Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015 | 8 p.m.
The Downtown Project encouraged valley residents to move to its developments, showcased small businesses in the area and highlighted upcoming programming at its “Downtown Lowdown” Tuesday evening. Tidbits ranged from an announcement that Oak & Ivy recently rolled out a new menu for the holidays to one about expecting something having to do with “Elfzilla” at Container Park’s two-year anniversary Dec. 12.
Downtown Project, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s $350 million investment that comprises a real estate arm, an independent venture fund and a portfolio of small businesses, will enter its fifth year in 2016. Although the portfolio has had its share of growing pains, Hsieh said earlier this year that the project still aims to be cash-flow positive by the end of 2016, which was its original goal.
The lowdown, which used to be a monthly event, was held quarterly in 2015. Tuesday evening’s progress report was the last lowdown for 2015. The schedule is not yet set for 2016.
At the start of the event Tuesday evening, Downtown Project representatives urged valley residents to move to its residential housing. They touted a gift-card program for referring friends and family to The 211, a building of micro-apartments and studio units, or to the Downtowner.
Downtown Project is hoping to build more housing in the next several years. Mark Rowland, the CEO of DTP Ventures, recently told the Sun that it is planning to build an additional 1,000 units.
At Tuesday’s event, organizers of a recent drone race inside the vacant Western Hotel highlighted the event’s success with a video and announced two upcoming races, including one in Australia.
“(The race) was probably the fastest anyone has moved through a casino, no matter how much money they lost,” said Harrison Gale, a founder of Xtreme Drone Circuit, which planned the race.
Xtreme Drone Circuit will host another race in January at Zappos' headquarters during the Consumer Electronics Show. In February, the group plans to host a race in Australia, which came out of recent conversations with the mayor of Gold Coast, said Rowland, also an organizer of the drone circuit.
Tuesday’s lowdown featured several holiday announcements. Container Park will be showing several holiday-related films — “Elf,” “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “Scrooge” — and will have a Santa Claus stationed at the park on Fridays and weekends as Christmas approaches. The Market, the small grocery store on Fremont Street, will be doing a takeout Christmas special.
The event also included several holiday-related announcements from organizations unaffiliated with the Downtown Project. A Zappos employee announced that the company is planning a public tree-lighting at 4 p.m. Friday at its headquarters. On Saturday, Opportunity Village is hosting its annual Santa Run in downtown Las Vegas. Chippendales, Jabbawockeez and Wayne Newton are expected to make appearances at the charity run, an organizer announced.
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