Tivoli Village on track for 2009 opening

By Jeff O'Brien

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008 | 1:58 p.m.

As construction of the $850 million Tivoli Village at Queensridge shopping center moves forward on the corner of Rampart Boulevard and Alta Drive in northwest Las Vegas, more than 120 guests attended an exclusive sneak peek of the development's tenants on Monday.

The event was held across the street in One Queensridge Place and was attended by business and construction partners affiliated with the project.

Three of the tenants who have signed on to the development Ritual Salon & Spa, Tres Agaves and Townsend Wine Bar, provided wine and tequila tastings and previews of their businesses.

Award-winning chef Martin Yan, whose television show "Yan Can Cook" aired on PBS for 26 years, also gave a cooking demonstration to promote his new restaurant, 9 Dragons, which will open at Tivoli Village.

With his trademark humor and energy, Yan showcased his skill with a knife as he de-boned a chicken in only 18 seconds.

9 Dragons, he said, will be a fusion of traditional and contemporary Chinese cuisine.

"People kept asking me when I was coming to Las Vegas to open a place. I said when Tivoli Village opens, I'll move in," Yan said. Patrick Done, executive vice president of Tivoli Village at Queensridge, hopes that Yan's restaurant will be one of the shopping center's big draws once it is completed in Fall 2009. 9 Dragons signed on to the project in July.

"Just over 50 percent of our leases have been signed," Done said. "We'll have more than 100 tenants by the time it's finished with 500,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space."

While large-scale tenants such as Macy's, Nordstrom and Target now or are planned to anchor other commercial developments in and near Summerlin such as Boca Park and Summerlin Centre, Done said Tivoli Village at Queensridge will feature smaller specialty shops and boutiques.

Construction of Summerlin Centre, a mixed-use development that was originally slated to open in 2009, has been delayed by at least 12 months due to the state of the economy and a slowdown in tenant commitments.

No such delays have affected Tivoli Village thus far, Done said.

"We spent over a year below grade building our 3,400-space underground parking garage," Done said. "Now the vertical construction is well under way."

Tivoli Village will also include 42 residential units and 200,000 square feet of office space, with many of the architectural and design elements drawn from the luxury condominium units of One Queensridge Place.

"Our sales projections are predicting that we'll be a big draw for our trade area, which is a 5-mile radius around us," Done said. "But our design is so unique, I think it could be a big draw for the entire city. Martin Yan, for instance, won't have a restaurant anywhere else in the valley."

Eric Rubin was pouring tequila samples for visitors and promoting Tres Agaves ‹ a Mexican restaurant and tequila lounge in San Francisco that will open its second branch at Tivoli Village.

All of the restaurant's tequilas are produced in Jalisco, Mexico, Rubin said.

"We take four to 10 staff members down to Jalisco every two to three months to tour the distilleries and learn how the tequilas are made," Rubin said. "Our staff is very knowledgeable."