Howard Hughes Corp. is dropping more hints that the Shops at Summerlin Centre, the mothballed retail district in northwest Las Vegas, will be completed in coming years.
The Dallas-based developer said in a regulatory filing that company executives would give a slideshow presentation to analysts and investors Thursday at the St. Regis hotel in New York.
The slideshow has renderings of Summerlin Centre and says the project is “coming soon,” though it did not elaborate.
The message comes nearly seven months after Howard Hughes CEO David Weinreb said in a letter to shareholders that Summerlin Centre is “one of our key strategic projects.” At the time, he said the company expects to announce this year a construction start date and “targeted opening date” for the project.
A spokeswoman for Howard Hughes did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
Rumors have been swirling among Las Vegas real estate brokers that the project, located just south of Red Rock Resort, will be completed, though a number of questions remain.
The project’s steel skeleton has been exposed to the elements since construction stopped in October 2008, and many people wonder if the steel needs to be upgraded or replaced. Real estate industry executives have said the valley’s low humidity levels would minimize any possible exposure-related damage.
It’s also unclear whether Howard Hughes has an anchor tenant. Under original developer General Growth Properties, project plans called for retailers such as Nordstrom, Macy’s and Dillard’s, as well as office and residential development totaling more than 1 million square feet. Nordstrom alone planned to have a two-level, 149,000-square-foot store.
Chicago-based General Growth filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2009, sinking under $27 billion in debt. When emerging from bankruptcy in November 2010, General Growth spun off Howard Hughes as a separate, publicly traded company with control over Summerlin Centre and numerous other projects.