New Big 5 Sporting Goods store to open near McCarran

A Big 5 Sporting Goods store will open at a strip mall near McCarran International Airport.

The retailer will take up 18,000 square feet, about half of the building at 3265 E. Tropicana Ave., said Brian Sorrentino of ROI Commercial Real Estate. He and Jim Hill represented the landlord in the deal.

Big 5 has signed a five-year lease for the spot in Tropicana Centre, east of the intersection of Tropicana and McLeod Drive, Sorrentino said. It will open in January.

Building owner Arilex Tropicana Associates LLC received a construction permit from the county Dec. 15 to do about $272,000 worth of work to the building in preparation for Big 5, according to county records. Big 5 signed a lease with Anilex on Nov. 21.

A lack of sporting goods retailers in the area will help the new store. This opening should be the last in the valley for a while for Big 5, said Charlie Ogburn, a Los Angeles-area real estate broker who’s represented Big 5 for about 20 years.

Southern Nevada is home to about 12 Big 5 stores, according to the company’s website.

Big 5 is moving in with the understanding that its landlord will invest in cleaning up the shopping center, Ogburn said. The center includes a Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club.

“That’s an old shopping center that needs some TLC, so to speak,” Ogburn said. “It needs a shot in the arm.”

The company bought the shopping center in December 2013 for $39.8 million.

Arilex bought the strip mall from a bankruptcy court-appointed receiver, according to a 2014 statement by Colliers International. The strip mall had been passed around by multiple receivers since 2009.

The number of spaces filled in the mall had hit a low of 40 percent in 2012, according to the statement. A Colliers team worked to fill empty spaces and retain tenants, bringing the amount of filled space to 80 percent.

David Carmel, who co-manages the company with fellow New Jersey attorney James Demetrakis, said he was ecstatic about the new tenant when he looked at Big 5’s stock performance.

“We’re very happy with them,” he said.

Contact Wade Tyler Millward at 702-383-4602 or wmillward@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @wademillward