sales, a 1.9 percent decline from 2001, a record-setting year, Caruso said those figures are better than most communities.

"Many communities would love to have 22,502 new home sales," she said.

The chance to show off the Las Vegas community and its homes to people from around the world is an unparalleled opportunity, Caruso said.

About 600 tickets for the tours were presold on the association's website, and officials expect a total of 5,000 tickets to be sold.

"This is the opportunity to see the real Las Vegas, our bustling shopping centers, our beautiful new schools and houses of worship," Caruso said. "They will be seeing how Las Vegas lives and that it is a real thriving community."

Other convention tours will feature four concept homes, each targeting the growing senior and luxury home-buying market and built in Las Vegas for the builders' show.

The 2003 New American Home tour will feature three attached luxury town homes, ranging from 2,775 square feet to 3,151 square feet, at Lake Las Vegas.

The town homes each feature different layouts to cater to seniors, people with disabilities and single executives.

The fourth home, at an astounding 10,000 square feet, was designed and built at Southern Highlands by a team of industry leaders who were hoping to build the boomer generation's dream home.

"This was an opportunity to explore and develop an entirely new housing concept," said Mark Scheurer, principal Scheurer Architects, one of the companies who helped design the home. "The challenge was to create spaces that were unique, yet could be reproduced by builders in various luxury markets."

Among the amenities the home boasts is five bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, a wine room, billiard room, laundry room and two two-car garages, one of which can double as an indoor sports court.

The builders' show is a coup for Las Vegas. The convention, which hasn't been in town for nine years, is booked in Las Vegas for two-year periods -- with four years between the periods -- until 2023.

"Home builders will be here from all over the world; it will be very lucrative (for Las Vegas)," Nancy Murphy, vice president of sales with Las Vegas Convention Center.