Goodwill signs lease for space at The Boulevard Mall

Goodwill of Southern Nevada said late Monday that it has inked a lease on 28,000 square feet inside the Boulevard Mall on Maryland Parkway.

The store will be the largest in Goodwill’s 40-year local history, and will feature a 17,000-square-foot sales floor stocked with clothing, jewelry, purses, kitchen goods, accessories, furniture, art and more. A donation center has already opened at the entrance off Maryland Parkway.

The store is scheduled to open in late summer and will create 50 full-time jobs.

“This is a perfect partnership,” said Alyn Reeves, chief operating officer of Goodwill of Southern Nevada. “Our Goodwill store will bring jobs, value and a family-friendly shopping experience to one of the most iconic shopping malls in Las Vegas. This is an incredible opportunity for our shoppers, as well as the people we serve.”

Goodwill’s mission is to help locals find employment regardless of circumstance or disability. It helped 2,361 locals get jobs in 2014.

It also provided free training, job, search and other supportive services to more than 12,800 locals.

In its lease, the terms of which were not disclosed, Goodwill is also helping the Boulevard find new purpose.

Sansone Cos. bought the mall for $54.5 million in 2013 after the Rouse Co. decided to surrender it rather than support its $168 million debt. In less than two years, Sansone has pushed vacancy from around 30 percent to less than 10 percent, bringing in unconventional tenants such as the Hispanic Museum of Nevada and a store that sells dresses for quinceañera parties, or celebrations of a girl’s 15th birthday among people from a variety of Latin American cultures.

The 135,000-square-foot Dillard’s store has been empty since 2008. The Goodwill deal will leave more than 100,000 square feet of space to fill; Sansone is looking at converting some of it to an office call center.

A New York company has approval for $300,000 in tax-abatement incentives to open a call center there with up to 1,000 workers. The company, Sutherland Global Services, is considering other markets, too.

The mall location is also part of a large expansion in 2015 for Goodwill. Five anticipated stores and donation centers set to open through December will include the nonprofit organization’s first northwest Las Vegas store, at Durango Drive and Deer Springs Way. The store is scheduled to break ground in May.

Contact Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com. Find @J_Robison1 on Twitter.