Building Nevada - July 2004

Jackson-Shaw Company

Targeting Customers’ Needs

by Tina Allen

In December, commercial real estate developer Jackson-Shaw Company broke ground for a Marriott Renaissance Hotel on Paradise Road in Las Vegas. In a city where hotels are nearly as plentiful as slot machines, this one is special. Gaming and entertainment aren’t the focus. Instead, Jackson-Shaw set out to accommodate the business professional’s every need, from immediate access to the nearby Las Vegas Convention Center, to rooms specifically designed to facilitate sales pitches and making the deal.

"We are offering a first-class business hotel where people operating at the Convention Center won’t have to go anywhere else other than the Convention Center, and then to the hotel to do business," said Michael Carroll, vice president of regional development for the western division of Jackson-Shaw. "Staying there, eating there, exhibiting there, meeting there. And, it’s immediately adjacent to the Convention Center. We think it is really going to stand out."

The 15-story Marriott, at a price tag of about $100 million, is an example of what Jackson-Shaw does best – it develops commercial property for a specific, targeted customer. Over the last 32 years, Jackson-Shaw has found the strategy of designing property for niches in the commercial development marketplace a winning strategy.

"We are always trying to refine our model to make our space more productive, more beneficial and in the right location so it is viewed by our tenant as essential," said Lewis Shaw, chairman and chief executive officer of Jackson-Shaw.

The company began as a small contracting firm named J.C. Jackson Company in Dallas in 1972. Lewis Shaw came aboard in 1974 as a construction manager and leasing agent, and later went on to purchase the company. Over the years, Lewis Shaw turned the business into a national firm, and has built all across the country, including Arizona, California, Florida, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee and Mississippi.

In 1990, Lewis Shaw saw potential in the growing Southern Nevada commercial real estate market and planted a regional office in Las Vegas. It also has a regional office in Washington, D.C.

Another Nevada project being developed by Jackson-Shaw is the NorthPort Business Center in North Las Vegas. The 24-acre master-planned park offers office, showroom, retail and warehouse space on West Cheyenne Avenue. Jackson-Shaw has already completed 230,000 square feet of building space, and has plans for another 80,000 square feet.

Jackson-Shaw’s mission of developing property that fits the consumer’s needs can also be found at the company’s Warm Springs Crossing, a commercial development within a 27-acre, 455,000-square-foot master-planned business community on South Industrial Road in Las Vegas. Carroll said the NorthPort and Warm Springs developments have both set the standard for development in the two respective communities. "They are pioneering projects that have reshaped those areas," he said.

Carroll said he expects the northeast section of the Valley will be the next up-and-coming commercial development area. Jackson-Shaw owns some undeveloped land in a section near Nellis Boulevard, but hasn’t announced any plans for it yet. "That’s going to become a stronger and stronger industrial market because of the availability and pricing of land and the transportation options," Carroll said.

But constructing buildings isn’t Jackson-Shaw’s only concern. The company also believes in giving back to the community through charitable donations and helping those less fortunate. Recently it initiated an after-school meal program for underprivileged children who attend the McCabe Unit Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas. It’s a project it plans to carry through to other locations in the country. Some of the other organizations it has supported include the City of Hope and the Ronald McDonald House.

"I think a relationship between the community and the developer goes beyond putting a building in the ground," Shaw said. "You get to understand what is essential to the community by participating in outreach programs."

Tina Allen