After Allegiant Air donation, Make-A-Wish gets new office space

After years of making children’s dreams come true, the Make-A-Wish Foundation recently had one of its own wishes granted — new office space.

Allegiant Air offered the nonprofit organization 7,500 square feet of unused space in its corporate center, near Summerlin Parkway and Town Center Drive. Make-A-Wish outgrew its current offices at 5105 S. Durango Drive and was looking for something larger.

Kellie Wyatt, marketing specialist for Make-A-Wish, said the offer could not have come at a better time.

“We are full right now,” Wyatt said. “We have a team of 12 but moving forward as we look to grant more wishes, we’ll be growing out of that space. This type of support is so rare and so generous, we’re just really thankful for a corporate partner like Allegiant.”

Brandon Myers, public relations specialist for the airline, said the company acquired the building in October, intending to use it for future growth.

“When we purchased the campus, we knew there would be a lot of space to grow into,” he said. “We didn’t have the plan to offer Make-A-Wish the space at that time, but it just kind of came up organically. When we heard they were outgrowing their space, we thought it made sense to offer this to them.”

The space, approximately 50 feet by 150 feet, wasn’t completely unused. The airline used it to store dozens of three-abreast airline seats. Some were in boxes, some laid out in rows as though awaiting passengers.

Wyatt said the huge space will be a gathering place where volunteers, such as Allegiant employees, will get things ready to reveal the next wish for a child.

Partners since 2012, the airline let Make-A-Wish utilize the space for $1 a year over five years. The airline has given the nonprofit free round-trip seats to families since 2012. Most of them are on the East Coast, taking children to Disney World.

Allegiant is approaching its 500th free flight through Make-A-Wish. Locally, it’s flown 15 families at various times to Hawaii.

The layout of the interior, which has offices running down the center, will be changed. The idea is to make the office a more open concept with desks clustered in one area. The ceiling will be raised to further the open-concept look.

Pods will dominate part of the space with areas for families to relax.

The nonprofit said it needed a break room, copy room, Zen room and craft room for when children come in for special programs, plus a second kitchen bar for functions, supply room and outdoor space.

One of the big wishes for the nonprofit was a “hangar,” an open space for functions. They dubbed it the hangar because of the Allegiant Air connection.

Jessica Kalb and Shannon Forte are donating their interior design expertise. Both have done similar projects for corporate clients.

There was no set budget to report or timeline for when the building would be completed.

Forte said Make-A-Wish wanted to “have a space for families who come in to interview. That they wanted it to be fun and kind of magical for the kids.”

Forte said it was nice to have a blank slate and that Allegiant said they could design it any way they thought best.

The hardest part, she said, would be incorporating everything on everyone’s wish list.

“But I don’t look at it as being hard,” she said. “I look at it as being fun.”

Kalb said a high-end client would green-light upgrades costing $300 per square foot and expected to spend closer to half that to keep costs down.

“We’ve done jobs from high budget to low budget, so we know where to go to pick things to work within a budget,” Kalb said. “But it’ll still look good.”

To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@reviewjournal.com or call 702-387-2949.