Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 66

19, 197? le Journal I Reno Evening Gazette Nevada State NEVADA LOOKS AHEAD March 7,500 new jobs projected Malls, distribution center boost Las Vegas economy Serving Nevada For 62 Years By SUE VOLEK The retail picture in Southern Nevada looks brighter than ever this year with the opening of a major shopping mall during 1978 and another high-fashion center now under construction. The malls, along with a giant J.C. Penney distribution center similar to the one in Northern Nevada, will add 7,500 jobs in the area in the next 12 to 18 months, according to project- ions from real estate executive Al Levy, recently named to the Las Vegas City Commission. "Everything points to a conclusion that 1979 will close out the 70s as a banner year and possibly a record year in the growth and development of the Las Vegas economy," he said. Southern Nevada shoppers were treated to the first major retail expansion in years with the opening of the Meadows Mall last year.

The major tenants include Diamond's, the Broadway, Sears and J.C. Penney 's, along with 27 national, 25 regional and five local stores which entered the Las Vegas market for the first time. The Sears and Penney 's stores will complete the mall when they open this year. Some. 3,000 people eventually will be employed at the center.

The huge mall includes five plaza levels, two stores of shops, three sets of escalators, numerous stairways and a glass -enclosed elevator in its 1 million square foot area. The large open interior spaces are landscaped and the center also features the "Vianda Patio," a food court housing more than a dozen fast food operations. Construction took more than two years after the May, 1976, groundbreaking. General contractor Ernest V. Hahn Inc.

employed more than 1,200 people through various subcontractors and used 13,000 cubic yards of concrete, 2,000 tons of structural steel, more than 45 miles of electrical wiring and 156,000 exterior bricks. The architects, Charles Kober Associates, chose desert tones and hues to blend in with the desert environment of the Meadows, which has 7,600 parking spaces in west-central Las Vegas. Cost of the project was more than $20 million. Planning for the shopping center was begun more than six years ago by Dayton-Hudson Properties, but the Las Vegas City Commission voted in 1973 and again in 1974 not to approve the project because some members believed it as located in the wrong area. In early 1974, Dayton-Hudson won a District Court order requiring the city to grant a necessary zoning variance, but the commission appealed the "ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court.

A year later, the high court forced the city to grant the variance and the Meadows was In business. After most of the shopping center stores opened, Dayton Hudson announced In September that the mall would be sold as part of a corporate cutback In real estate holdings. Other properties to be sold Include! Dayton-owned centers in North Dakota, Michigan and Oklahoma. The company had already sold nine other centers during the last two years for more than $300 million. "We had been working In the Las Vegas market for more than five that point In time, when we entered the market, there was not a direction to sell," a corporate vice president said then.

Meanwhile, Summa Corp. has unveiled ambitious plans for a shopping center on 34 acres of property at the Las Vegas Strip and Spring Mountain Road. Called "Fashion Show' the $75 million project will house such famous stores as Neiman-Marcus, Sak's, Bullock's, Diamond's and a fifth major retail outlet. Site preparation for the 800,000 square foot complex is already under way, with the -first store, Nieman Marcus, due to open in September, 1980. Sak's Is expected to open in February, 1981.

Summa spokesman Fred Lewis said the shopping center has been on the drawing boards In one form or another for many years. Originally the plan was coupled with an ambitious remodeling of all Las Vegas hotels owned by Howard Hughes, but the project was shelved because the billionaire didn't want to get involved in such a large undertaking, Lewis said. Plans were scaled down to include just the shopping mall and market research Summa arranged a partnership with the Hahn Corporation, the same firm that developed the Meadows center. The group has been assisted by Coldwell Bankers, a large real estate brokerage firm. Although leases have not been signed, Lewis said the partners have received hundreds of applications for the approximately 140 stores.

He said the exact mix of retail shops has not been determined. The center will be two stories with an air-conditioned interior mall. Underground parking for 1,700 cars will be provided with additional parking available outside. Landscaping will be modern and the decor will "not be like anything on the Strip," Lewis said, apparently foregoing neon lights. Our stationery store covers 17,000 square feet of office furniture and supplies, and now, with our new warehouse completed, we can offer an ample inventory to meet the needs of this rapidly growing area.

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