Economy:

Wall Street analyst bullish on Shops at Summerlin developer

The Shops at Summerlin Center stalled mid-construction. Now all that remains is a steel shell.

The Shops at Summerlin

A rendering of the Shops at Summerlin, which are set to open in fall 2014. The Shops at Summerlin will feature more than 125 stores and restaurants in an open-air shopping environment with pedestrian thoroughfares and storefronts. Launch slideshow »

Fresh off announcing it will revive Shops at Summerlin, Howard Hughes Corp. got a thumbs-up from a Wall Street analyst who says its stock is undervalued.

But investors didn’t seem to care.

Wilkes Graham of Compass Point Research & Trading said in a research note to investors Tuesday morning that Howard Hughes stock is worth $90 per share. That’s 24 percent higher than the $72.72 per share it closed at on Monday.

Investors, however, pushed the stock down by nearly 2 percent on Tuesday to $71.36 per share.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a stock market performance gauge, slipped by just 0.24 percent on Tuesday.

Graham said in his report that several key projects are “imminently breaking ground” and “anchor tenants are trickling in.” He pointed out that Howard Hughes executives believe only six or eight of its projects nationwide truly “matter to the future of the company,” including Shops at Summerlin.

Shops at Summerlin Centre

In the shadow of Red Rock Resort in Summerlin, the steel and concrete shell of the Shops at Summerlin Centre sits immobilized. Launch slideshow »

The planned retail hub in northwest Las Vegas was mothballed four years ago by then-owner General Growth Properties. That company later filed for bankruptcy protection and spun off Howard Hughes as a separate, publicly traded company about two years ago as it emerged from bankruptcy.

Originally called Shops at Summerlin Centre, the project was slated to be more than 1 million square feet. It has instead been a constant reminder of the valley’s building bust, with its steel skeleton clearly visible from the Las Vegas Beltway near Red Rock Resort.

Things took a positive turn on Sept. 19 when Dallas-based Howard Hughes announced that construction was back on track with a Macy’s department store as the first anchor tenant. The center is now scheduled to open in late 2014 with more than 125 stores.

Macy’s, Nordstrom and Dillard’s were supposed to be tenants at Summerlin Centre before General Growth tabled the project.

Tom Warden, a Howard Hughes spokesman in Las Vegas, has declined to say if Nordstrom and Dillard’s will have stores in the revamped center.

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