Retail vacancy rate declines

It's been two years since Louetta Johnson worked. Two years since she's seen any new growth in her northwest Centennial Hills area neighborhood. But a bright spot is beginning to bloom in her day as she watches signs for new businesses pop up on her drive to her children's school and sees construction under way on a small number of vacant retail lots in her area.

"I hope they have jobs, because I know a lot of us are out here looking, and the growth, what we see of it, is like a little motivation in the right direction," Johnson, a former office assistant and mother of two, said. "We need hope."

There is more retail space available for lease or for sale in the valley as prices have begun to come down, making it more affordable for mom-and-pop businesses to move into more advantageous shopping centers that were hit hard by the recession and subsequent loss of large anchor stores or a large number of small chain stores.

Locally, CB Richard Ellis' retail vacancy rate was down 1 percent over last year, an improvement in an otherwise bleak news field. Colliers International reported in its fourth quarter an asking price of $1.72 for leasing retail space, about average locally.

While the prices are attractive, few national chains are opting to build new stores in Las Vegas. However, some major national chains are moving in to the area due to the cost-friendly rates.

Las Vegas Premium Outlets -- North and Las Vegas Premium Outlets -- South, both owned by Simon Property Groups, are expanding, said Alexandra Goranson, area director of marketing for Las Vegas Premium Outlets.

Coach Men's is opening later this month at Las Vegas Premium Outlets -- North. "This exciting new concept also recently opened at Las Vegas Premium Outlets -- South," she said. "These stores are in addition to the existing Coach stores, which are center favorites."

Las Vegas Premium Outlets -- South will soon welcome BCBG Max Azria, Banana Republic Factory Store, Gap Outlet, Puma, Rip Curl and Saucony. Recently opened stores include Loft Outlet, Michael Kors, New Balance, True Religion, Under Armour and a new expanded Fossil store with clothing.

Las Vegas Premium Outlets -- North will soon welcome Tumi.

"We have an experienced leasing team that works with hundreds of merchants either already in the outlet sector or looking to open an outlet store," she said. "They work to best merchandise the center. With respect to the Las Vegas locations, both are highly desirable locations in that the customer base is a mix of area residents and area visitors including many from overseas."

The recent expansion and rebranding of the formerly named Las Vegas Outlet Center to Las Vegas Premium Outlets -- South has been very well received by shoppers and reflects an ongoing effort over time to upgrade the merchant mix and better serve shoppers.

"Overall, each center truly has something for everyone," she said. "As shoppers continue to be value-oriented, we look to best serve shoppers by continuing to enhance our merchant mix over time with new and exciting brands."

It is a balance that takes talent, she said.

"Leasing is an art not a science and our leasing team has a great track record in merchandising our centers across the country and the world," Goranson said.

Both outlet malls have created quite a few jobs each year since the economic downturn, a bright spot in Las Vegas' dire employment landscape.

"Each center has been a great resource for jobs and our recent expansion has created even more new good retail positions in addition to all the construction jobs it created," she said. "Today, our new stores are looking to fill over 100 new full- and part-time positions."

Stores hire a wide range of levels from management, sales associates, security, stock clerks and more.

Each center management office keeps on hand a list of store opportunities. For information, each center can be called directly. For Las Vegas Premium Outlets -- North, call 702-474-7500 and press option 5. For Las Vegas Premium Outlets -- South, call 702-896-5599, press option 3 and then option 5.

Job seekers need to apply with each store. Some stores also post open positions on their corporate websites.

Tivoli Village at Queensridge, located at the corner of Rampart Boulevard and Alta Drive east of Summerlin, is an $850 million project that has successfully filled a niche in the area's commercial space needs since opening this spring. Tenants include Mexican restaurant Cantina Laredo, actor Joe Pesci's pizzeria Pesci's, Italian restaurant Brio Tuscan Grille, German eatery Ratskeller, Kidville, an upscale preschool and family activities center, specialty retailer Corsa Collections, Ritual Salon & Spa, clothing retailers Charming Charlie and Roc of Republic Couture, Tivoli Irish Pub, Sushi Bar, Petra Greek Restaurant and Obika Optical and Sunglasses. The latest tenants include Bottles & Burgers; David Barton Gym, which is making its entrance into the Las Vegas market with plans to build a 31,000-square-foot health and fitness facility; The Strand, a high-end martini lounge concept; Merrill Lynch, one of the world's premier providers of wealth management, securities trading and sales, corporate finance and investment banking services; and Regus, the world's largest provider of fully furnished offices and flexible workplace solutions.

More than 370,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment and Class A office space is available for lease at Tivoli Village.

The developer laid the groundwork for a different type of commercial space that would lure the right mix of tenants many years ago by creating a master plan that included One Queensridge Place and Tivoli Village to become the retail, dining, office and residential hub for the entire community, said Christi Yarnell, general manager of Tivoli.

"The project vision and leasing strategy have focused on the trade area, one of the most affluent and elite in the country, by creating a masterfully designed destination with a unique mix of national and local retailers, eateries and entertainment options," she said. "This represents a niche the community has been yearning for: a place to work, eat, have a beverage and hang out. We look for prospective tenants based on our market and to create an effective mix that will appeal to a range of our customers. We want to create a tenant mix with various ranges of type, price levels and service uses to encourage our customers to stay longer, making the most of the mixed-use concept."

In addition to supporting the openings planned for 2011, they are still focused on leasing the remainder of phase one, as well as phase two, which is planned for a late 2012 opening.

"The growth planned for Tivoli Village is exciting," Yarnell said. "I think the community will continue to enjoy what we've created: a comfortable, pedestrian friendly lifestyle shopping experience. We will continue to add shops, offices and restaurants as well as hosting community-based special events for the whole family."

They take each tenant's fit with the existing clients very seriously.

"A lot is dictated by what the market can support, and some by the physical design of the center," she said. "Certain categories perform better across the board, but you don't want to have your entire tenant mix focused on one type of merchandise. You need to appeal to a broader customer base."

As the market fluctuates, and clients move around, Tivoli considers carefully how to fill the space.

"I think you have to look at the demand in the market," she said. "For example, once a restaurant leaves you have to consider the circumstances surrounding that and make a merchandising decision with that in mind. Of course, due to the physical needs specific to restaurant uses (access to loading dock, trash collection, etc.) it would make sense to backfill a restaurant space with another food use."

There are currently positions available at some of the current merchants as well as at Tivoli itself.

"We encourage job seekers to visit our website, www.tivolivillageLV.com, to view the latest job postings," she said. "Tenant postings are included as well."

Territory Inc. is a developer of open-air retail shopping centers, specializing in bringing nationally recognized anchor tenants to its more than 3 million square feet of developed retail space in Nevada and another 2 million square feet in active development. Territory Inc.'s shopping centers include Centennial Center, Newpark Town Center, Centennial Gateway, Eastern Beltway Center and Eastgate.

Nick Hannon, senior vice president for Territory Inc., spends most of his days outside of Las Vegas working to build the city above its low national average for retail space. With many details procured over many months about the company he is attempting to lure to the valley, he gets in his car and brings "the mountain to Moses," he said.

By courting the right businesses to Las Vegas, they can increase employment in a particular area by 10 percent, without considering construction jobs to build the spaces to suit.

"Our properties are retailers, from restaurants to goods and services, chiropractors, dentists, home décor and groceries," Hannon said.

The anchor stores tend to be custom built for the user. From a jobs perspective, anchors such as 24 Hour Fitness in the northwest can hire several hundred people and attract a certain type of visitor to the shopping center, creating a lucrative spillover to the other tenants.

"Someone like that can attract tens of thousands of visitors a month, hopefully those who come more than once a week to the area, and those visits generate tremendous traffic," he said.

Hannon works to bring in other businesses that will work synergistically with the anchor tenant. For instance, the Centennial Gateway that houses 24 Hour Fitness as its main anchor also has a Fresh & Easy grocery store, salons, physicians and health-conscious restaurants such as Subway and Teriyaki Madness.

"Another recent tenant is Planet Beach, who is an automated spa and tanning service," he said. "That really works with the visitors coming to that center for the other businesses already there."

Territory Inc. considers the existing anchors to draw consumers from 10-15 miles away, that easily adds up to a good economy for the local area.

"Our job as a shopping developer is to bring patrons to the parking lot," Hannon said. "And that parking lot is filling with consumers who are looking for ease of use as well as for jobs. It all interconnects, if you do it right."

Retailers can be located in nonanchor centers, but quality businesses are usually well-anchored, he said.

When fully populated, a center such as Centennial Gateway would easily have more than 1,000 positions available for employment. Hannon has also been busy luring national chains with a solid track record to Las Vegas.

The Centennial Gateway continues to be an attractive draw to merchants due to its solid gym anchor. But the key is to choose the next right business to preserve the center's future, not just fill the space with willing tenants.

"The best metaphor I can think of is that a well-created shopping center is like a bowl of soup," Hannon said. "It can be terrific from top to bottom, but the individual ingredients have to be there in order for them to work well together."

BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse has opened two new stores nationally through its first quarter of 2011. The company remains on track to open as many as 12 to 13 new restaurants during 2011, including a Las Vegas location in Centennial Center sometime before fall. It is currently hiring at that location and is accepting applications.

"Our leadership team was pleased with the company's strong performance for the first quarter of 2011," said Jerry Deitchle, chairman and chief executive officer. "Our comparable restaurant sales increase of 7.8 percent successfully hurdled a solid 4.4 percent increase in the same quarter last year, which is quite impressive. We are sales builders first and foremost at BJ's, and we plan to continue our focus on driving additional sales increases through the effective execution of our operational, merchandising and capital expenditure initiatives for 2011."

The BJ's addition will bring more than 700 jobs to the area over the next 18 months, Hannon said.

"They built that building on their ground, and that's the trick to a good BJ's," Hannon said. "They continue to give good quality so they won't take an existing building, which works out great for everyone locally. They added quite a few jobs locally just through the construction."