By Eli Segall- Vegas Inc
The cab line on a recent afternoon at the Las Vegas Premium Outlets
downtown snaked but moved quickly as tourists carrying bags of
merchandise piled into cars. Hundreds of shoppers roamed the open-air
center, shuttling from one store to the next, looking for bargains.
The popularity of the discount mall, and its sister property a few
miles south of the Strip, has skyrocketed in recent years. Cab driver
Michelle Garcia said she shuttles more people there now than in 2005
when the economy was roaring.
“People are shopping more than they’re gambling,” Garcia said from her car while waiting for passengers.
Mall owners are looking to capitalize on that popularity by expanding the downtown outlet for a second time.
Simon Property Group plans to add
about 25 stores, comprising at least 150,000 square feet, to the
150-store mall. It also plans to add four levels to one of the parking
garages, increasing parking by as many as 685 spaces.
Indianapolis-based Simon expects to finish the project in 2015, said
Alexandra Goranson, marketing director for Premium Outlets. She declined
to provide construction costs and did not say when work would begin.
On South Grand Central Parkway near the Spaghetti Bowl, the mall,
formally known as Las Vegas Premium Outlets-North, is fully leased and
typically packed with tourists. It underwent its first expansion in
2008, about five years after opening.
One new tenant planning to move into the new expanded space
is Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, which is no stranger to the local
discount shopping scene. The New York-based retailer has an Off 5th
store at Las Vegas Premium Outlets-South on Las Vegas Boulevard South at East Warm Springs Road. That mall also is fully leased.
Saks’ market research shows that the valley’s customer base and
tourist traffic are strong enough to sustain two Off 5th stores, vice
president of marketing Amber Cacali said. She said the downtown mall is
one of the country’s best performing outlet centers.
At Wilsons Leather, sales are up 30 percent year-over-year, store
manager Bree Mitchell said. Three-quarters of customers are tourists,
many of whom live in cold climates and flock to Wilsons for low-priced
jackets.
“In the next couple of weeks, it’s going to be slammed all the time,” Mitchell said.
Tanja Rajic, a graphic designer from Germany, was one of the foreign
tourists buying clothes at the mall earlier this month. She said she
learned about the outlet from a travel guide and while surfing the
Internet in Germany.
Rajic came to Las Vegas to shop and sightsee, not to gamble, she said. She wants to visit again.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
Simon, which owns or partially owns 332 retail properties, describes
itself as the world's largest real estate company. Nevertheless, when it
bought land for the mall expansion, it showed that even the largest of
corporations can miscalculate deals.
Las Vegas developers Mark and Jeff Fine sold the expansion site to
Simon for $16 million in May — almost a decade after they bought it from
Simon and its development partner Chelsea Property Group for $4.9
million.
The Fines had planned to build 100,000 square feet of retail,
restaurant and office space on the lot, but the project never
materialized. So they sold the land back to its previous owner for a
tidy profit.
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