New Jewelry Trade Center Announced for Downtown Vegas

The World Jewelry Center Is being planned for downtown Las Vegas. The tower and adjacent three-story retail building will provide space for corporate offices, jewelry retail space and condominiums.

World Jewelry Center Announced for Las Vegas

City of Las Vegas Officials in conjunction with Probity International Corporation unveiled plans for one of the largest jewelry projects in the world, the approximately one million-sq.-ft. mixed-use World Jewelry Center.

The center will combine the corporate offices of several hundred domestic and international gem and jewelry companies in a trade tower that will be one of the tallest office buildings in Las Vegas along with a separate, free-standing gallery of retail jewelry stores with broad middle-market appeal.

The project will be located in downtown Las Vegas within the prominent master-planned community of Union Park, and is planned to open for business in late-2009 to mid-2010.

The World Jewelry Center is being designed by Los Angeles-based Altoon & Porter Architects. Tenants will own their own subdivided space in the tower, which will also include meeting and exhibition facilities, several international restaurants, a private club and a fitness center. The top floors of the tower will be dedicated to luxury residential condominiums with panoramic views. The adjacent three-story retail jewelry center will have a world-class gem and jewelry museum and exhibition space open to the public. The retail center will be designed to educate and excite the general public about gems and jewelry by building confidence in the products designed and manufactured from around the globe.

"We're very excited about this global project coming to our city," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman. "The World Jewelry Center will revolutionize the jewelry industry as well as change the way people and businesses view Las Vegas."

The WJC will also include state-of-the-art security, secure shipping and receiving, gem grading labs and educational facilities, trade associations and plans for a dedicated Foreign Trade Zone.

LaPour Partners Breaks Ground on Decatur Crossing

LaPour Partners broke ground on Decatur Crossing, Phase III, a two-story hybrid product within two buildings totaling 114,000-sq.-ftl, situated on six acres located on Decatur Blvd. and Sunset Rd.

The first floor will encompass approximately 69,500 sq. ft. of flex space with grade-level loading capabilities, while the second floor provides approximately 42,200 sq. ft. of office space with individual exterior entries and common area restrooms, extensive glass on all sides of second level offices, and offers small office users the benefit of natural light within their space.

The first floor features office areas from the main entry and 13-ft. high minimum clear heights in the rear which can be used for additional office space, warehouse, distribution and many other applications. The second floor offices feature private exterior entryways and prominent building signage.

Michael DeLew and Greg Pancirov of Colliers International are the project's listing agents. KKE/HFTA Architects is the architect of record and TWC Construction is the contractor. Key Bank Real Estate Capital financed the project for $14.1 million.

New Hotel/Condo Tower Announced for Strip

The Waldorf=Astoria Residences have begun sales for residences and penthouses ranging from $2.8 to $10 million which will occupy the top 10 floors of the art-deco-style Conrad Las Vegas. The $825-million, mixed-use project is currently under development by Las Vegas-based Majestic Resorts and will be located on the Las Vegas Strip.

The 2,000- to 5,000-sq.-ft. residences and penthouses will feature designer kitchens and baths, 10-foot-high ceilings, expansive private balconies, multi-directional views and fireplaces.

In addition to The Waldorf=Astoria Residences, a 654-ft.-tall tower designed by Paul Steelman will include the Conrad Las Vegas Hotel, consisting of 216 guestrooms and suites and 696 condominium hotel residences averaging 800-sq.-ft. Owners of the hotel condominiums will have the option of participating in the voluntary hotel rental program. The Conrad condominium hotel residences will be priced from the mid-$600,000's to over $1 million.

The tower will also house a 27,000-sq.-ft. spa and health club, a 2.5 acre, tri-level infinity pool with cabanas, restaurants and 56,000 sq. ft. of boutique retail shops. The development is slated to open in 2009, with Bovis Lend Lease as the general contractor.

Meadow Valley Awarded New Contracts

Meadow Valley Corporation has been awarded new construction contracts in the Las Vegas area valued at a total of approximately $9.5 million.

Meadow Valley was awarded a $5.9 million contract by the City of North Las Vegas for grading, landscaping, parking lot and park amenities at the Las Vegas Trailhead and Sandstone Park project, and a $900,000 contract by the Nevada Department of Transportation for emergency bridge repair work.

In addition, the Company was awarded approximately $2.7 million in contracts by two private clients for waterline, storm drainage and related street work.

Approximately $3 million of the new contracts are scheduled to be completed before December 31, 2006, with the balance scheduled for completion in 2007.

CCSN Breaks Ground on $24 million Project

Community College of Southern Nevada broke ground for the future $24 million Library/Classroom Building. The three-story, 78,000-sq.-ft. building is scheduled to open in November 2007. The facility is designed as an icon building, welcoming visitors to the West Charleston Campus.

The Nevada State Public Works Board, on behalf of the Community College of Southern Nevada, has elected to use a CM at risk method for delivery with DCC Architects and Clark & Sullivan Construction.

DCC Architects has designed the new library and classroom building as LEED-equivalent, maximizing daylighitng, energy efficiency, air quality and use of recycled materials, which will provide some of the more significant cost savings that are associated with green building practices. The library also features a mechanical HVAC system which is designed to bring tempered air down to the floor level occupants most need it, and then circulate it up to a return system at the ceiling.

Programmed spaces for the building consist of the 24,000-sq.-ft. library, a coffee shop with interior and exterior seating, a 100-seat lecture room, 2 classrooms dedicated to computer applications instruction, 25 general classrooms with full digital and data connectivity and office space for administrative staff.

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