Harsch Expands Chinatown Plaza
Harsch Investment Properties has begun renovation on The Center at Spring Mountain, located on Spring Mountain Road adjacent to Chinatown Plaza in Las Vegas. The three-building, 385,000-square foot center will more than double the size of Chinatown when its façade is reconstructed with an Asian architectural design. WPH Architecture Inc. served as the architect for the redesign, and Oakview Construction is serving as general contractor for the project. Harsch acquired the Center at Spring Mountain in 1996 and has invested more than $5 million to improve the 20-year property. The spaces fronting the streets currently include restaurants, markets and showrooms. Off-street spaces, ranging from 2,000 square feet to 4,800 square feet, are designed to accommodate storage, warehousing, light distribution and manufacturing uses.
Thomas & Mack Developing 400-Acre Project
Thomas & Mack Development Group (TMDG) has been re-appointed as the master developer of a 400-acre multi-use project at Blue Diamond Road and Decatur Boulevard in southwestern Las Vegas. The principal owners of the Blue Diamond Ranches project are the Olympic Group, the Thomas and Mack families and the Randy Black/Barry Moore interests. TMDG recently completed all infrastructure utilities at the site, which will ultimately consist of industrial, big box retail, office and single-family and multi-family residential. On the north side of Blue Diamond Road at the Union Pacific railroad, 95 acres of land will be used to develop an industrial park with approximately 1.6 million square feet of space. Work on infrastructure will begin in the fourth quarter of 2001. Woodside Homes has purchased 46 acres at Blue Diamond Ranches and has begun construction of three residential villages, which will contain 540 homes at build-out. Territory Incorporated will develop a 500,000-square-foot retail center, scheduled to open in 2003.
Hotel-Style Office Park Set for Reno
Magnolia Village, an $18 million project at South McCarran Boulevard and Lakeside Drive in Reno, will feature a central three-story, 54,000-square-foot office building in a non-traditional office setting resembling a hotel. The property will include an underground parking garage, a fully decorated lobby, a circular staircase and a full-service concierge desk. An underground tunnel will connect the building to an adjacent restaurant that will provide room service to tenants on request. Tenants can take advantage of housekeeping services and have access to a car and driver, as though they were in a hotel, according to RPL Group, which is developing the project. In addition to the main building and restaurant, the park will feature a drive-through bank and a retail/mixed-use building. Colliers International is currently leasing space in Magnolia Village, which is slated for completion next April.
Laurich Develops Shopping Centers in Las Vegas
To accommodate growth in the most rapidly growing areas of the Las Vegas Valley, Laurich Properties is developing two shopping centers on Durango scheduled to open this fall. Each site will include an Albertsons Market and Express Fuel Center as the anchor tenant. Ashley Park Plaza is a 90,000-square-foot retail center at Durango and Flamingo. In addition to the 60,000-square-foot Albertsons store, 13 other tenants will occupy the site, which is almost fully leased. Construction financing for Ashley Park Plaza is through BankWest of Nevada. Tule Springs Village, a 250,000-square-foot center at the corner of Durango and Farm, is financed through Nevada State Bank. The first phase of this project, consisting of 110,000 square feet, includes a 59,000-square-foot Albertsons, as well as several smaller tenants. Since 1990, Laurich Properties has developed more than two dozen neighborhood and power shopping centers in the Las Vegas area.
Contract Awarded for Hoover Dam Bypass Project
The Central Federal Lands Highway Division of the Federal Highway Administration has awarded a contract to a consulting group led by HDR Engineering to provide comprehensive design services for the Hoover Dam Bypass Project. The contract was awarded to the Hoover Support Team (HST), consisting of HDR Engineering of Omaha, Neb., Sverdrup Civil, Inc., and T.Y. Lin International of San Francisco. HST initiated mapping, geotechnical and alignment studies this summer on a new bridge and four-lane highway access across the Colorado River downstream of Hoover Dam. Preliminary design work will begin later this year, with a special design advisory panel assisting the project team in evaluating the environmental, historic, cultural and aesthetic impact of various bridge and roadway concepts on the Hoover Dam landmark. Construction of the project is scheduled to start in late 2002 and take approximately five years to complete.