Las Vegas Building C Boasts Major Expansions & New Tenants

Furniture World Magazine

World Market Center announced that the third building of World Market Center prepares to take its place on the ever-expanding downtown Las Vegas skyline. The 2.1 million square-foot building is scheduled for completion in 2008 and will debut with the Summer Las Vegas Market, taking place July 28 through Aug. 1, 2008. Upon completion of Building C, the first three structures of World Market Center will showcase five million square feet of permanent showrooms. World Market Center will have invested over $1.1 billion in the campus by the time the third building opens. “The addition of Building C signifies a major milestone for World Market Center’s growing campus and will feature a significant roster of leading brands,” said Babs Blair, director of leasing. “With World Market Center quickly becoming the preferred market for U.S. and international buyers, the demand among manufacturers continues to escalate. We are pleased to have commitments and interest for the entire building,” she added. With virtually every space in Building C spoken for through signed leases and commitments, World Market Center will welcome new companies and industry leaders across all categories. A select few include Lexington, Sligh Furniture, Mohawk, Mark Roberts, and Pacific Coast Lighting. There are also significant showroom expansions planned among existing World Market Center tenants such as AICO, Standard, and Coaster among others. At a construction cost of $550 million, the architecturally iconic Building C will stand at 16 floors with 130,000 square feet on each floor which is nearly 30 percent larger than those in Buildings A and B. In all, more than 400 showrooms are anticipated for Building C. In conjunction with the opening of Building C, a $60-million, seven-story parking garage with 175,000 square feet on each level will also open. The parking garage will accommodate 3,600 vehicles and allow for up to 15 levels. The third showroom structure on the eight-building campus will allow significant growth opportunities for sectors of the industry that World Market Center already caters to, such as furniture and decorative accessories. In addition, it will offer major expansion opportunities for lighting and floor coverings, as well as foster the introduction of new segments such as textile and floral and seasonal goods. Building C’s line up includes the Las Vegas Design Center (LVDC) open daily on floors one through five which will cater to interior designer and contract specifiers and feature high-end furniture, textiles and fabrics; floors six, seven and eight feature home accent, accessory and rug showrooms; floor nine will introduce the holiday, seasonal and floral category; floor ten will feature lighting products, both portables and fixtures; and floors eleven through sixteen will boast an impressive line up of top furniture manufacturers and brands. “We are bringing synergistic industry segments together in Building C and expect to see new buyers and expanded channels of distribution for our tenants,” added Blair. New Names to Building C: Spanning levels eleven through sixteen, furniture floors will dominate Building C. Case goods, dining, bedroom, upholstery, leather, home office and juvenile products will be showcased by some of the furniture industry’s most prominent and up and coming brands such as Lexington, Sligh Furniture, Huntington Furniture, Meubles Canadel Furniture, Inzane/Avenue Six. Building C’s tenth floor will allow expansion opportunities for the lighting industry. Showrooms here will feature everything from the finest crystal fixtures, portables, fans and decorative accessories. Such recognized companies as Pacific Coast Lighting, Bel Air Lighting, and Minka Lighting will illuminate the tenth floor. The building’s ninth floor will introduce the holiday, floral and seasonal category, with such major players as Mark Roberts, Katherine’s Collection, Celmol Inc., and Lins International. Holiday trees and décor will be intertwined with floral showrooms and everything that goes along with floral, such as ribbon and other seasonal accessories. When Building C opens, it will boast more than 600,000 square feet of home accessories and décor on three floors and will represent a high-quality mix and broad variety of products. A sampling of home accent companies will include Eighteen Karat International Product Sourcing, Mystic Valley Traders, Uma Enterprises, Evergreen Enterprises, and Merida Meridian. These home accessory floors will also feature a concentration of distinguished floor covering tenants. Spanning the range of broad loom and area rugs, tenants will include Mohawk, Hellenic Rug Imports, Kas Oriental Rugs, and Jaipur Rugs. Las Vegas Design Center: With the opening of Building C in July 2008, an additional 540,000 square feet of Design Center space will bring Las Vegas Design Center to a staggering total of over one million square feet serving both the residential and hospitality design industries. New Las Vegas Design Center tenants will represent fabrics, wall covering, furniture, carpeting and rugs, lighting, specialty furniture, hard surface flooring and kitchen and bath specialty product, among other categories. Much of the product is custom made to the designer’s specifications. The goal for the expansion of the design center is to attract resources in a broad range of categories, including residential commercial and hospitality, at a wide range of price points. “The Las Vegas Design Center will grow to offer designers everything they need for projects of any nature or scale, from the most expensive, ultra-luxe, custom-made to more popularly-priced and readily available,” said William Grenewald, general manager of LVDC. “We are targeting the major fabric, trim, and wall covering houses, high-end custom case good and upholstery furniture companies, marble, tile and stone resources, kitchen appliances, kitchen cabinetry as well as custom cabinetry for every room in the house.” Grenewald added, “Lighting, antiques and fine art, wall décor and accessories all have a needed place in the design center mix.” Expansions Abound: As a direct result of the need to have larger showrooms to accommodate more new products, several existing tenants will be relocating to Building C and significantly expanding their commitment to World Market Center. Coaster Furniture, known for their fine home furnishings and stylish office furniture will increase their showroom from 13,429 square feet to 50,000 square feet – a 300 percent enhancement to their presence at World Market Center. The inspiring, imaginative and elegant designs of Amini Innovation Corp. (AICO) will relocate to Building C and will expand their present 22,000 square foot showroom to an impressive 55,000 square feet. Standard Furniture will move from their 19,000 square foot showroom in Building A, to a 33,000 square foot showroom in Building C. Todd Evans, vice president of sales and marketing for Standard Furniture, a family owned and operated business since 1946 and provider of fine furnishings by Kathy Ireland Home and Grand Designs, is excited about his company’s plans to expand their presence at World Market Center. Background on Building C: At 16 stories, 2.1 million square feet and a total cost of $550 million Building C will designed by The Jerde Partnership, will feature a contemporary design with floors grouped according to product categories. The building will open onto a central plaza, reminiscent of a European piazza surrounded by towering monuments formed by buildings A through C. This central plaza will serve as the heart of the World Market Center campus. Sky bridges at all levels will connect to the first two buildings. At 16 stories, meanwhile, the structure will be a distinctive feature on the downtown Las Vegas cityscape. Floor 2 is part of a two story atrium and will not have showrooms. When complete in 2013, World Market Center will consist of eight buildings totaling 12 million square feet and will have invested $2 billion in the downtown Las Vegas 57-acre integrated campus. When fully built, it will be the largest trade complex in the world. Building C Facts: - Building C brings the total square footage of permanent showrooms at World Market Center to 5 million square feet. That’s more square footage than the Sears Tower! - 72,000 cubic yards of concrete will be used for Building C. - There will be nine miles of rubber base along the edge of the carpet. - Building C will use enough carpet to cover the Golden Gate Bridge. - The exterior skin on the building is 500,000 square feet of exterior surface. - It would take nearly 330 average size adults holding hands to wrap around the base of Building C. - Building C will include 34 escalators and 16 elevators. - Building C would need 10 football fields to completely cover the building in grass. - In the adjacent parking garage, also scheduled for completion in 2008, 60,000 cubic yards of concrete will cover 1.2 million square feet.