Upscale-looking outlet mall opens today in Primm

PRIMM -- Developers of a new factory outlet mall in Primm are betting that deep discounts and an upscale look will attract tourists and persuade Las Vegas shoppers to drive 45 minutes on Interstate 15 to bargain hunt.

The Fashion Outlet of Las Vegas -- somewhat misnamed, since it's about 40 miles south of Las Vegas -- opened the doors of about 70 stores and 30 specialty shops in the 400,000-square-foot mall today.

Factory outlet centers are defined as facilities where more than half the stores are manufacturers with merchandise selling at 20 percent to 70 percent less than in retail centers.

Developed by TrizecHahn Development Corp. of Toronto and Gordon Group Holdings Ltd., Las Vegas, the Fashion Outlet is themed with a New York City motif with 65-foot ceilings and skyscraper facades on the north half of the mall with a colorful art-deco Miami South Beach look on the south.

TrizecHahn announced in April that it is selling the Fashion Outlet to the Rouse Co., a deal that would close after the mall opening.

Part of a multiple-property deal that would net TrizecHahn $1.2 billion, the transaction also moved its 25 percent interest in Fashion Show Mall to Rouse. It did not include the company's planned Desert Passage project, the 462,000-square-foot retail-entertainment center planned for the Aladdin hotel-casino when that resort is redeveloped over the next few years.

Rouse owns the Howard Hughes Corp., developer of the Summerlin master planned community as well as extensive commercial real estate developments in Las Vegas. Rouse also plans a regional mall in Summerlin.

The more formal, upscale stores reside in the New York side of the new Primm mall while stores with casual apparel are in the South Beach section.

The dominant theme of the center is massive art on billboards, an attraction that carries to the Interstate 15-facing exterior. Van Wagner Outdoor, which has worked in large-image formats in Times Square, was hired to develop the billboards. Mall officials hope the allure of the billboards will draw a higher percentage of the 11 million cars that pass through Primm to Las Vegas from Southern California every year.

"We estimate that 30 percent of the cars that come through Primm stop here," said Janene Kraft, director of communication for TrizecHahn. "That's about 13 (million) to 15 million people a year before we even had the billboards."

Jennifer Lewis, director of marketing and advertising for Primadonna Resorts Inc., said her company looks at the shopping center as a unique, must-see property that will draw tourists off the highway as well as Las Vegas residents.

The shopping center is opening at a time when Primm is attempting to establish itself as a destination resort. Primm has three hotel-casinos owned by Primadonna Resorts -- the Primm Valley, Whiskey Pete's and Buffalo Bill's. The 800 acres on which the three resorts sit are owned by the Primm South Real Estate Co., which leased land to the developers for the mall.

Earlier this year, Primadonna opened its second Tom Fazio-designed golf course, a desert track about 3 miles south of the California-Nevada border.

In addition to the golf courses, Buffalo Bill's is home to one of North America's tallest roller coaster. The gold-colored Desperado is a magnet to thrill-seekers traveling the highway to Las Vegas.

Lewis said the unique elements of Primm -- the roller coaster, the golf courses and now, the upscale mall -- will be a draw.

"Many of the stores in the mall are unique to Nevada and for some of them, this will be their first outlet stores," Lewis said.

David Brainson of Bear Stearns in New York said there are three types of factory outlet malls that have been successful and the Fashion Outlet fits within two definitions.

Factory outlets usually locate in tourist destinations, on main travel corridors or as a destination itself. Brainson said the Primm center can be considered a part of the Las Vegas experience and it's also on the primary highway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

"Historically, the successful factory outlet is in a popular tourist destination or on a major thoroughfare," Brainson said. "In this case, it's on a well-traveled route full of people with money in their pockets, either on their way to Las Vegas or, if they're winners, on the way home. In this case, I could see people planning to stop there to check out the stores on their way home from Las Vegas."

Brainson said that while his firm is neutral on the factory outlet retail sector because a large number of publicly traded companies are involved in it, he believes the Fashion Outlet should have a healthy outlook.

The shopping experience is one of the most important components of serving leisure travelers, according to a recently released study from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The study lists shopping as the top activity participated in by leisure travelers, ahead of fine dining, visiting casinos, hiking and visiting theme parks.

Among the retailers expected to lure shoppers: Last Call from Neiman Marcus the Clearing Center, Williams Sonoma Marketplace, St. John Knits, Tommy Hilfiger, Just for Feet and The Gap.

Some of the companies that are opening their first outlet stores include Bath and Body Works, Colorado Pen Co., El Portal Luggage Factory Direct, Imposters, J. Crew, J. Peterman, Le Gallerie Lumiste, Optica, Schillaci Eyewear Store, Swenson Ice Cream, The Icing and The Money Store.

Two eateries that will open in the fall also bring high hopes to the center: Bertolini's Authentic Tratoria, part of a chain that has a restaurant in the Forum Shops at Caesars; and Koraku, a Japanese cuisine and ramen noodle restaurant that expects to serve Japanese tourists the center would draw.

But the marketers of Fashion Outlet aren't just counting on the Southern California traffic alone to carry the success of the mall. Primadonna, which is a partner in the New York-New York hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip, will offer $10 round-trip shuttle rides to the new mall from the Strip property.

Officials are banking on some tourists' desire to escape from the busy Las Vegas casinos as well as their propensity to spend more money while they vacation.

Hugh Crawford, general manager of the Fashion Outlet, said about 1,000 employees have been hired or are being hired by the new stores -- including 50, the largest number, at the Neiman Marcus store. Nearly all the new employees reside in Las Vegas.

Crawford said retailers are considering some of the special problems of hiring from an employee base that is 40 miles away.

It has been recommended that companies offer employees shorter work weeks with longer hours to minimize the number of trips a worker has to commute per week.

The mall, which is about 85 percent leased, could be expanded to about 900,000 square feet next year if the concept flies.

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