Joe Downtown: Does your business fit into a cube? Container Park seeks tenants

By Joe Schoenmann

Monday, June 24, 2013 | 4:15 p.m.

With development of downtown’s Container Park moving quickly, operators are actively seeking local entrepreneurs interested in leasing space.

Doug McPhail, operations director, said Monday the park was getting to the point “where in the next month we want to complete tenant programming and selection.”

To that end, Downtown Project, which is building the multispaced retail/restaurant/recreational facility, is “reaching out aggressively to the community. We want to call on all entrepreneurs and owner/operators. We want to hear their story.”

Having already received "many submissions" from potential tenants – he wouldn't give a number – McPhail said the operators were still “looking at all of our options and focusing on the community – our focus needs to be on the local.”

To get an idea of what the “cubes” will look like, one section of the park has been erected at the corner of Seventh Street and Carson Avenue. When finished, McPhail said, the mall will have space for as few as 30 or as many as 38 businesses.

The hope, he added, is that the entire project will be open for business by Oct. 26, the first day of the two-day Life Is Beautiful festival, which will encompass 15 blocks in downtown Las Vegas.

Already planned for the Container Park are five restaurants and bars, he said. The park still has needs for its other open space , and operators say owners of any kind of small, local retail businesses, from walkup food windows to fashion stores, were welcome to express their interest.

“We want to find that perfect mix,” McPhail said.

Those interested will be asked to submit a video with their application. For more information, go to the Container Park's website.

McPhail said he wanted to get submissions within the “next few weeks,” giving enough time to make decisions by the first part of August.

Joe Schoenmann doesn’t just cover downtown, he lives and works there. Schoenmann is Greenspun Media Group’s embedded downtown journalist, working from an office in the Emergency Arts building.