Monday, December 08, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Developer begins work on off-Strip Marriott hotel

Rendering shows what the planned 548-room Marriott Renaissance hotel on Paradise Road adjacent to the Convention Center will look like. COURTESY OF JACKSON-SHAW CO.

Jackson-Shaw Co., a Dallas-based developer with an office in Las Vegas, is starting construction of a 548-room Marriott Renaissance hotel on Paradise Road next to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Lewis Shaw, principal of the company, first announced his intentions to build a flagship hotel on the property about four years ago when he was in North Las Vegas for the opening of Northport Business Center on Cheyenne Avenue.

"Well, of course the developer's watch is always next year. I don't think he has a calendar on it," Shaw said Friday.

Jackson-Shaw acquired the old 1950s-era Hop's Motel at 3400 S. Paradise Road and added three-fourths of an acre where some adjacent apartments were located, bringing the total parcel to 3 acres.

That allowed a second tract for the Marriott, which was originally planned for 440 rooms.

Reconfiguration of the site, going back to the market for financing and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, all contributed to the delay, Shaw said.

The $100 million, nongaming Marriott Renaissance will target Las Vegas' maturing convention business. It's about a 250-foot walk to the convention center's South Hall.

"We understand the growth of the convention business in Las Vegas," Shaw said. "It's the No. 1 convention destination. Las Vegas has the No. 1-rated facility and is No. 1 in both the amount of visitors to conventions and to the city for entertainment."

Jackson-Shaw has an indirect relationship with the convention industry through its work for the Freeman Cos., a major convention support business that's also headquartered in Dallas.

Jackson-Shaw built Freeman's Las Vegas facility in 1994 and is building for Freeman in Washington, D.C., and Anaheim, Calif.

The company owns and operates the 325-room Hampton Inn Tropicana, the adjoining 10,000-square-foot Southwest Event Center and about $150 million in commercial real estate developments in Las Vegas, including 27 acres on Cheyenne east of Interstate 15.

The Marriott is scheduled for completion in February 2005.

MARKET RESEARCH: Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas research firm, has formed a "strategic alliance" with Property Line, a Nevada corporation owned by the Memmer family.

Jeremy Aguero, principal of Applied Analysis, said his company will not be paid directly by Property Line, but will "share in the benefits of the relationship."

On Jan. 1, Applied Analysis will provide economic and real estate information for Property Line's Web site, www.propertyline.com.

NEXT PHASE: LM Construction has begun work on two more buildings totaling 140,000 square feet at Arrowhead Commerce Center at 6275 S. Sandhill Road.

The industrial-distribution buildings, valued at $4.6 million, are scheduled for completion by May.

AWARD WINNERS: The Nevada Contractors Association named M.J. Dean Construction as contractor of the year at an awards ceremony Dec. 2 at the Stardust.

The Las Vegas-based firm is working on the new $235 million, 1,122-room Mandalay Bay tower after finishing the $235 million, 1.8 million-square-foot Mandalay Convention Center in January.

Perini Building Co. had the best building of the year, the $95 million, 4,180-seat Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The heavy civil project of the year went to Frehner Construction for the $17 million, three-mile widening of Ann Road.