THE LAS VEGAS RENAISSANCE, A 700,000 SQUARE FOOT INDOOR SHOPPING MALL IS BEING DEVELOPED TO OPEN IN 2015
Developers of the Tivoli Village shopping center in Western Las Vegas announced plans to build a massive indoor mall across the street.
The project's cost is estimated at 350 million and is due to be completed in 2015.
Serving the affluent Northwest Las Vegas area, including Summerlin, Renaissance is part of a plan of developers to link four shopping centers totaling more than 3 million square feet.
The properties all on Rampart Blvd. north of Charleston Blvd. are Boca Park, Renaissance and Tivoli Village, phases one and two.
The local commercial real estate market is still struggling but the developers are expecting growth in demand for retail space over the next few years and are positioning the Renaissance 2015 opening to coincide with the increased demand.
A spokesman said, "our long term view of Las Vegas is very bullish." Our goal is bringing on the right amount of space at the right time."
Plans call for Renaissance to blend with Tivoli Village's Italian aesthetic, with a link to allow visitors to go back and forth between the properties.
The two developments will complement each other while maintaining distinct identities, with Tivoli Village's open-air concept appealing to different customers than the Renaissance enclosed mall area.
"The plan is to create the retail, restaurant and office hub for the entire part of western Las Vegas."
The Renaissance would be inspired by the world's FIRST enclosed mall, The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan, Italy.
It will feature arched glass ceilings over pedestrian walkways, and massive glass domes throughout. The building's exterior and store facades will feature renaissance style that incorporates old-world architectural elements.
The anchor tenants will be well known national department stores.
LAS VEGAS GRADUALLY IMPROVING IT'S STANDING IN THE GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ECONOMY
A new Brookings Institute study ranking the performance of the world's 200 largest metro areas, Las Vegas came in at number 179 for 2010-2011, up from it's 199 showing for recent years.
The improvement came from Las Vegas suddenly diversifying it's economy and improving it's schools - tasks highly recommended by the Brookings Institute previously.
Just 4 metro areas in North America and Western Europe - Houston, Dallas. Stuttgart and Stockholm ranked among the 40 strongest economies in 2010 and 2011 according to the Institute.
"These developed metro economies exhibited a healthy diversity that buoyed their recent performance relative to regional peers, including expansion in high value commodities, manufacturing and business and financial services sectors", the report said.
The Global Metro Monitor said that Las Vegas and many other cities suffered from the housing bubble in which prices dropped significantly.,
"The weakest performing U.S. metro areas reflected a mix of places hamstrung by poor housing market conditions - examples, Riverside, Las Vegas, Atlanta, dependent on trade with fragile European partners - examples - Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and concentrated in state government services that faced steep cuts in 2011."
But suprisingly, Las Vegas ranks ahead of several U.S. cities in the new analysis.
Those trailing Las Vegas are Indianapolis, New Orleans, San Francisco, Atlanta, Kansas City, Richmond and Sacramento.
GOVERNOR SANDOVAL VISITS DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS AND MEETS ZAPPOS CEO TONY HSIEH FOR THE FIRST TIME
East Fremont street, once home to drug addicts and empty stores, is seeing redevelopment take root.
Sandoval's presence in response to the city's invitation to tour the area, was a sign that the redevelopment and economic diversification taking place there is drawing notice statewide.
Hsieh talked about Zappos.com which he said has maintained 30 to 40 percent annual growth during the recession and will relocate it's headquarters to the downtown area in 2013.
When Hsieh recounted how 5 high-tech startup firms have moved here in recent months due to Zappo's recruiting efforts, the Governor smiled and pretended to worship Hsieh with hands extended and head bowed amid laughter from others.
When Amazon.com bought Zappos two years ago for $1.2 billion, the sellers were paid in Amazon stock, and the stock's value has tripled since then.
Now, Hsieh is personally investing some $350 million in downtown - 50 million in small businesses, 50 million in tech startups, 50 million in education and 100 million in acquisitions.
Another 100 million is planned for residential construction because Hsieh wants to build a community and a downtown economy that sustains itself.
Based on his research, that takes an average population density of 100 people per acre, which means building up, more expensive than building out, but he and Zappos will do it themselves.
"We might break even or even lose money, but for us it's not "return on investment", but a "return on community."
Sandoval wants input from people like CEO Hsieh and others involved with economic diversification to fully develop his recently announced economic development package.
The meeting ended with Hsieh handing out copies of the book, "Triumph of the City," from which he drew his 100 people per acre plan.
NEVADA'S NEW FORECLOSURE RULES APPEAR ON TRACK TO BRING A NEAR COMPLETE HALT TO FORECLOSURES IN THE STATE
Says Sean O'Toole, the Chief executive of Foreclosure-Radar.
Foreclosure starts in Nevada dropped significantly in December, along with time to foreclose, which normally gets extended during the holiday season.
In Clark County, notice of default filings fell to 923 in December, an 82.5 percent decrease from 5,277 filings from a year ago in the same month, the Discovery Bay California based on-line listing service reported.
Since a Nevada law took effect in October, 2011, requiring lenders to prove they have the authority to foreclose, default filings have hovered around 1,000 a month.
There were 3,140 notices of Trustee sales during the month, roughly half of the 6,089 in December 2010.
Nevada's new foreclosure law which caused default filings to plummet in October, is now tracking down to foreclosure sales as well.
"Foreclosure activity usually bounces back after lenders dealt with such state law changes in the past, but it's less clear that such a recovery will happen soon in Nevada, O'Toole said."
"The only foreclosures you have now are homeowner association liens. The vast majority are not lenders."
In the near-term, the law will certainly help homeowner facing foreclosure, eviction and potentially deficiency judgements.
The changes put in place are pretty much significant, "he said." Look at Recon Trust at Bank of America. They had to rebuild their entire foreclosure process because the Trustee can't be owned by the Lender.
The foreclosure time frame was 330 days in December, 13 days shorter than in November.
"If you are a homeowner who wants to move on and repair your credit, that's a good thing, O'Toole said."
LAS VEGAS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW BRINGS IN OVER 150,000 VISITORS
The Auto show helped drive local visitor volume toward pre-recession levels. The market also saw a surge in average daily room rates.
The latest numbers bode well for Las Vegas, with experts noting that a jump to an unprecedented 40 million local visitors may come in 2012.
Local research firm Applied Analysis says, "With increased hotel rooms in the market, the fact that we continue to climb clearly benefits the leisure and hospitality industry."
Year to date through November, 36 million people visited Las Vegas, up 4.4 percent from 2010. "People are recognizing they have the ability and means to travel again, and Las Vegas is reinventing itself every day."
"We have more rooms on the market, so a number of hotel operators remain aggressive with promotions to potential customers."
If December's numbers meet projections, Las Vegas will have hosted just under 39 million visitors in 2011, near a 2007 peak of 39.2 million.
With visitor volume increasing, hotels and motels commanded higher room rates in November. The market's average daily room rate jumped to $103.34. The average room rate in 2007 hit $132.00.
With 150,000 hotel rooms to fill, up from 132,000 in 2007, it's likely to hold back big price gains in 2012.
The Convention Authority predicts a 2 to 4 percent increase in tourism numbers in 2012. Even at a 2.5 increase, the visitor volume should top 40 million for the first time ever.
DOWNWARD TREND ON LAS VEGAS HOME PRICES - REPORTS SHOW LOWER PRICES THAN A YEAR AGO WITH A LOCAL BUYING BOOM
Core-Logic of Santa Ana, California which tracks home prices, said existing home prices in the Las Vegas area in November were down 10.8 percent from November 2010.
The market in Nevada and nationally has been affected by distressed home sales involving foreclosures and short sales in which lenders allow struggling home owners to sell their properties for less than what is owed.
"Distressed home and condo sales continue to put downward pressure on prices and is a factor that must be addressed in 2012 for a housing recovery to become a reality," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for Core-Logic."
On the flip side, the troubles in the Las Vegas housing market have generated a buying boom. Those who can pay cash or obtain mortgages are grabbing properties, homes, condos and townhouses at deep discounts.
(Please read a previous blog on Condo rentals and net profits.)
The median price of local condos and town homes sold in December was $58,550. That is up 0.9 percent from $58,000 the previous month but down 5.6 percent from $69,000 a year earlier.
GLVAR (The Greater Las Vegas Realtors Association) is hoping prices will firm up this year and expects continued strong sales.
"We may see some improvement in prices this year as our inventory of homes and condos on the market keeps going down and demand stays high, " GLVAR President Kolleen Kelley said in a statement."
"We are also seeing more short sales which are preferable to foreclosures and sell for higher prices than homes that have gone through a foreclosure."
48,186 SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES AND CONDOS WERE SOLD IN LAS VEGAS IN 2011, TOPPING THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 46,879 SET IN 2009
Prices were being held down by cautious appraisers and the many foreclosures. Roughly half of all sales were cash-only transactions while 46.8 percent were real-estate owned or bank-owned properties returning to the market after foreclosure.
Another 26.6 percent were short sales, or lender approved sales for less than the mortgage balance.
What was good news for realtors selling existing homes and condos was bad news for builders and developers last year, as new home sales plummeted from nearly 39,000 in 2006 to fewer than 4,000 in 2011, the lowest level since Home Builders Research began tracking the market in 1988.
The median price of a single-family home declined to $120,000 in December, down 9.1 percent from the same month a year ago.
A buyer may be willing to pay more for a home or condo, but lenders won't loan more than the appraiser's take. This keeps home prices from rising.
The sales data shows that the backlog of homes and condos is falling. Multiple Listings decreased 11.2 percent in December to 19,230.
One encouraging factor is that people who went through a foreclosure or short-sale more than three years ago are starting to re-enter the market.
Money that has been sitting on the sidelines for years is making it's way into the residential market.
The President of the Greater Las Vegas Realtors said, "we are seeing more short-sales which are preferable to foreclosures, and sell for higher prices than foreclosures."
LAS VEGAS FACING THE CHALLENGE OF INTENSE FOREIGN GAMING COMPETITION AND LOOMING LABOR NEGOTIATIONS
2012 has all the makings of a potentially tumultuous year for the gaming industry. Union contracts expire for thousands of Las Vegas casino industry workers this year, and the negotiations may be tense and drawn out.
Las Vegas casinos still face exploding competition from Macau and Singapore and possibly even from Miami and the Boston area.
Internet gambling may be legalized within Nevada and lotteries are spreading across the countries, yet a record 40 million visitors are forecast for Las Vegas in 2012.
A spokesman for an Atlantic City gaming research firm says, "I don't recall a time with so much turmoil, new projects, new states coming online, clearly the industry is going to be significantly different 5 years from now."
It is in the context of an increasingly complex global gaming industry that the Culinary Union local 226 will try to negotiate new contracts for it's more than 40,000 members at strip and downtown gaming properties.
"The Las Vegas operators that have positions in other parts of the world now have opportunities to market all of their properties, all of their offerings to a wider demographic. The success of one hub versus another does not mean that Las Vegas has lost it's place in the gaming universe."
For example, the MGM Resorts International and the Las Vegas Sands attempting to lure Macau customers to visit Las Vegas.
Las Vegas will continue to be one of the major gaming centers in the world.
It's going to be very hard for other markets to duplicate what Las Vegas has created and built, in entertainment and the world's largest convention industry."
ZAPPOS OF LAS VEGAS HIRES A LEADING ARCHITECT FIRM TO RENOVATE CITY HALL WHICH WILL BE THEIR HEADQUARTERS IN 2013
Gensler, the executive architect firm on City Center, will lead renovations on the old City Hall building, while preserving unique features of the 39 year old structure.
With the agreement in place, the two companies, with Resort Gaming Group, which is buying the old City Hall and leasing it to Zappos, will redesign the building to accommodate about 2,000 employees of Zappos.
They said they want spaces that make it easy for workers to spend time together in a campus-like setting.
While the decision to hire the Gensler firm was not made by CEO Tony Hsieh, but was a result of collaboration of a large group of Zappos employees, who "felt like Gensler was a fit to all of us".
"Our goal is to build a workspace that accelerates serendipity and encourages spontaneous collaboration between employees and the larger community."
In 2010, the Resort Gaming Group brokered the deal to move Zappos from Henderson to downtown Las Vegas.
Zappos plans to spend about 40 million in renovations.
Gensler was selected in a process similar to Zappos culture interviews, in which employees choose new hires based on how they might fit into the firm's online unique corporate image.