Market leader: Bob Maricich, chief executive of World Market Center Las Vegas, talks about his first year at the helm of the home furnishings complex.
A year after buying the World Market Center Las Vegas, owners of the home-furnishings showroom complex hope to boost business by shaking up its layout.
Two of the center’s three buildings, along with the top floors of the third one, will be set aside for tenants looking to showcase furniture, mattresses, interior design and hospitality design, center owner International Market Centers LP announced Tuesday. The rest of the third building will be devoted to gift and home-decor showrooms.
The changes will be carried out in three phases beginning next year.
The 5 million-square-foot, downtown Las Vegas complex struggled during the recession with vacancies and unpaid rents. The property also ran into legal problems under its previous ownership.
Each of the complex's three buildings have showcased a mix of gifts, home-decor and furniture. But the wholesale buyers who typically visit the complex say they'd rather start at the top of a building and work their way down, viewing similar products along the way, International Market Centers CEO Bob Maricich said. That was a consideration in the new layout, he said.
As part of the reshuffling, the center will designate 13 floors — almost all — of Building C for gifts and home decor. That totals 1.7 million square feet. The move will create a "super-regional" showcase for the products, Maricich said.
Maricich said the center has leased almost 270,000 square feet of space to tenants this year, but declined to provide the center’s vacancy rate.
“Obviously it’s enough where we’ve got room to do this,” he said.
The World Market Center, located on South Grand Central Parkway, sits on 57 acres of land. It hosts two home-furnishing trade shows each year, which each bring in roughly 50,000 people, said Melissa Warren, a spokeswoman for the complex.
In March 2011, when the center was under previous ownership, lenders who claimed to be owed $46.6 million sued in Clark County District Court and threatened to foreclose on at least part of the complex. Judge Jerome Tao later that month approved a request by the lenders to have a receiver take over at least part of the property.
Last May, however, International Market Centers was formed after a group of investors raised about $1 billion and acquired World Market Center, along with similar showcase buildings in High Point, N.C.
The company is majority owned by funds managed by Bain Capital and by a subsidiary of some investment funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management.