LAS VEGAS, NV – When the housing bubble of the mid-2000’s burst, few areas in the United States felt its devastating affects as acutely as Las Vegas, Nevada; for years, vast amounts of empty properties sat unwanted, and surrounding retail businesses – whose very livelihood depends upon local residents to buy their goods and services – suffered, and for many, closed for good.
Fast-forward to the summer of 2017, and Vegas is now in the middle of a housing boom – the likes of which the region has not experienced in over a decade; approximately 4,300 new-home sales were closed by builders in Clark County through June of this year, and the peak median sales price from the period before the bubble burst – about $338,600 in summer 2007 – has already been surpassed twice in 2017 alone. The simple fact is that both real estate and the local economy in Las Vegas is on the mend in a big way, and with those near-daily gains comes money, businesses, and – of course, people, many of whom are clamoring to buy houses and rent apartments in record numbers. And when you have people, you need retail…hence its recent rapid growth in Las Vegas as well, despite the fact that retail is otherwise experiencing an overall downturn elsewhere in the nation; this speaks volumes about the fertile soil for business that is shaping the local economy so dramatically.
Numerous investments are being made in Las Vegas; real estate is obvious, but retail is attracting more than its fair share of capital as well, with some companies and chains banking big on the revitalization of the Southern Nevada region. For instance, Chicago-based real estate investment company JLL Income Property Trust, and affiliate of real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., recently sank $63 million into Montecito Marketplace, a 190,000-square-foot shopping center located on Durango Drive. The center boasts Kroger subsidiary Smith’s Grocery as an anchor, and also has clothing retail and popular eateries as tenants. Given the large sum JLL Income Property Trust paid for the acquisition, obviously they have faith in the economic climate of Las Vegas and the number of people it is drawing to live here.
Las Vegas’ Chinatown is also getting in on the retail growth in the region, with developers breaking ground on Shanghai Plaza, a 80,000 square-foot, 4.3 acre, shopping center that will take the form of four two-story buildings that will be located on Spring Mountain Road. Additionally, Shanghai Plaza is slated to feature traditional Asian a architectural designs once completed.
Retail on the world-famous Las Vegas Strip is also in the midst of a growth spurt, as retail and gambling resorts often work well hand-in-hand, as one can attract customers to the other and vice versa. Examples include a 75,000 square-foot high-end shopping center being constructed by Wynn Resorts, as well as Grand Canal Shoppes’ the Venetian, a retail extravaganza that recalls the majesty of the Italian waterways as shoppers are able to visit restaurants and stores via actual gondolas. And whereas such a large and tightly packed amount of retail in one area might normally be a disadvantage for all, in Vegas – which boasts 40 million visitors annually – there’s more than enough business to go around.
Real estate growth and retail growth often go together hand-in-hand, as both attract people who need both; with the recent property-buying explosion in Southern Nevada reaching heights not seen since the late-90’s/early 2000’s, it’s a safe bet that Las Vegas’ fortunes will only continue to flourish.
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