A sign sits on the 100-acre site of the Town Square mixed-use project being developed at Las Vegas Boulevard and Sunset Road in Las Vegas. The project will include shops, restaurants, a cinema and offices. Photo by John Locher.

Marnell Corrao Associates has begun grading the 100-acre site of Town Square, a joint venture development between Las Vegas-based Centra Properties and Florida-based Turnberry Associates on Las Vegas Boulevard at Sunset Road.

Marnell Corrao is also the architect of record, though final documents for construction and design work have yet to be signed, said Drew Barkett, executive vice president of Turnberry.

The $500 million mixed-use project is planned for 1.4 million square feet of boutique retail shops, restaurants, offices, a cinema complex and a hotel. Part of the land was the former Vacation Village.

Barkett said more than 70 percent of Town Square has been leased or contracts are ready to be signed. Projected opening is fall 2006.

"Trying to recreate a town center is extremely difficult," Barkett said. "We're touted in the country as having one of the most unique projects to date."

What makes the project so unique, he said, is the great site, "a diamond in the rough" in the northeast quadrant of the Interstate 15 and Interstate 215 interchange.

Beyond the location, Barkett said there's a mission shared by the Soffer family, founders of Turnberry Associates, and Ken Sullivan and Jim Stuart, founders of Centra.

"Quality always overrules finances. Everyone wanted to talk bottom line. We didn't talk about the bottom line. We talked about what the city needs, what needs to be done," he said. "The fit and finish are amazing. We spent $15 million just in landscaping."

Centra acquired the first large portion of the land, about 50 acres, from The Howard Hughes Corp. a couple of years ago with the intention of building industrial warehouses to service the Strip. Those plans were scrapped when Centra joined with Turnberry and was able to pick up the 25-acre Vacation Village parcel and some acreage owned by Clark County.

NEW SCHOOL: Core Construction recently finished construction of Arbor View High School at Buffalo Drive and Grand Teton Drive in northwest Las Vegas. The $46 million project, the first of the new high school prototypes in Las Vegas, consists of four buildings totaling 350,000 square feet joined by a climatized indoor mall. The 40-acre site also has a football stadium and track, baseball and softball fields and tennis and basketball courts.

OFFICE SALE: Sperry Van Ness has completed the sale of a 7,000-square-foot office building at Longford Plaza to a Las Vegas-based private investor for $1.9 million. The seller was Olathe, Kan.-based Sun Facility.

Originally built in 1998, the development at 3137 E. Warm Springs Rd. is situated on five acres. The office building is 25 percent occupied by Verisign.

MARNELL CENTER: Carson Taylor is building a $9 million, 94,000-square-foot office project at Marnell Corporate Center, near McCarran International Airport. Completion is scheduled for the third quarter, bringing the office development to about 300,000 square feet.

MIXED USE: Diamond Bay Investments has arranged $7 million in financing to purchase five acres on west Desert Inn Road.

Future plans for the parcel, which is classified urban-village mixed-use, include retail, office space and high-rise residential units.