Monday, March 31, 2003 | 10:53 a.m.
For East Coast native John Kilduff, developing an urban environment of retail, residential and office space is the next frontier for suburban Green Valley and Green Valley Ranch in Henderson.
"The concept is an urban village, much like a northeastern main street concept with mixed uses," said Kilduff, president of American Nevada Co.
Incorporating upscale stores, restaurants, offices and apartments, developers at American Nevada have started work on The Shops at Green Valley Ranch. They're hoping for a renaissance of sorts in the way people think about living and shopping in the valley.
The $80 million pedestrian-friendly center will be east of Green Valley Ranch Station Casino and creates a high-density environment that will allow residents to live, work and play in a condensed area, Kilduff said.
"This will be unique for the Las Vegas market in that it's an urban environment in a suburban neighborhood," he said.
Grading of the land is under way and the center is expected to open by April 2004.
The Greenspun family, owner of the Las Vegas Sun, also owns American Nevada and is a partner in Green Valley Ranch Station Casino.
The center's buildings will be erected along a narrow road with three retail buildings north of the road. To the south of the road, five buildings will house retail, restaurants and offices. Two stand-alone buildings will house offices and a restaurant.
The key to the 400,000-square-foot development will be the 88 apartments above the three retail buildings on the north side of the center.
"(The apartments) will probably be the most expensive in the valley and the nicest in the valley," Kilduff said.
Rent prices have not been set.
Amenities at the luxury apartments include full-time concierge service, a library, workout room and roof-top garden. Renters will have access to private underground parking, which will give them direct access to the apartments.
The windows will be framed by small wrought-iron balconies. Large glass French doors will open into the apartments, which will range from 800 to 1,700 square feet.
The architecture is described by Kilduff as eclectic but "in concert" with nearby Green Valley Ranch Station Casino. He said it will have an aged appearance, as if the building was built over time.
"The finishes on the building will look like it was built over 60 to 70 years," Kilduff said.
The alleys will be heavily landscaped, as will the street, he said.
"There will be no back to this building. It will be interesting to look at (from all sides)," Kilduff said.
The urban village concept (often referred to as a lifestyle center), while new to Las Vegas, is popular in other cities. But it is generally used to revive depressed downtown areas, not to develop unused suburban land.
Analysts and industry officials said when done right, mixed-use projects are assets to communities and may help revitalize older areas.
"I think lifestyle centers are best when placed in downtown areas where the development of flats and bringing in of retailers contributes to revitalizing a part of downtown that was run-down," said Deron M. Conway, leasing executive with shopping center owner Weingarten Realty Management Co.
Having said that, Conway said he likes the idea of upscale stores integrated with housing.
"Personally I like lifestyle centers; they're sexy," he said. "Whenever you pile all the best retailers in one, it makes for a great center."
As defined by the International Council of Shopping Centers, a lifestyle center is one that caters to the retail needs and "lifestyle" pursuits of consumers in the area. Lifestyle centers are most often located near affluent residential neighborhoods, have an upscale orientation, and usually range between 150,000 to 500,000 square feet, according to the council.
Two important features of most lifestyle centers are an open-air format and at least 50,000 square feet of space occupied by upscale, national specialty store chains. The retail composition includes apparel, homegoods and books and music, the council reported. Restaurants, entertainment and design ambience reflective of a main street layout defines a lifestyle center under the council's definition.
Kilduff didn't say which retailers and restaurants are set to go into the Green Valley Ranch center.
Kilduff said the stores will be similar to the stores at the shopping center at Rampart and Charleston boulevards in western Las Vegas. Ann Taylor, Gap, Banana Republic, Pottery Barn, and Williams Sonoma are among the stores at that shopping center.
The one thing missing from the Interstate 215 and Green Valley Parkway corridor is a retail center, said Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst with Las Vegas-based research group Applied Analysis.
"I think it's phenomenal and will be met with robust demand," he said.
Retail centers have been going up all over the valley, many anchored by big-box stores such as Best Buy or Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse. Retail on the Strip also has seen a boon in growth, with the Fashion Show Mall expansion under way and the planned expansion of the Forum Shops at Caesars.
Despite the growth of retail centers in the valley, Conway doesn't think Las Vegas has reached, or is near reaching, its saturation point.
"Financially speaking, there's enough spending power to support these types of outlets," he said.
With plenty of parking dedicated to the Shops at Green Valley and the adjacent hotel-casino, customers won't be required to walk there despite it being pedestrian oriented, said Kit Graski, senior vice president in Voit Commercial Brokerage's retail division.
A parking lot will surround the shopping center and the center will be linked by a walkway to the casino-hotel 75 feet away.
"The center itself, even though it is designed with a main street, the developers have taken into account what this market is all about -- ease of access," Gratski said.
On the other hand, this may be the test to see if people will actually walk to a shopping center.
"This may be the first step in seeing if people change their lifestyle to where they walk to work or walk to go shopping," Aguero, with Applied Analysis said. "It's a long-term transition and the real benefit is American Nevada is innovating how people conceptualize their working and living spaces."
The only other developer to consider a mix of retail and residential in the Las Vegas area is Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Corp. But Hughes, owned by the Maryland-based Rouse Co., has not proceeded with a lifestyle center.
Frank Beck, senior vice president and development director for Howard Hughes, said Summerlin currently doesn't have enough people, or a mature enough market, to sustain such a lifestyle center.
"We need more of a critical mass in Summerlin," he said.
For years, Howard Hughes has planned to develop a mall and a separate pedestrian-retail center that would incorporate office, residential and retail.
Those plans have now morphed as developers are letting the market dictate what type of retail Summerlin can support. The Canyon Pointe shopping center in Summerlin, at I-215 and Charleston Boulevard, is anchored by big-box retailers Best Buy, Office Depot and Marshall's.
A Station Casino scheduled to open in late 2005 in Summerlin as well as more homes springing up in the area will be essential in building the demand -- and support -- for higher-end retail stores, Beck said.
Beck said Hughes is still working on developing Summerlin's regional shopping center, adding that the word "mall" has become a taboo four-letter word. He said Hughes, owned by the Maryland-based Rouse Co., plans to have a shopping center open in 2006.
"Right now we are trying to define what (the shopping center) will look like," he said. "If it will be closed or open-air or a combination."
Beck said that while the center may incorporate residential, it probably wouldn't open with apartments as his company hasn't yet concluded if that would be effective.
Kilduff doubts that another urban center, incorporating retail and residential, will be built in Las Vegas.
"There are only so many of these lifestyle tenants," he said. "There's not likely going to be an opportunity to do another one in the valley."
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