Tourists file into Las Vegas Premium Outlets every day, arriving by bus, taxi and limo — and leaving with bags of discounted clothes.
The open-air downtown mall is a hit with visitors and locals alike, and practically every storefront is taken. To further capitalize on bargain-hunters and sellers, management has expanded a parking garage with 780 more spots and is building 34 more stores, the mall’s second growth spurt since opening a decade ago.
Simon Property Group, the owner, started construction in May 2013 and plans to finish the 150,000-square-foot expansion by May 2015, just before retail real estate convention RECon kicks off in Las Vegas, said Alexandra Goranson, marketing director for Premium Outlets.
She would not disclose the project’s cost.
One tenant lined up for the space is Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, which plans to occupy a two-story building. Goranson declined to name the other expected tenants, though she said management signed Saks and some other retailers before breaking ground.
“Most of the stores are filled,” she said.
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The mall, dubbed Las Vegas Premium Outlets-North, is especially popular with foreign tourists. New Jersey’s Chelsea Property Group and Indianapolis-based Simon developed the property, on Grand Central Parkway near the Spaghetti Bowl, about two miles north of the Strip. The mall opened in summer 2003 with 435,000 square feet of space.
Simon bought Chelsea in 2004 and expanded the mall in 2008 with two parking garages and 30 new stores. By the end of last year, the 539,000-square-foot retail hub was 98 percent occupied, according to a regulatory filing.
The current expansion is at the north edge of the property. Developer Mark Fine sold the site to Simon for $16 million in May 2012, almost a decade after he bought it from Simon and Chelsea for $4.9 million.
Fine had planned to build 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space there. But the project never materialized, and he sold the land back for a hefty profit.
Locally, Simon also owns Las Vegas Premium Outlets-South, on Las Vegas Boulevard a few miles south of the Strip. Chelsea had bought that mall for $104 million in summer 2003, when it was known as Belz Factory Outlet World.
The mall opened in 1993 at 255,000 square feet. Now 535,000 square feet, Outlets-South is 99 percent filled, according to Simon.