Hip to be Square

Town Square, a 1.5 million-square-foot "super-regional lifestyle center" scheduled to open Nov. 14 in Las Vegas, is poised to become a prototype for retail development nationwide, an executive for the developer predicts.

The project, going up on Las Vegas Boulevard South, will change the way local residents and tourists experience shopping and dining in Las Vegas, said Joe Tagliola, retail president of Aventura, Fla.-based Turnberry Associates.

He said he's sure the $600 million project, originally scheduled for completion in 2006, will be a high-profile topic among the 50,000 people attending the International Council of Shopping Centers spring show that starts today at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Everyone from retailers to developers and architects will want to see the "benchmark" that's being set for the industry, Tagliola said.

"I've been to every major city and I've been to 90 percent of the malls and there's nothing like this in the country," he said during a recent tour of the construction site. "Right now, it's one of the largest retail developments under construction in the United States. That in itself will bring a lot of interest."

Tagliola predicts retail sales at Town Square will match or exceed Turnberry's Aventura Mall in Florida, which is one of the top five malls for sales in the country with $1,150 a square foot in annual sales. The average regional mall does about $355 a square foot in sales revenue, he said.

Town Square, going up on 117 acres on Las Vegas Boulevard South near Interstate 15 and the Southern Beltway, is designed around the "new urbanism" theme. The concept promotes the creation of integrated multiple-use environments designed to encourage a sense of community.

"If you think about it, we're building a town," Tagliola said. "Think about the nightlife, restaurants, retail, grocery shopping, offices. That's how towns were created to begin with -- commerce."

Patrons will stroll through a marketplace of 150 boutique shops and cafes in 22 buildings surrounded by grass, palm trees and streams flowing beneath pedestrian bridges. They can socialize at a dozen restaurants and bars in what Tagliola calls the ELP, or "entertainment lifestyle precinct."

Patrons can also see a movie in the precinct; the anchor tenant is an 18-screen Rave Motion Pictures complex.

"Some of the locals wouldn't want to go through a casino to go to a movie. That came through loud and clear," Tagliola said.

That's what Jim Stuart of Las Vegas-based Centra Properties, the land owner and joint venture developer, touted as one of Town Square's biggest draws.

"As a father of three little girls, I do not want to have to walk through a casino ever again to see `Finding Nemo,'" Stuart told the Review-Journal when the project was announced in 2004. "Everything built in Las Vegas that's magnificent has been built for the tourist."

Turnberry is spending more than $3 million on a children's park, which will increase the popularity of Town Square among families, he said.

Town Square is similar, but larger in scale, to retail developments such as Neonopolis and The District at Green Valley Ranch. The entire movie theater is on the second level and interconnected to Louis's Fish Camp restaurant and Blue Martini lounge. Yard House, which features a menu with some 500 beer varieties, is putting its first restaurant in Las Vegas at Town Square.

"These guys' average restaurant does huge business, similar to Cheesecake Factory," Tagliola said.

Town Square will have 325,000 square feet of office space above retail. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce is moving its office from Hughes Center to Town Square in December, taking 25,000 square feet.

Turnberry is building the first private flyover in Nevada, a $5 million road that will route traffic from northbound Las Vegas Boulevard directly into the loop that winds through the center.

Marnell Corrao of Las Vegas is general contractor and Development Design Group of Baltimore is the architect.

Other new urbanist projects by Development Design Group include Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio; Market Street at the Woodlands in Houston; and Atlantic Station in Atlanta.

David Groswick, who is also using Development Design Group for his WaterLights mixed-use project in Pearland, Texas, said he looks forward to seeing Town Square's progress when he visits Las Vegas for the ICSC show. The projects share similarities, he said.

"First of all, in developing these projects, you need to make sure the roadway infrastructure is sufficient," Groswick said.

"If you're developing a destination-oriented project like we are, then you (had) better make sure the roads can handle it. We're expecting 4 million people a year at WaterLights and you can't do that with a two-lane blacktop."

Another key to making successful mixed-use projects is accommodating pedestrians, he suggested.

"People are looking for a full experience when they dine and shop," Groswick said. "Being able to stroll along the waterway here makes the customers happy. People are tired of being cooped up in their cars and they want to walk, quite simply,

"We find the retailers love it, too, when customers stroll into their stores after dinner. They stay longer and spend more money."

Groswick said he drew inspiration from Las Vegas, including Bellagio's water fountains and The Venetian's canals, in designing WaterLights.

Tagliola, hired seven months ago to oversee retail development at Town Square and expansion of the Aventura Mall, said architectural style is important for tenants.

"We've got a couple one-offs here that will be spectacular," he said. "Borders is doing their first prototype in the country. It's going to be more interactive. The book business has changed a lot in five years. Customers have changed how they research online. That says a lot for the market and a lot for the property to debut a prototype like that."

Tagliola said sales volume of retailers on the Strip far exceeds the national average and there's a higher concentration of regional, national and international retailers than anywhere in the world.

"They'll do their first store in Las Vegas because it's proven. The sales volume is there," he said. "The unique thing about the Strip is your trade area changes every day. Your customer has a fresh wallet in (his) pocket every day."

Clark County retail sales increased 9.2 percent in 2006 to $35.6 billion and has more than doubled since 1998, the Nevada Department of Taxation reported.

Turnberry Associates, founded in 1967 by Donald Soffer, has developed more than $7 billion in commercial and residential property, including Turnberry Place high-rise condos and The Residences at MGM condo-hotel in Las Vegas. The company is building Turnberry Towers on Karen Avenue and the 3,888-room Fontainebleau hotel-casino on the Strip.

Centra, founded in 2001 by partners Jim Stuart and Kenneth Sullivan III, has nearly $3 billion in continuing development projects. Centra initially acquired 57 acres from Howard Hughes Corp. with plans to build an industrial park at the Town Square site.

Those plans changed when Centra joined with Turnberry to buy the 25-acre former Vacation Village site for $25.5 million and another 14 acres of Clark County land that was once Sunset Road.

Fry's Electronics store, which officially opened in 2003, has since been incorporated into the Town Square project.