As other retail centers struggle, why are these two doing well?

Steve Marcus

A shopper leaves the Target store at the Green Valley Crossing strip mall mall at Green Valley and Horizon Ridge parkways in Henderson Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012. The parking lot at the mall seems full of customers in contrast to the boutique mall across the street which appears to be out of business.

Although empty retail space abounds in Southern Nevada, the drawing power of Target has helped two shopping centers in Henderson survive and even grow during the recession.

One center that has taken root is the Green Valley Crossing, at Green Valley Parkway and Horizon Ridge Parkway, which has added such tenants as Staples, Petco and Layers Bakery Cafe since a 140,000-square-foot Target opened there in 2009.

That growth occurred even though plans stalled for a proposed sub-anchor — a Glazier’s Food Marketplace that had been planned for a pad north of Target. A Green Valley Crossing official said there was a possibility the project could still come to fruition.

But John Stewart, an executive at shopping center owner Juliet Companies, said there was plenty of development space and parking to the north and south of the Target and the company planned to continue leasing activity to fill those spaces.

Crews are now building smaller shop space off of one of the center’s Green Valley Parkway entrances that will house a Chinese restaurant, a doctor’s office and a hair grooming shop, among other tenants.

Green Valley Crossing has benefited from the relatively affluent demographics of the area, which includes Green Valley Ranch, Sun City MacDonald Ranch and Anthem, Stewart said.

The smaller retailers, restaurants and other tenants, in the meantime, are attracted to the traffic Target draws, Stewart said.

Across town, Juliet’s much larger Target-anchored Lake Mead Crossing shopping center continues to hold its own even after the closing of a big secondary anchor, Sportsman’s Warehouse, when its parent company filed for bankruptcy in 2009.

Lake Mead Crossing is near downtown Henderson, on Lake Mead Parkway between Interstate 515 and Boulder Highway.

“Lake Mead Crossing is doing quite well,” Stewart said, adding his company hopes to soon announce a replacement to fill the Sportsman’s Warehouse space.

With big in-line retailers to the east of Target — including Ross, Marshalls and PetSmart — Lake Mead Crossing has also seen an abundance of retailers and other tenants fill its outlying buildings.

Southwest Medical Associates, for instance, opened a health care center there last year.

“The quick-care medical offices are looking for all the conveniences you see in a shopping center,” Stewart said.

Stewart’s company, in the meantime, is in preliminary planning for the retail component of the big $1.5 billion Union Village medical, residential and commercial complex planned for I-515 and Galleria Drive and Henderson.

Stewart said the initial interest among retailers had been encouraging, though the first openings there are more than three years away.

With big-name retailers already located at the nearby Galleria at Sunset mall and at power centers along Stephanie Street and Sunset Road, Stewart said his company would be looking for a different set of retailers for Union Village.

Share