Looking back at 2012 in Summerlin

SHOPS AT SUMMERLIN
ANNOUNCES PROJECT’S RESTART

The Howard Hughes Corp. announced that it is reviving the Shops at Summerlin project (formerly known as Summerlin Centre), the 106-acre retail and commercial site along the Las Vegas Beltway just south of Red Rock Resort. It announced in early December that Dillard’s had signed on as a major retailer. Macy’s signed on in September as the shops’ first anchor store.

Tom Warden, senior vice president of community and government relations for Hughes, the developer of Summerlin, joked that it was the year of “our reawakening.”

The construction is estimated to resume in late 2013. Anchor tenants are expected to open in the fall of 2014. The 1.5-million-square-foot regional retail center expects to be home to more than 125 stores and restaurants and is set to include mixed-use development, with office, entertainment and office space, as well as hotel and residential units.

Hughes reports 2012 as a banner year for home sales, as well.

“The year 2012 was a particularly remarkable year for Summerlin,” said Kevin Orrock, president of Summerlin and executive vice president of master-planned communities for Hughes. “New home sales more than doubled from 2011, (and) nine custom lots in The Ridges sold for a combined sales price of approximately $4 million.”

He said several additional neighborhoods are scheduled to open this year, adding more than a dozen new home floor plans to its 50-plus options. Infrastructure and grading work is being prepared for future developments in Summerlin West and Summerlin South.

“It’s a great time to be in Summerlin,” Orrock said.

DEVELOPMENT ON TRACK
AT SAHARA AVENUE AND HUALAPAI WAY

The 20-acre parcel near Sahara Avenue and Hualapai Way is on track to see development, with the owners finalizing tenant lease agreements.

“The economy is still very tough,” said Frank Pankratz, president of Executive Home Builders, which owns the land in partnership with IDB Development Corp. Ltd. “The consumer is cautious, and all the indecision that businesses have to deal with —- because of the indecision from Washington (D.C.) —- makes it tough to make (headway).”

He said there has been no decision on the possibility of a Walmart moving in, but that his leasing agent, Ted Baker was continuing to work with possible lessees.

“He’s encouraged by tenant responses,” Pankratz said.

TIVOLI VILLAGE ADDS MORE TENANTS

Tivoli Village, 302 S. Rampart Blvd., keeps adding more tenants, though some, such as Petra Greek Taverna and The Dog House, have closed. Cantina Laredo opened before Christmas. Poppy Den, from chef Angelo Sosa of “Top Chef” season No. 7 fame, was set to open on New Year’s Eve.

Ethan Allen, Brighton Collectibles and Acura also have a presence along the cobbled streets. Smaller stores that opened in time for the winter holidays included La Casa Cigars and Lounge and Shaggy Chic, a pet salon.

The Market LV, the 23,000-square-foot retail center within Tivoli Village, opened in 2012. The concept continues one that saw great success in Costa Mesa, Calif., as the OC Mart Mix.

Catering to new businesses, it offers small spaces, no more than 1,000 square feet, and some shared back-of-house storage space to keep costs low for startup enterprises.

Shops at the Market LV include B Sweet Candy Boutique, Chess’N’Games, Cupkates by Kate, Fashion Camp LV, Mina Olive, Artifact, Thimbleberry House, River North Design Bar, Mugsy & Moxie’s Bully Couture, MarkieChar, (Best Kept Secret) Boutique and ERA by Ciara.

The View Wine Bar & Kitchen and the Cheese Shoppe, featuring cuisine by Johnny Church, opened as well, giving shoppers a place to relax and recharge.

CITY CRACKS DOWN
ON SUN CITY SUMMERLIN HOARDER

Sun City Summerlin addressed a hoarder in October whose home had become a health hazard.

It took an administrative search and an abatement warrant, plus many officials – including those from Code Enforcement, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, Animal Control, the Southern Nevada Health District, the Metropolitan Police Department, Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services and Neighborhood Services – to persuade Kenneth Epstein to vacate his home in the retirement community.

Services then gained entry and removed an estimated 15 truckloads of items that had been stacked floor to ceiling.

MORE THAN 1 MILLION SQUARE FEET
OF OFFICE SPACE TO BE SOLD

General Growth Properties, which owns the Fashion Show mall, The Boulevard Mall and Meadows Mall, was looking to sell 32 office buildings in Summerlin in 2012, worth about $127 million.

Most of the buildings are in the Canyons Business Center, Crossings Business Center and The Plazas off Summerlin Parkway at Town Center Drive. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts is one of the buildings, as was the former U.S. Department of Energy office and the 100,000-square-foot AT&T call center.

GGP and Hughes have a close history. GGP acquired the Rouse Co. in 2004. Rouse had bought Hughes Corp. in 1996.

GGP filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and spun off Hughes as a separate division the following year.

NEGOTIATIONS COULD BRING
51S TO SUMMERLIN

The Summerlin Las Vegas Baseball Club LLC, with which Hughes has a majority interest, has been involved in negotiations to purchase Las Vegas’ minor-league baseball team, the 51s, from Stars Las Vegas LLC.

The team is still in a lease contract with Cashman Field, but it is scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2022 —- plenty of time, some say, for Hughes to build a new stadium in Summerlin.

HOV FLYOVER OPENS BETWEEN SUMMERLIN PARKWAY AND US 95

July marked the completion of the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) flyover between Summerlin Parkway and U.S. Highway 95. The HOV restriction is enforced from 6 to 10 a.m. and 2 to 7 p.m., but the Nevada Department of Transportation allows the flyover to be used legally by single-occupant vehicles during off-peak hours.

The span is 70 feet at its highest point and runs for 2,400 feet. NDOT said the cost was $27 million.

PRIEST SENTENCED TO PRISON
FOR GAMBLING CHURCH FUNDS

The lure of the casinos was too great for Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe, who was sentenced to three years in a federal prison for gambling away $650,000 from the coffers of Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, 1811 Pueblo Vista Drive.

At the time of his sentencing, he had paid back $13,000.

McAuliffe, who reported to prison in Texas in April, was the vicar general of the Las Vegas Diocese, a position that gave him complete control over the church’s finances. Two doctors determined him to be a pathological gambler.

MURDER-FOR-HIRE PLOT ALLEGED

In October, Las Vegas firefighter George Tiaffay was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Shauna Tiaffay, 46, a cocktail waitress at the Palms whose body was found in her Summerlin home near Sahara Avenue and the Las Vegas Beltway.

Authorities charge that George Tiaffay paid Noel Stevens, a homeless man, $600 to beat his ex-wife to death with a hammer.

LIBRARY DISTRICT LOWERS
PREVIOUSLY RAISED RENTAL RATES

Due to budget deficits, the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District’s rental fees shot up to astronomical heights in April, causing local performance groups to scramble for alternate venues.

Karl Larsen, founder of Signature Productions, said his group would have been forced to increase ticket prices from $15 or $20 to $50 or $60.

Broadway Bound put on “The Wizard Of Oz ” under the old rates for $3,700. Broadway Bound instructor/director Michael Vojvodich estimated that, under the new rates, it would cost $27,000 for the same production.

Public outcry led to a petition seeing more than 5,450 signatures.

The library district’s Board of Trustees reevaluated the fees and lowered them to more manageable rates in September.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 702-387-2949.