New retail center in Las Vegas’ Chinatown set to break ground next year
A developer who focuses on Asian-themed retail plazas aims to break ground next year on a project in Las Vegas’ Chinatown area.
Windfall Group founder Eddie Ni said in an interview Monday that he aims to start construction by summer 2026 on a retail project along the south side of Spring Mountain Road between Polaris Avenue and Procyon Street.
Located a mile west of the Strip, the plaza is slated to be called Pacifica Vegas.
Clark County commissioners in September approved Ni’s plans for a three-story, roughly 116,000-square-foot complex with retail, restaurant and entertainment space. The 3.2-acre project site would also include a parking garage.
Overall, Ni said that the development would cost $60 million to $70 million and that he aims to finish construction by the end of 2027.
Las Vegas’ restaurant-packed Chinatown commercial district along Spring Mountain is popular with locals and tourists alike, and retail centers there are typically filled with tenants.
Windfall, based in the Chicago suburbs, specializes in building Asian-themed projects, said Ni’s executive assistant, June Jiang.
Windfall’s project site in Las Vegas is an undeveloped lot. But as Jiang described it, the firm often takes on previously distressed malls and leases space to restaurants, grocery stores and the like.
Earlier this year, Windfall and real estate firm Wyn Group announced the launch of an investment fund to raise money to develop Asian-focused shopping centers.
Ni confirmed on Monday that he owns a home in Las Vegas and lives here part-time. He said that he eventually wants to live here year-round.
Las Vegas’ Chinatown got started in the 1990s with the opening of Chinatown Plaza, a retail center with a traditional archway out front and other Chinese design features. The property has also hosted cultural events, including Chinese New Year celebrations.
The area is still growing with development, whereas older, more traditional Chinatown neighborhoods around the U.S. are shrinking, Ni said.
In Las Vegas, available space is quickly leased, and the rents aren’t cheap either, according to Ni.
“There’s no empty space in Chinatown,” he said.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
