Big retail project on Las Vegas Strip finishes construction

After buying and then expanding Showcase Mall on the Las Vegas Strip, New York developer Eli Gindi has added a new stretch of retail space to the tourist-choked casino corridor.

Gindi, co-founder of Gindi Capital, said in a recent interview that BLVD, a three-level retail complex he developed across from Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas, has been completed but that tenants’ interior work remains ongoing.

Some have already opened, including sportswear chains Puma and Adidas, and others are on the way, including activewear retailer Lululemon, jewelry store Pandora and In-N-Out Burger.

Gindi said the retailers in BLVD have flagship locations and have spent hefty sums to build out their space. Puma, for instance, has said its three-level, 25,000-square-foot store in BLVD includes an arcade and a Formula One simulator that lets people race virtually down the Strip.

PUMA North America President Bob Philion previously said the flagship location will help the retailer “connect with our customers from all over the world in unique and meaningful ways.”

Buying chunks of the Strip

All told, Gindi and partners have spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying and developing retail space on Las Vegas Boulevard, which is packed not only with places to eat, drink, party and gamble, but also to shop.

Retailers on the Strip are known to pay big rents and rake in big sales figures, given the masses of tourists who walk around every day and constantly churn over, meaning new waves of would-be shoppers are always coming to town.

Gindi and partners purchased Showcase, on Las Vegas Boulevard just north of Tropicana Avenue, in phases in 2014 and 2015 for roughly $367 million total, property records show. Its tenants include a four-level, 28,000-square-foot M&M’s superstore and a three-level, 42,000-square-foot Hard Rock Cafe.

Showcase landlords then bought the adjacent Smith & Wollensky building for almost $60 million in 2017, tore it down and built an extension of the mall.

Clark County issued a commercial building permit, valued at $37 million, for that project in 2018, records show.

Gindi also bought a neighboring 9.5-acre spread on the Strip in 2019 that included the Hawaiian Marketplace retail plaza and low-slung Cable Center Shops for $172 million.

At the time, a news release said Gindi’s firm was working on a new “flagship retail, entertainment and dining experience” for the site.

Sidewalk access

Gindi eventually demolished the structures and built BLVD. In summer 2023, the county had issued a commercial building permit, valued at more than $110 million, for the shell of the project, records show.

According to listing brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle, BLVD boasts more than 700 feet of frontage along the Strip and 400,000 square feet of space.

BLVD’s third floor — the rooftop deck — features still-empty storefronts, gathering space, and views of the Strip.

Gindi noted that pedestrians can enter stores in BLVD from the sidewalk on Las Vegas Boulevard, just like with Showcase. Tenants in both properties also are clearly visible to passersby, with big signage facing the street.

Street-level retail, of course, is not a new concept, but it stands out on the Strip. Las Vegas Boulevard’s other retail destinations include big, enclosed malls and collections of stores tucked inside sprawling casino-resorts.

Gindi also noted how retail sales on the Strip compare to another high-traffic tourist destination: Times Square.

Retailers with stores in both locations perform better in Times Square some years and better in Las Vegas other years, according to Gindi.

“It’s really pretty close,” he said.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.