Las Vegas Lifestyle
CENTRA Properties and Turnberry Associates are developing a 1.8 million-square-foot town center project in Las Vegas.

For many people, the draw to Las Vegas is the gambling. Blackjack, poker and the slots excite tourists and locals alike. However, not all inhabitants of this glitzy town, whether temporary or permanent, enjoy the casino-life; many have turned to shopping to seek out thrills.

Town Square Las Vegas will feature 1.2 million square feet of retail, 250,000 square feet of office space, a 230-room hotel, a 20-screen cinema and a fitness center in a pedestrian-friendly environment.

Currently, the project is several months into construction and owners are working on converting existing deals into leases and finding new, unique tenants to inhabit Town Square.

“What we are spending our efforts on now is trying to identify the unique retailers that are not national in scope, more regional and local, that will complement more of a town square feel, where it's not only a place to shop and see the normal expected offerings but also becomes a place of discovery,” says Jim Stuart, principal of locally-based CENTRA Properties.

Town Square will also become a place of discovery for children when the Lied Discovery Children's Museum moves into its new home in 50,000 square feet at Town Square. This relocation was made possible by CENTRA's $5 million donation to the museum this past month.

“What it really reflects is our commitment to stand out as something more than just a shopping experience,” says Stuart. “It is our view [that] in order to make a project of this scale successful, it has to be much more than just a regional shopping center, it has to be something that feels like it's part of the fabric of the community.”

The development will be home to a wide variety of tenants, from the Apple store to Abercrombie & Fitch to Borders Books & Music. A more than 100,000-square-foot Robb & Stucky furniture store will occupy the front buildings.

Because the project is being built in one single stage, most of the tenants will open concurrently in second quarter 2007.

Baltimore-based Development Design Group was brought in to design the town center setup, and a secondary firm was hired to “study all the facades and the relationships from one side of the street to the other and help inspire a new level of detail,” says Stuart.

The developers and architects took inspiration from store and building fronts nationwide and incorporated them into the Town Square design. As a result, the streets of Town Square will resemble a “collage of Main Street and urban architecture that is both authentic and timeless,” says Stuart.

To stress the originality of the architecture, the developers have given the stores themselves little direction as to how their storefronts should look. Atypical of most malls, the stores were not given specific height and width standards but were encouraged to think creatively on their signage and imagery. Stuart says they've been much more collaborative with their tenants and have been challenging them to be more unique and interesting in their designs.

Town Square will be laid out in defined neighborhoods, clustering certain demographic groups into designated areas. These defined districts will center around the anchors of Town Square; the restaurants will be grouped around the theater, specialty food stores will be grouped around the grocer, and furniture stores will be centered around Robb & Stucky.

For the 40 million tourists that frequent Las Vegas and the 850,000 Las Vegans within a 15-minute drive of the site, Town Square will become a must-see destination for those looking for excitement away from the casinos.

“Something we [Las Vegans] have desperately sought in our community is to show another side of living in Las Vegas that's more consistent with a mature and world-class city,” says Stuart. “And clearly Town Square is going to fit into that mindset. A tourist is demanding a more genuine experience that is not seen as part of some clever little gimmick to get them into a casino but truly provides a pedestrian-friendly realm that is unique, provides shopping that they would not find in their hometown and is done in an area that is incredibly inviting and incredibly interesting.”

— Brianne Gloski