Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Hughes president looking for new situation in Vegas

The president of the Howard Hughes Corp. announced Tuesday that he will leave the development company by June 30 and said he hopes to stay in the Las Vegas area.

Dan C. Van Epp, senior vice president of Columbia, Md.-based The Rouse Co. and president of Howard Hughes, its Las Vegas subsidiary and developer of the Summerlin planned community, said he will leave the company to pursue other interests.

"I think that the reality is, I want to pursue some other things in my life, not the least of which would be taking on the president's or CEO's role locally or elsewhere," Van Epp said.

There had been discussions with Van Epp and The Rouse Co. about Van Epp leaving Las Vegas to head the company's operations in Houston.

Van Epp's announcement comes shortly after Rouse sold off its premier Las Vegas office property, the Hughes Center at Flamingo and Paradise roads, and acquired a stake in The Woodlands, a planned community in Houston. Last year Rouse also bought 8,060 acres of land in Houston for development of a master-planned community.

"There had been discussions about that, but (the discussions) never concluded," Van Epp said. "But that was the idea."

Van Epp joined Howard Hughes in 1995 as president of its Summerlin division and was promoted in 1999 to his current positions. Laurence A. Brocato, senior vice president of The Rouse Co. and general manager of Summerlin, and Kevin T. Orrock, vice president of The Rouse Co., will share Van Epp's responsibilities.

Van Epp said he has talked with a number of people about future opportunities but isn't ready to announce his next move.

"(I am) anxious for people to know I would be interested in staying in the area and in finding the right fit somewhere," he said.

Before and during Van Epp's tenure as president, Summerlin, a 22,500-acre community in the west Las Vegas Valley, has been ranked as the nation's best-selling planned community 10 of the past 11 years, according to surveys by Robert Charles Lesser & Co.

Jim Murren, president and chief financial officer of MGM MIRAGE, said he expects Van Epp will be heavily recruited.

"The real estate market is exploding around the United States as our economy continues to improve and there is no place that is alive more than Las Vegas," said Murren, who with his wife founded the Nevada Cancer Institute and worked with Van Epp to have the center located in Summerlin through a donation from Howard Hughes. "Somebody with Dan's background and more recently nine years running the Howard Hughes Corp. will be on someone's radar. I hope he keeps his sites set here."

Boyd Gaming Corp. President Don Snyder, who has worked with Van Epp through the Boy Scouts of America and the Nevada Development Authority, said he hopes Las Vegas doesn't lose Van Epp to another city.

"Dan's one of those people that ... gets involved and does things," Snyder said. "That's the type of leadership and involvement we need in this community."

While June 30 has been named as Van Epp's last day at Howard Hughes, Van Epp said he might not stay through that date.

"I want to be on the job long enough to effect a smooth transition," he said.

Howard Hughes has seen management shuffles with the departure of several key employees in leasing, management and development and in the past six years as top executives left.

John Kilduff left Hughes in 1999 to join local development giant American Nevada Company.

Howard Hughes Chief Executive John Goolsby and Controller Dennis Sizemore retired in 1998.

Rouse officials said the departures do not indicate a strategic shift in the company and are simply a part of the evolution of the business.

Over the last few years, Rouse, which acquired the Howard Hughes Corp. in 1996, has sold some Las Vegas assets while aggressively developing Summerlin and Fashion Show mall on the Las Vegas Strip.

While Van Epp headed Howard Hughes, it remained one of the most philanthropic companies in the Las Vegas Valley. Van Epp also became involved in numerous community organizations.

"Most of us have to be here a number of years before we participate, but (Van Epp's) been there from day one, with his time, effort and expertise," said Terry Wright, Nevada Title chairman of the board and chairman of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Foundation. "Not enough people get involved the way he and his wife have done."

Van Epp is vice chairman of the UNLV Foundation and is scheduled to become chairman next year. He's a trustee of the Urban Land Institute and was most recently recommended to serve on Clark County's growth task force.

Some of his other community involvement includes being past-president of the Boulder Dam Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, founder and chairman of the Summerlin Children's Forum, and service on the Nevada Development Authority and the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission.

Van Epp said he plans to continue to be involved in the community and organizations.

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