Tuesday, Feb. 20, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Southern Nevada shoppers clamoring for Nordstrom's will have to cool their heels for a while.
The bad news is that Las Vegas is not on the upscale Seattle-based retailer's expansion list through 1998.
"We have no plans (to go into the Las Vegas market) at this time," said Nordstrom's spokeswoman Brooke White.
The good news is that Southern Nevada could be in Nordstrom's future eventually. But when?
"Who knows? We are looking at great sites across the U.S.," White said, adding that the chain considered by many to be the ultimate for retail shopping is currently in an expansion phase.
"We are doing four to five stores a year right now. We are currently booked through '98 but we don't have our '99 schedule yet. When we do finalize details with developers, we do make that public. But there is no deal in Las Vegas," she said.
One thing is for sure: If and when it comes, Nordstrom's will be a real drawing card for whichever Southern Nevada mall eventually gets it.
There are, however, plenty of other retail plans on the drawing board to keep even the most avid mall-hopper busy for the next several years.
Forest City Development, one of the developers of the soon-to-open Galleria at Sunset, also is developing The Showcase, a 283,000-square-foot entertainment and retail complex on the Las Vegas Strip, north of the MGM Grand. It's scheduled to open at the end of this year.
The center will feature a 100-foot glass Coke bottle encasing two elevators, which will transport visitors to the four levels of the Coca-Cola Oasis. The Oasis will feature exhibit galleries displaying Coke memorabilia, retail space for the sale of Coke merchandise, a theater, a three-story solid ice wall, Coke's thematic polar bear and a soda fountain that dispenses the soft drink.
The Showcase also will boast a 47,000-square-foot Sega high-tech amusement park, an eight-plex United Artists theater and the Official All-Star Cafe, the latest venture of Planet Hollywood's Robert Earl and some greats in the sports world including Shaquille O'Neal, Andre Agassi, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretsky and Ken Griffey Jr.
Another regional shopping center on 104 acres at the northeast corner of Charleston and Rampart boulevards is in the early planning stages.
"We are in the process of discussing the site with a number of department store retailers," said Jeffrey Wood, vice president of development for Donahue Schriber, a Southern California mall developer that wants to develop the site. "The discussions deal with timing for growth to support the mall and when is the appropriate time to open a regional mall at that site."
He said the site is likely to contain three anchor stores plus an additional 225,000-300,000 square feet of retail space in its first phase.
Wood said he thinks 1999 or 2000 would be a realistic time frame for the opening of the store. Its trade area would encompass the entire western side of Las Vegas west of Rainbow Boulevard, including Summerlin.
The Howard Hughes Corp., meanwhile, has identified 100 acres in its master-planned Summerlin community for a regional mall. The land is near the intersection of Town Center Drive and Charleston Boulevard, said Dick Oglesby, senior vice president of the corporation's Summerlin division.
Oglesby said the center would be built by the end of decade. "It's really tenant driven," he said.
Belz Enterprises is scheduled to expand its factory outlet mall this year. It will open a second phase, containing an additional 275,000 square feet, this fall, bringing the size of the mall to 530,000 square feet. Belz is located on Las Vegas Boulevard South two miles south of Tropicana Avenue.
"Belz Factory Outlet World Las Vegas is expanding to remain the premiere factory outlet retail center in this market," Andrew J. Groveman, division president, said in a prepared statement. "The response from shoppers in this lucrative market has been so overwhelming that the demand for outlet retailers rose and we've expanded to accommodate both interests."
Forty tenants have already signed leases for Mall II including Spiegel, Casual Corner, American Tourister, Harry & David, Lenox, Gruen, Pennsylvania Fashions, Royal Doulton and El Portal.
Spring 1997 will bring the opening of Phase II of The Fourm Shops at Caesars, a 283,000-square-foot expansion that will add 37 new stores and two new restaurants to the upscale 250,000-square-foot shopping mall attached to Caesars Palace on the Strip.
Workers have started building an eight-story parking garage that is part of the project. Work on Phase II itself is slated to begin this month, said Forum spokeswoman Maureen Crampton.
New tenants will include FAO Schwartz, Fendi, Polo, NikeTown and a Virgin Records Megastore. It also will feature an attraction called Atlantis which will re-create the tale of the mythical lost city. Atlantis will join the Festival Fountain Show, the moving-statue attraction that draws tourists and locals to The Forum.
The Boulevard also is experiencing some changes. The Broadway will become Macy's this summer as part of Federated Department Store's August announcement that it has acquired the Los Angeles-based Broadway Stores Inc. The change also is expected to affect the Broadway store at The Meadows.
The Good Guys, an electronics store, is expected to open a 23,000-square-foot store at The Boulevard at the former site of the Parkway Cinemas. Construction is slated to begin this month and the store should open this summer. It's the chain's third Southern Nevada location.
Representatives of large national retailers like JC Penney and Mervyn's had little to say about future plans in the Southern Nevada market beyond the opening of their respective stores at the Galleria. But, representatives say they continue to keep their eyes on Las Vegas because it's a growing area.
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