Friday, May 21, 2004 | 10:57 a.m.
The Forum Shops at Caesars is betting that the mall's $100 million-plus expansion will pay off by maintaining or improving the Las Vegas property's already jaw-dropping sales numbers.
Forum Shops is considered one of the most successful malls in the country based on its $1,400 sales per square foot annually -- the industry average is $345 a square foot on an annual basis excluding anchor tenants.
Officials with Forum Shops owner Simon Property Group of Indianapolis expect to maintain those numbers despite the 175,000-square-foot, three-level expansion now in progress.
"We expect to see (sales per square foot) rise by October 2005, and we think we can do it with the caliber of stores and the price points," said Maureen Crampton, the mall's marketing director.
Jeweler Harry Winston, Donald J Pliner (men's and women's shoes), Casa Fuente featuring hand-rolled cigars, Juicy Couture, Scoop clothier and French fashion designer Celine are just some of the 60 high-end stores that the Forum Shops will add to its roster of luxury shopping. Restaurants also will be a part of the expansion.
Simon Property Group will open the expansion to a select few during this week's International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Spring convention in Las Vegas, which begins Sunday and ends Wednesday. The convention is the nation's largest gathering of real estate professionals and is expected to draw 34,000 people.
The convention is often used to announce new partnerships and projects and gives development and retail executives an opportunity to tour Las Vegas-area retail projects, which are always changing and are often unique.
Numerous projects have been completed since last year's convention, including the Fashion Show mall's $1 billion expansion and its multi-media streetscape on Las Vegas Boulevard. Other completed projects are the 100,000-square-foot Mandalay Place, in the sky bridge between Mandalay Bay and the Luxor hotel-casinos; the Hawaiian Marketplace, an 80,000-square-foot island-themed shopping plaza on the Strip to open next week; and the 400,000-square-foot The District at Green Valley Ranch, which incorporates retail, office and residential units.
ICSC participants will tour many of these projects, attend educational sessions and have the chance to hear industry heavyweights' presentations. Among the speakers this year is Robert Tillman, Lowe's Home Center chairman and chief executive.
Behind-the-scenes tours of the Forum Shops will give industry insiders a first-hand look at the expansion, set to open Oct. 22.
The expansion departs from the Roman-themed walkways of the 500,000-square-foot, one-story mall and instead focuses on grand architecture, sweeping arched ceilings, ceiling murals, marble columns, a huge domed skylight and a spiral Mitsubishi escalator.
Simon departed from the Roman theme and entertainment because it didn't want to disturb traffic flow, the expansion will open up onto Las Vegas Boulevard, and the idea is that entertainment features in the older parts of the mall will pull people through the center.
"This area is very visual, we didn't want to disturb the beauty of this," Crampton said.
Another big change for the mall is that it is at the edge of the Strip sidewalk, with a large entrance and presence. Before the expansion, the mall simply had a moving sidewalk on the Strip to the mall and little signage to identify it.
Las Vegas Strip retail continues to amaze many in the industry, some whom have speculated that the Strip can't hold any more retail. But George Connor, senior vice president for Colliers International Las Vegas retail division, said naysayer predictions haven't panned out despite continued growth of Strip retail.
"I don't know how you define if we're building too much, I haven't seen a dip, despite expansions," he said. "That tells me we're not building too much, if sales are increasing or staying the same, we have not reached the point of saturation."
Patrice Duker, ICSC spokeswoman, said the Forum Shops has done a good job bringing in unique tenants and has presented those retailers well.
"Tourists on vacation are more willing to spend more for something that's unique," she said.
Some of the stores and restaurants going into the Forum Shops at Caesars expansion:
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