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Small Town Feel for Nevada Project

NEVADA – Armed with an updated project name and unique array of tenants, the developer of one of Henderson's latest real-estate projects hopes its new District at Green Valley Ranch will bring a "Main Street, USA"-like atmosphere to at least one corner of the Southern Nevada desert.

John Kilduff, president of Henderson-based American Nevada Co., said Tuesday his company's new $80 million project will be unlike anything else in this area, but widely reminiscent of many small towns in other parts of the country.

"This hasn't been done here before." Kilduff said, referencing a valley where the word pedestrian is more often synonymous with boredom than foot traffic. "But soon people will have an opportunity to stroll up and down the street to have dinner, a snack, entertainment or shopping."

The 400,000-square-foot center, on approximately 25 acres at the northwest corner of Green Valley and Paseo Verde parkways just south of the Las Vegas Beltway, is scheduled to open in mid-April. It will include a mix of 40 retail shops and restaurants on its ground level, plus offices and residential units upstairs.

Retail tenants will include Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, The Sharper Image and Ann Taylor Loft. Kilduff said the District is more than 90 percent leased, including deals with local newcomers REI, a Sumner, Wash.-based outdoor gear chain; Anthropologie, which sells clothing and decorative goods; and Coldwater Creek, a women's casual wear outlet.

Restaurant tenants will include Al's Garage, King's Fish House and Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que, plus P.F. Chang's China Bistro, which recently opened its fifth Nevada location in an adjacent, freestanding building along Green Valley Parkway.

American Nevada initially planned to rent the District's 88 apartment and loft spaces, but Kilduff said the company may instead sell those units, which range in size from 875 to 1,749 square feet, as condominiums. A decision on that will likely come within the next month, he said.

Plans for the District date back several years, though construction was temporarily postponed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and subsequent economic slowdown. Until this week, the project had been tentatively known as The Shops at Green Valley Ranch, but Kilduff said the name was changed to better describe the center's mixed-use nature.

"It's much more than just the shops," he said.

Regardless of its name, American Nevada officials believe the District will succeed because it's in a largely affluent area with strong auto traffic nearby, including an estimated 80,000 vehicles passing per day along the beltway's southern leg and another 31,000 vehicles that pass on Green Valley Parkway.

"It's a very strong demographic area, similar to Rampart and Charleston (boulevards)," Kilduff said of another popular shopping and dining intersection near Summerlin in northwest Las Vegas. "But we're unlike that location because we're (directly adjacent to) the beltway."

Kilduff's optimism was supported by David Howes, a broker with the Las Vegas office of Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services, who said the District reminds him of his hometown of Rockland, Mass.

"I lost some tenants to (the District) because they had a better theme than the shopping center I had," Howes said. "It's a good location that's going to be a positive for that area."

Howes said his one concern about the District stems from the driveway that cuts through the heart of the project.

"In my hometown, where the buildings are right there on the street, it was always a problem parking," said Howes. Still, he added the District's supplemental parking should be enough to support all who visit, even if they're unable to park up front.

The District should also benefit from its proximity to Green Valley Ranch Station, a 2-year-old hotel-casino just across a driveway to the west, Kilduff said.

The Greenspun family, which owns American Nevada, is a 50-50 partner with Las Vegas-based Station Casinos in the $300 million Green Valley Ranch Station resort.

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