New Las Vegas Project to Include Showroom Space

June 7, 2006  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Las Vegas on June 2006 A new multi-use project in Las Vegas plans to offer 1 million square feet of showroom space to furniture companies within 14 months, according to developers of the World View Towers, a project set for construction a little over a mile away from the World Market Center.

The nascent Las Vegas furniture market doesn’t begin to compare with High Point in terms of showroom ownership variety, but World View Towers’ plans indicate that there are others out West who’d like to cash in on the momentum Las Vegas market has enjoyed through two editions at the World Market Center, and the concurrent Las Vegas Furniture Show.

The project, to be built on 7.8 acres southeast of the intersection of Interstate 15 and Charleston Blvd., includes two 650-plus-foot towers and other buildings, which also will hold more than 1,200 condominiums, almost 40,000 square feet of office space, and 23,000-plus square feet of retail and restaurant space, according to marketing materials.

Craig Katchen, a partner in Wall Street Nevada LLC, developer of the World View Towers, said the developers with High Point or the World Market Center, but will be signing six-month leases for potential furniture exhibitors.

“We want to lease to people in High Point who want a second (showroom) location,” he said. “The World Market Center has 350,000-square-feet of temporary space, and it’s obviously going pretty well for them, and we’re adding some permanent space. We’ve had some discussions with people in China, and they obviously find it a shorter distance (to exhibit in Las Vegas).”

Dana Pretner, director of marketing and public relations for the World Market Center, noted that World View Towers won’t have the furniture focus of the WMC.

“According to its Web site, the project referred to as World View Towers is seeking approval to build condos and retail showrooms open to the public,” she said. “This is proposed as a dense mixed-use development that has different purposes and users.”

World Market Center, she said, is focused on providing trade-only showrooms.

“Our 57-acre master-plan consisting of permanent and temporary showrooms allows the home furnishings industry to grow horizontally and vertically across 12 million square feet, making it the largest complex of its kind anywhere in the world,” Pretner said. “Our project is based on the principle of creating a critical mass for the worldwide home furnishings industry on one campus.”