Vegas market gains speed & proves critics wrong
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 23, 2003
The proposed Las Vegas furniture market cleared a major hurdle last week. Amidst the ceremonial trappings of a groundbreaking ceremony, the project took a very important step, one that should silence many of the critics.
The World Market Center, a flashy 1.3 million square foot permanent showroom building, will soon begin climbing skyward from its large tract of land within view of the high-rise hotels of downtown Las Vegas, the original Glitter Gulch. Before the first shovel of earth was turned, the center was fully leased, and the capable leasing team was already turning its attention to leasing 300,000 square feet of temporary space. Already there is talk of building the second and third home furnishings buildings in the multi-phase project.It may be just coincidence that the groundbreaking was held only a few weeks before the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point. Eventually this project could cast a shadow over the High Point market, but for now the shadow mostly darkens the future in San Francisco. Conventional wisdom holds that the Western United States can’t support two furniture markets. And Las Vegas is coming on strong.I’ve heard a number of well-known figures in the industry express skepticism about a Las Vegas market since the idea first surfaced a few years ago. The critics said the developers would never win approval for the project, would never buy the land, would never attract much industry support, and would never actually build a showroom building.Well, the critics missed the mark on the first three of those points. And now that ground has been broken, the building is on the way. But the critics will just shift course. The building will never be completed, they may say. Or, if it is, the market will be just a flash in the pan. The Las Vegas developers have done a good job of proving the critics wrong thus far, and I think they will keep their streak going. There is unquestionably an air of excitement about a furniture market in Las Vegas. The list of tenants is pretty impressive for a market that is starting out from scratch. We think a number of major holdouts will want to join the action in Las Vegas as the project moves ever closer to reality.The possibility of a Las Vegas market was once dismissed as a “dust up in the desert” by one vocal critic with strong ties to High Point. Well, there is a cloud of dust in the desert in Las Vegas. But it’s the dust of bulldozers, knocking down another objection to a market that is on the move.That’s what I think. What do you think?
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