Editorial: Furniture show a go

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 9:19 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

July 16-17, 2005

It's been five years in the making, but the debut of downtown Las Vegas as host of an international furniture market is now just eight days away. The event, running from July 25 to July 29, is expected to draw 80,000 people and begin a new chapter in the history of the convention business in Las Vegas. Over the next 10 years the World Market Center is expected to become the largest showcase for furniture and home furnishings in the West, eclipsing San Francisco, which has held that distinction for the past 90 years.

Next week's exhibition will be held in the first of eight buildings that are planned for the 57-acre site at Grand Central Parkway and Bonneville Avenue. The show will consume all 1.3 million square feet in the building, plus another 350,000 square feet that will be under a temporary pavilion set up in the World Market Center's parking lot. The full $2 billion development is scheduled for completion in 2015.

Furniture shows, attended by exhibitors and wholesalers and retailers from around the world, will be scheduled for every January and July. January, after the New Year's crowds have left, and July, which can be slow because of its heat, are ideal times for tens of thousands of new visitors to have a reason for coming to Las Vegas. The show will also draw related conventions. Next week, for example, the National Association of Woodworking and Furnishings Suppliers show is renting 1 million square feet at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The group timed its first convention in Las Vegas to coincide with the World Market Center's debut.

What we will see next week is the result of long negotiating sessions by the Las Vegas City Council, which worked out many issues, including $40 million worth of tax breaks for the World Market Center over the next 20 years. We believe the World Market Center will come to be seen as a major turning point in the history of downtown.