People pass a Desert Passage construction sign at the Aladdin. As the mall becomes the Miracle Mile, pathways will showcase varied storefronts and updated benches. Photos by Clint Karlsen. Boulevard Invest is spending $50 million to renovate the mall now called Desert Passage. The company aims for sales of $1,000 per square foot at the mall by 2008. Construction crews will work in phases, often after hours, to minimize disruptions to the 155 store tenants and 15 restaurants to what will become the Miracle Mile. Window shoppers check out displays Wednesday at Sisley in Desert Passage at the Aladdin. Desert Passage will become the Miracle Mile as it renovates and as the Aladdin becomes Planet Hollywood.

In a city known for long odds and careless tests of fate, miracles sometimes happen.

A big one is certainly on tap for one long-suffering Strip shopping center.

And when the dust settles, Desert Passage at Aladdin's owners believe their tenants and customers will stand firmly in retailing's latest promised land.

Co-owner David Edelstein said his Boulevard Invest partnership will spend $50 million renovating the 475,000-square-foot mall inside and out. Exterior work will wrap by year's end, with interior changes scheduled to conclude in late 2007.

Along with fresh stores and a shopping-first theme, the makeover will bring a new name: the Miracle Mile.

"There are 'miracle miles' throughout the country that are known as shopping districts," Edelstein explained. "The mile gives you a sense of the mall's size, since it's a mile-and-a-half around. And in Las Vegas, you can go shopping and miracles can happen with casinos nearby."

Of greatest importance, Edelstein added, is that the new moniker connotes shopping, something its ambiguous predecessor did not.

Work is under way on the northernmost Strip entrance adjacent to Paris Las Vegas, where approximately 80 percent of customers enter. A Times Square-like attraction is planned to lure more people to the area.

Several massive television screens will form the facade, with water features and three people movers running near the sidewalk.

A 12,000-square-foot Urban Outfitters and remodeled Sephora store will flank the new entryway, as will a 15,000-square-foot Trader Vic's restaurant. The Polynesian-themed eatery will feature outdoor patio seating on two levels.

The center will remain open as changes occur. Construction crews will work in phases, often after hours, to minimize disruptions to the 155 store tenants and 15 restaurants.

Robert Futterman, chief executive officer of New York's RKF & Associates, has already reshaped Desert Passage's tenant lineup. Forty new stores have opened since January 2005, including recent additions United Colors of Benetton, Sisley, Crazy Shirts, BEBE Sport and Indian River Southwest Gallery.

Leasing space isn't difficult, he said, because Desert Passage's location provides heavy foot traffic from the Strip.

"It's like a vacuum sucking people in off of the street," Futterman said. "The previous owner didn't do a good job of capitalizing on that, but David's approach has done wonders."

Chicago-based Trizec Properties built Desert Passage six years ago at a cost of approximately $300 million. The Arabian-themed mall opened in August 2000, shortly before Trizec became a lame-duck owner when it decided to exit the retail industry and focus on office buildings.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks further hindered sales. Such troubles enabled Edelstein's TriStar Capital and partners Michael Fuchs and Aby Rosen of RFR Holding to buy the property in December 2003 for $240.5 million.

Desert Passage has overcome most of the troubles that plagued it during Trizec's reign, Futterman said, adding that more than 90 percent of the center is leased. That total was less than 70 percent when Boulevard Invest took control.

Two years ago, the sales-per-square-foot average was approximately $600; last year it was $675, Edelstein said. The latest total was well above the $392 national average tracked by the International Council of Shopping Centers, which meets in Las Vegas this week.

Despite construction interruptions, Desert Passage is on pace to average sales of nearly $700 per square foot this year. Edelstein's goal is a $1,000 average by 2008.

Forthcoming tenants include Quiksilver and hipster clothier Ben Sherman's first U.S. store outside New York. Edelstein hopes to add the West Coast's first H&M store, though no lease has been signed with the popular Swedish retail chain.

Unlike some other Strip shopping centers, Futterman said Desert Passage focuses on stores with midrange price points.

"You can't forget who that customer is. ... Not everyone who comes to Las Vegas is out shopping for Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton," Futterman said.

"We're all about appealing to the masses," added general manager Russ Joyner, who has run Desert Passage since departing the competing Fashion Show mall two years ago.

Design director Lance Boge said three key elements must change at Desert Passage. First are its so-called "functional issues," including congested access points, dim lighting and often slippery flooring.

Second, he said, the Middle Eastern theme must, and will, adapt or disappear to coincide with the Aladdin's transformation into Planet Hollywood. Finally, he said, the mall's appearance must better reflect a shopping environment.

Boge compared the pending aisles and walkways to a river, where eddies and currents push traffic through certain points before the waters ebb into tranquil ponds and pools. The new design, he said, will drive traffic past stores while alternately creating stopping points that encourage shoppers to linger.

"We want to catch people's senses, give them the feeling that they're in a different place where there's always more to see," said Boge, whose international architecture firm Gensler is also at work on MGM Mirage's $7 billion Project CityCenter.

Widened points of entry between the casino and mall will open later this year, while pathways within the mall will showcase varied storefronts; fewer columns; and updated benches, kiosks, trash cans and signs.

Aspen, Colo.-based Studio B Architecture is also working on Desert Passage's new look, Edelstein said.

Joyner said Project CityCenter, the adjacent $1.8 billion Cosmopolitan resort, MGM Grand Residences, and other developing projects will drive pedestrian traffic to his mall's south Strip entrance. To capitalize on that, a second ABC store will soon open near the existing Commander's Palace restaurant.

Other retail centers are planned for the Strip, but Edelstein said tenants interested in Desert Passage won't have to wait for two to three years to open. Because the mall was built when construction costs were lower, its lease rates of $80 to $100 per square foot are less than those of many nearby competitors, he added.

The Aladdin's original ownership group did little to promote Desert Passage when Trizec owned the mall. Planet Hollywood, by contrast, is expected to drive business to the mall.

New Planet Hollywood partner Base Entertainment, a spinoff of Clear Channel Entertainment, is committed to raising the number of events in the 7,000-seat Aladdin Theatre of the Performing Arts as well as a new 1,450-seat theater. That's bound to increase mall foot traffic, Edelstein said.

"The rotunda between the casino and theater is a pivotal point of connectivity," Edelstein said. "It's going to be a rockin' location" thanks to a planned bar and audio-visual devices to capture the energy of the theater and casino floor.

Desert Passage's southeast corner will add a corridor connecting the $750 million Planet Hollywood Towers, a 50-story Westgate Resorts' time share development that broke ground earlier this year.

Magician Steve Wyrick is opening a theater adjacent to that corridor, an addition that should enhance the rear portion of the mall, Joyner said.

Locals account for no more than 10 percent of Desert Passage's sales, Edelstein said. He hopes the presence of more unique shops and the addition of a Harmon Avenue overpass above Interstate 15 will raise that total closer to 20 percent.