Building Nevada Briefs - October 2003

Building Nevada Briefs

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON THE PARK AT WARM SPRINGS

Construction is underway on The Park at Warm Springs, a nine-acre development located at Warm Springs Road and Gillespie Street in Las Vegas. A groundbreaking, featuring a tree-planting ceremony, was held recently to commemorate the beginning of construction and to emphasize the development’s park-like environment. Pictured from left to right are: Rudy Starks, Perkowitz + Ruth Architects; Kenneth Smith, Glen, Smith and Glen Development; Suzette LaGrange, CB Richard Ellis; and Scott Loughridge, SR Construction, Inc. The project is the first Las Vegas venture for Glen, Smith and Glen Development, a developer of retail centers and office parks with branches in Incline Village and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Park at Warm Springs will consist of two, 4,800-square-foot retail buildings and 13 office buildings from 4,800 square feet to 7,800 square feet, all for sale or lease. A tavern pad and restaurant pad also are available for sale. The first phase is scheduled for completion in January. The Park at Warm Springs is represented by Suzette La Grange, Randy Broadhead, and Bill Dunbar of CB Richard Ellis. The architect is Rudy Starks of Perkowitz + Ruth Architects, landscape architect is WRG Design, Inc. and the general contractor is SR Construction.

Two Shopping Centers Change Hands

The month of August saw two large retail centers in Southern Nevada change ownership in transactions totaling $169 million. New Jersey-based Chelsea Property Group, which recently opened the Las Vegas Premium Outlets in downtown Las Vegas, purchased the Belz Factory Outlet World shopping center near the south end of the Las Vegas Strip from a privately-held investment group for $104 million. The mall, which will be renamed the Las Vegas Outlet Center, is expected to offer lower-priced products than Chelsea’s downtown property. The Molasky Group of Companies sold the Best in the West shopping center in northwest Las Vegas for $65 million to Phoenix-based Desert Troon. The 475,000-square-foot power center contains 30 retail stores, including Best Buy, Office Depot, PetsMart, Borders Books and Old Navy.

Grubb & Ellis Builds New Headquarters

Grubb & Ellis|Nevada Commercial Group, a full-service commercial real estate firm, will move into a new headquarters building when construction is completed next month. General contractor for the building is Pinecrest Construction. The 12,000-square-foot office is located at MountainView Corporate Centre, a 30-acre master-planned business park at Del Monte Lane and Kietzke Lane in southwest Reno. The center will include up to 11 buildings, with more than 400,000 square feet of office space. John Pinjuv, president and co-owner of Grubb & Ellis, said his firm will serve as the project’s broker as well as one of its occupants. MountainView Corporate Centre is a project of Templeton Development Corporation.

Convention Center Plaza Sold

Tomorrow 33 Convention LP, a firm owned by a group of German investors, has purchased the Convention Center Plaza office complex for $32.3 million, according to Tom Stilley, senior vice president of Colliers International Las Vegas office division. The seller was a joint venture company composed of Legacy Partners and ING Realty Capital. Stilley said the sale of the 307,000-square-foot building near the Las Vegas Convention Center represented the largest office sale transaction in Las Vegas so far in 2003. Colliers International’s Las Vegas and Los Angeles offices joined to facilitate the transaction, representing both the buyer and the seller. The new owner plans to syndicate the 12-story building to investors in Germany.