Chamber to leave Hughes Center

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce is decamping from one of the city’s most prestigious commercial addresses and moving to a mixed-use project under construction near McCarran International Airport.

By the end of 2007, the chamber will leave the Hughes Center offices it has occupied for a decade near Flamingo and Paradise roads, and move to the Town Square development that Turnberry Associates and Centra Properties is building at Interstate 15 and the Las Vegas Beltway.

The need for more space is spurring the move, President and Chief Executive Officer Kara Kelley said. After the trade group outgrew its 15,000-square-foot building at the Hughes Center about two years ago, executives distributed a request for proposals seeking a new location. The chamber fielded offers from the Hughes Center, as well as bids from developers with properties downtown and along Interstate 215.

Chamber trustees settled on a 26,000-square-foot building at Town Square because the project’s site at the confluence of two highways will offer convenient access to the group’s 7,000 members and a higher profile among businesspeople who haven’t yet joined the association, Kelley said.

“We’re really excited about our location as an added member benefit,” Kelley said. “It will increase the value of the chamber to our members. To the extent we have that increased value, I believe we become more attractive to nonmembers.”

The new building will have space for a business center with meeting rooms, e-mail access and other business amenities.

And the surrounding $600 million Town Square, with its movie theaters, restaurants and stores, will allow members of the organization to mix commerce with pleasure, Kelley added.

When it opens in November, the 1.5 million-square-foot Town Square will have 352,000 square feet of office space, 12 restaurants and 150 shops. Tenants will include Borders, Whole Foods, 24-Hour Fitness, Banana Republic, J. Crew, Claim Jumper and Brio Tuscan Grill.

“There’s a variety of offerings where members and potential members will be able to conduct business, and maybe move into an after-hours business-entertainment event without having to drive very far,” Kelley said.

The chamber has 63 full-time employees, but that number won’t expand immediately after the move. The chamber’s executives will add workers slowly as demand for services grows in coming years.

Kelley didn’t disclose the terms of the deal, but she said the chamber’s monthly real estate costs would rise slightly when the chamber swaps its current ownership deal for a lease at Town Square.

Local real estate brokers agreed that the move will serve the chamber and its members well.

“I think Town Square is a fabulous location for anybody,” said David Scherer, senior vice president of commercial brokerage Grubb & Ellis in Las Vegas. “Being central is becoming more important as travel times increase.”

Brad Peterson, a senior vice president with commercial brokerage CB Richard Ellis in Las Vegas, called Town Square a very good location that is accessible to the rest of the city.

The chamber’s relocation also suggests continued interest among businesses in lining up on and around the Las Vegas Beltway, Peterson said. As office parks have popped up along the beltway in the last few years, companies have snapped up space to get closer to McCarran and to make commuting easier for workers, said Peterson, who isn’t involved in the chamber’s Town Square deal.

Locals can expect more mixed-use projects in outlying areas to siphon off some companies from the city’s core, Peterson said. He cited Summerlin Centre and the Village at Queensridge, both in western Las Vegas, as pending mixed-use developments that will deploy a combination of dining, shopping, office space and entertainment to lure professionals.

“Hughes Center will always be a great office park, and you won’t see tenants fleeing it by any means,” Peterson said. “You’ll still see tenants moving there. But some tenants will want to be closer to where they live in suburban areas like Summerlin and Green Valley, and other tenants are becoming more interested in being located near services and amenities.”

Scherer, who also isn’t a part of the chamber’s Town Square transaction, doesn’t see a bigger trend in the chamber’s move, though.

He expects more businesses to leave suburban areas for central offices as the Las Vegas Valley spreads. The office market in mid-Las Vegas has picked up in recent years due to logistical considerations, Scherer said.

“If your offices are in Centennial Hills and you have employees in Green Valley, you’ll cut your market in half if you don’t open a second office,” Scherer said. “As the town has grown out, people are getting more interested in going into central areas. In the last three to four years, we’ve seen more gentrification of the city’s interior.”