Mayor: More corporate offices considering downtown Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 | 1:30 p.m.

Zappos' recent decision to move downtown and another project involving the Lady Luck hotel-casino are bringing more corporate attention to the downtown area, says Mayor Oscar Goodman.

"I don't know if you want to call it a buzz yet. But there's a hum because of what's happened in the last month," Goodman told the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday.

"I have two appointments this afternoon when the council meeting is over with companies that want to come into the community," Goodman said.

Goodman asked Bill Arent, the city's business development director, if those two projects had brought any businesses to his office.

"We have one local large company that has contacted us," Arent said. "They're looking at the other jurisdictions too to see what makes most sense for them. It would be a corporate headquarters."

Arent said the "story behind the story" is that corporate officers are recognizing that Las Vegas not only has a great business climate, but is a great climate to invest private capital.

"We also have a great workforce," Arent said. "Our workforce has been growing over time. And I would argue that it provides the best customer service than any city in the country, maybe the world."

Councilman Ricki Barlow said he also had private talks with a corporation that is looking to bring its headquarters downtown. He said that announcement is expected in the next 30 days.

Arent said Zappos employees have begun spending more time downtown in anticipation of their move to the existing City Hall building, which will happen when the city occupies the new City Hall building being constructed a few blocks to the southwest.

"It's already happening," Arent told the Las Vegas City Council today at its redevelopment meeting.

The Zappos move will take place between November 2011 and the spring of 2012, where the developer, Resort Gaming Group, has to put in the improvements, Arent said.

"That's going to take a few months," Arent said. "So really, the spring of '12 is when we expect to see the big impact."

Currently, only about 650 city and Metro employees work at the existing city hall tower at Stewart and Las Vegas Boulevard. So when Zappos moves in they will add another 300-plus people to that area of the downtown work force, he said.

That will result in new spending and new investment, Arent said.

"We have to continue to tell our story," Barlow said. "We have to continue to be diligent in our approach to make sure that we continue to move out and attract businesses, not only to the downtown, but throughout Las Vegas."