Monday, April 4, 2005 | 11:10 a.m.
The expansion of the World Market Center in downtown Las Vegas will help solidify its dominance in the trade-show arena and shows the importance of the burgeoning furniture market within the industry, experts said.
World Market Center officials plan to expand the furniture market to 12 million square feet of permanent and temporary showrooms -- doubling the project's cost to $2 billion from $1 billion. The original plan consisted of 7.5 million square feet of showrooms.
The new development plans call for the buildings to be constructed in eight phases on its 57-acre site with a completion date of 2015.
"Las Vegas is very pleased with how well the furniture industry is accepting Las Vegas," said Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of marketing at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "We think this next round of expansion will provide even more visitors to the city."
The first 1.3 million-square-foot World Market Center building is nearing completion at Grand Central Parkway and Bonneville Avenue near downtown Las Vegas. Additional space has been leased at the Las Vegas Convention Center, bringing this summer's debut show to 2.5 million square feet of permanent and temporary exhibition space. The first Las Vegas market will run July 25-29.
Phases two and three of the project will total 3 million square feet, the fourth and fifth phases will total 3.2 million square feet and the final three buildings will be 1.5 million square feet each. All eight buildings will be connected with sky bridges at every level.
Construction on the second building, with a planned 1.6 million square feet, will begin in the next few months.
"By virtue of this announcement we are more than doubling the size of trade-show space available in Las Vegas," said Shawn Samson, co-managing partner in the project along with Jack Kashani. "By doing what we're doing, we are reinforcing the position of Las Vegas as the tradeshow capital of the world."
Some of the space will be temporary exhibition space and will be available at nonmarket times for use by other conventions and tradeshows. The exact amount of space that will be temporary exhibition space will "evolve over time," Samson said.
Jicinsky said the LVCVA does not view the World Market Center and its planned tradeshow space as competition.
"The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is uniquely positioned," he said. "Our goal is to bring visitors to the city; whether they use the convention center is secondary."
The expansion also brings changes to the center's master plan, which originally included 2.5 million square feet of hotels, offices and other commercial. Those plans were dropped to make way for more exhibition space, Samson said.
"When the city selected the Related Cos. to essentially master plan the 61 acres across the street, it made more sense for them to transfer the mixed-use elements to that site and concentrate more on core elements on the 57 acres (the World Market site)," he said.
The Related Cos. is a partner in the World Market Center project with Samson and Kashani. The Related Cos. has been selected by the city of Las Vegas to develop the 61-acre city-owned parcel into a mixed-use urban center.
Recent plans call for building a medical center, including an Alzheimer's research center, a performing arts center, new City Hall, baseball stadium, and high-rises for residential, office and other commercial uses.
Las Vegas City Councilman Lawrence Weekly said the furniture market and its expansion would help the continuing evolution of downtown.
"It's exciting times for downtown Las Vegas," he said. "We want everybody to keep the faith and be positive and help the city become a better place."
Weekly said the market will help push the residential components -- many of them high rises -- planned for downtown Las Vegas. He said it also would help drive the planned components of the 61 acres.
Other factors also played into the expansion plans, including the group's international strategy, diversification strategy and demand for space, Samson said.
Samson said the World Market Center is expanding the market beyond furniture to other segments of the home furnishings industry, including home accessories, lighting and rugs.
"Each of these segments have huge marketplaces that take place in different cities," he said. "What we've learned through our research, these buyers are becoming more diversified and therefore instead of just needing to buy furniture, they have to travel to several cities to buy inventory for their store."
By providing buyers with a variety of products all on one campus, it makes it more efficient and more attractive to buyers, Samson said.
The World Market Center's international strategy also is a reason for the expansion, he said.
"As we've announced from the very beginning, the World Market Center is an opportunity to bring international exhibitors and buyers and international shows to the U.S.," Samson said. "The venues and infrastructure that international exhibitors and buyers need has not been available in the U.S."
Earlier this year World Market Center officials announced that International tradeshow producer Messe Frankfurt Inc. will bring versions of the Heimtextil and Ambiente home decor and textile shows to Las Vegas under the name Interior Lifestyle USA.
"The convergence of those three elements puts us in a position to expand the platform on all different levels," Samson said.
Sharron Bradley, executive director of the California-based Western Home Furnishings Association, which represents more than 1,000 retailers in 12 Western states, said the World Market Center is a "wonderful thing for the industry."
"It gives us the diversity we need all in one place," she said. "What they're doing here in one place is going to be very easy and convenient."
Rick Mantin, chief operating officer of Lyon Credit Services, a credit reporting company to the furniture industry, said the World Market Center has made sure the support and need is there before announcing its expansion plans.
"It signals the strength of their vision and of their product," he said. "It also signals the support of their customer base, furniture manufacturers."
Lyon Credit Services recently moved its headquarters to Las Vegas from New York City.
When completed, the World Market Center will top the High Point furniture market, in High Point, N.C., in size. The High Point market is currently about 11.5 million square feet, according to the High Point Market Authority.
As to whether the World Market Center would siphon off business from other markets, including High Point, currently the dominant furniture market in the U.S., was tiptoed around by industry experts and World Market Center officials.
"From our perspective, (the World Market Center) has positioned themselves in a January, July (tradeshow) arrangement and High Point is April and October," Mantin said. We think both can be well supported by the entire industry."
Samson said the World Market Center will simply expand the pie for manufacturers and buyers.
"We are bringing into the U.S. market exhibitors that don't currently show here. As far as that is concerned, there is no taking away from other markets," he said.
The center's market diversification strategy keeps them from recreating the same model as other furniture markets, Samson said.
"There will be other markets that have greater depth of products in specific segments," he said. "What we're trying to do is bring the best of those segments under one roof and make the experience for the buyer more efficient."
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