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Desert Passage Combines Old World Feel With Modern Marketing

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Aug. 18, 2000 --In its bid to offer something no other shopping mall in Las Vegas has, the developer of Desert Passage took the reality route.

"This place has 700 different textures," said Paul Beirnes, the director of marketing for the 500,000-square-foot retail outlet opened by TrizecHahn Development Corp. Thursday night.

"We wanted to present authenticity and we've paid a lot of attention to detail," he said. "When people come in the door, we really want them to feel like they're on a journey."

Desert Passage's journey is a trek to the historic desert trade route from Marrakech and Tangier to Bombay. Moorish archways adorn the mile-long circle of 130 shops and 14 restaurants. Patterned iron grills are used instead of the traditional mall-front glass doors.

"We didn't want to do an 'Arabian Nights' theme for the shopping area," said Paul Jacob, senior vice president of RTKL Associates Inc., Los Angeles, the architect and designer of the project. "The Aladdin (hotel-casino) was developing more of a fantasy theme.

"We wanted to create imagery of real places. We wanted to put people on a journey from Gibraltar to India."

A Santa Fe, N.M., company, Seret & Sons, was contracted to import antiques and artifacts from India, the Middle East and Northern Africa to decorate the property. Even the lighting fixtures came right off the streets of Fez, Morocco, Beirnes said.

While TrizecHahn invested an estimated $300 million to make Desert Passage look old and mysterious, a $200,000 computer system may have an even greater impact on the success of stores that are estimated to be paying up to $180 a square foot per year to be there.

Inside the textured walls, tucked beside the glazed mosaic tiles, is an elaborate laser-guided foot traffic tracking system.

Beirnes said the system will enable mall management to determine the flow of people throughout the mall.

Coupled with the daily tracking of receipt totals by each store, managers will be able to monitor what's hot and what's not at the mall.

The computer system will be able to determine where most people come in, where they go once they're inside and where they leave. Since another component of the Desert Passage experience is wandering entertainers, managers will be able to determine how the placement and scheduling of performers affects traffic and sales.

Beirnes said the sales statistics won't be disclosed to competitors or the public, but will be used to monitor where entertainers can help drive traffic and sales.

And traffic and sales are expected to be good. A retail expert says the attention to detail as well as the access and location will make Desert Passage a winner.

The sensory effects and the tracking system aren't the only high-tech features in the mall. Beirnes said the building has been prewired with cable that will enable broadcasters easy plug-in access for television remotes. Plans already are being made for New Year's Eve broadcasts from the mall.

Connor said Desert Passage's location is perfect, midway between the biggest areas of growth on the Strip, and it will draw tourists from the entire south Strip resort corridor.

Connor said he expects Desert Passage to do well because because it has better access from the Strip than any other retail center. It has about 800 linear feet of frontage on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Beirnes said because an average of 75,000 to 80,000 pedestrians already walk along that part of the Strip every day, it's likely Desert Passage will draw more than 50,000 people inside daily.

Beirnes also said the mall will emphasize the easy access to shopping through a 60,000-car parking garage -- as big as the one at McCarran International Airport -- to local residents.

"And, they don't try to force the casino on you," Connor said. "Even in the Forum Shops, they have slot machines in the mall. Here, you won't have to go through the casino to get to the shopping and I think the locals will take notice of that. The access is really great for both pedestrians and locals in cars because the road system is under the property."

Beirnes said he anticipates a mix of about 75 percent tourists and 25 percent locals, with the average visit lasting about four hours.

Beirnes said that not every retailer bought into the Desert Passage concept at first, especially since TrizecHahn was asking tenants to substitute traditional store fronts with looks that fit the theme.

But Thursday night, the center was 95 percent leased and 104 of the properties -- about 75 percent of them -- had their doors open.

There are 52 stores and restaurants making their Las Vegas debut.

But if Desert Passage is as successful as the retailers and the owners expect, someone has to give up market share. Representatives of other Las Vegas malls have said they expect the increased visitor volume resulting from more hotel rooms and airline flights to the city will increase the number of visits to their own properties.

For TrizecHahn, which owns and operates the Fashion Outlet of Las Vegas in Primm, built in 1998, and which partnered in 1981 with the Howard Hughes Corp. to build the Fashion Show mall, Desert Passage is one of the company's most ambitious "shoppertainment" projects ever.

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