Around the world, the economic health and beauty of cities are driven by their downtowns. Visitors to any metropolis usually seek its urban core and take their impressions and experiences of it home. Their stories, photographs and social media posts from downtowns create more buzz and visitation.
Therefore, it is critical that Las Vegas’ downtown development continues its rapid pace. If you walk or bike around through the newly implemented RTC bike-share program, you will see that there is new construction and redevelopment on many blocks.
If there is one particular area that is most vital and representative of any downtown, it has to be Main Street. Every city and town in America has one for a reason. That was always the central place where government and business would have their presence and the community would have its churches and temples, markets, restaurants and stores. This was the central artery of life and commerce. In fact, most ancient cities had that central street and it was called “Cardo.” If you are sightseeing in Jerusalem, Athens or Rome today, you will see that street.
Las Vegas’ Main Street is a hot spot for anyone looking to open an office, retail store or food-and-beverage venue. It is a combination of LA’s Melrose Place and Arts District, San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter and Williamsburg in Brooklyn when they were in the very early stages of redevelopment. If you’ve visited those areas, you know what I mean.
The city of Las Vegas has been a great supporter and enabler of downtown redevelopment with its assistance, redevelopment grants and license fee reductions, as well as the good work of the city’s Economic Development Department and project development facilitators, who work with property owners, prospective investors and tenants.
One of the greatest things that the city is doing on Main Street is, ironically, what it’s not doing. So far, it hasn’t installed the parking meters that are so abundant in other parts of downtown, including Fremont East. These meters serve as the greatest deterrents to locals coming to DTLV. As someone who’s had an office in the area since 2005, when choosing where to meet local business associates during the day or friends after hours, I always suggest the Arts District over anywhere else. I hope that the city continues that meter-free environment, which is attracting tenants and their customers and which makes this street the best location for a new business downtown. Property and business owners in the Arts District, along with their growing clientele, appear united in that opinion.
The area is changing quickly, and those who decide to open for business there in the near future can still be viewed as geniuses who had the foresight to be in the right place at the right time when others try to get their spot a year or two from now. Those who have a solid brand or business elsewhere in the Las Vegas Valley, now is the best time to claim your place in the Arts District and be a part of the Main Street community. I look forward to seeing you on Main Street!
Paul Murad is president of Metroplex Realty, a boutique brokerage firm based in downtown Las Vegas since 2005. Metroplex curates the leasing of several buildings along Main Street and in the surrounding area.