Asian showroom market proposed for Las Vegas

Kevin Rademacher

Wednesday, March 17, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

A Los Angeles businessman has proposed the construction of a 1 million-square-foot Asian marketplace here.

William DeVore, chief executive of Vindex International Inc., said the Las Vegas International Business Mart would include showrooms for as many as 500 Chinese manufacturers of apparel, textiles and electronics.

Like the unrelated downtown Las Vegas furniture market now under construction, the Asian marketplace would showcase goods for wholesale buyers.

DeVore said the participating companies and investors have put $100 million in deposits into a Chinese trust account. He added that Vindex has been working with the Nevada Development Authority.

Somer Hollingsworth, chief executive of the NDA, described the talks with Vindex as "very preliminary."

"I'm not sure where they are coming from," he said. "All they did is come in and talk to us ... They asked us if it sounded like a good idea. We said 'We think it sounds great.' "

Hollingsworth said further evidence of financing would be key to adding credibility to the project.

DeVore said project planners have looked at land on Las Vegas Boulevard, south of Mandalay Bay, but no offers to purchase land have been made.

In additional to the money that is purported to back the project, DeVore said the the project is being backed by the Chinese government. He said a partner company -- Hong Kong-based Horizon Structured Solutions Ltd. -- has the support of Chinese planning officials.

"The contracts we have are with the government to do trade financing," DeVore said.

The Asian link did not surprise Hollingsworth.

"The whole Asian market here is so strong, we are getting a lot of interest from Asian companies," he said.

Former Gov. Bob Miller of the Las Vegas law firm Jones Vargas said today that he has been in contact with DeVore, but that he and his firm don't represent him on the venture. Miller said the project has been in developmental stages for years, but hasn't developed to the point that he has a formal agreement with the developers.