The future of retail is coming to Henderson — and it looks nothing like the shopping centers of the past.
Bobby Khorshidi, president and CEO of Los Angeles-based Partners Capital Inc., is betting $50 million on that vision with The Cliff, an innovative open-air lifestyle and retail center set to break ground within the year.
“This is sort of the 2.0 version of retail,” Khorshidi said. “And it’s creating spaces where people could come together and try different, new foods. … That’s really the thought that went into this project.”
The 10-acre development will transform former office space on Paseo Verde Parkway into an expansive gathering destination. The Cliff will feature generous open spaces and outdoor seating areas, including an outdoor bar, with food serving as the centerpiece of the experience.
Rather than filling the space with the Las Vegas Valley’s familiar “rinse and repeat” big-name brands, Khorshidi envisions a carefully curated collection of tenants who can offer something truly distinctive to the community. The goal is to create a destination anchored by unique culinary concepts that can’t be found elsewhere.
If all goes according to plan, the first tenants will welcome customers by 2027.
“A lot of thought went into this project about paying homage to the community and to the neighborhood, and really listening to what folks want,” Khorshidi said. “And what they want is not just a lot of the same that they’ve been used to seeing for the last 15, 20 years.”
The shift is essential as e-commerce reshapes consumer expectations, Khorshidi emphasized. With virtually every brand available in traditional malls now accessible online — often with same-day or next-day delivery — physical retail spaces must offer something fundamentally different to survive.
“In order for retail to survive the whole e-commerce world, this new world that we’re living in, we have to give people something different,” he said. “We really have to provide a different value proposition.”
The answer may lie in “experiential retail.” That means places where the family can hang out and get a smoothie or lunch, or where people could go somewhere and work out.
“It’s more about community and bringing people together,” Khorshidi said. “And if you’re feeling like you want to shop that day, we have the retailers there. But again, it’s really driven by … family, community and just really crafted food concepts.”
Cities across the U.S., including Dallas, Denver and San Diego, already have unique areas where they’ve taken old buildings and reimagined them creatively, said Chris Clifford, a partner at CAST, a commercial real estate firm that’s heading up the project alongside Partners Capital Inc. “Henderson is desperate for this type of product,” Clifford said. “And not really Henderson, but really the Las Vegas Valley is desperate for this type of product.”
Recently approved by the City of Henderson, The Cliff will be the city’s first Class A retail project since The District at Green Valley Ranch was developed more than 20 years ago, Clifford said.
The Cliff and the District are not competitors, he said, but neighbors.
He hopes The Cliff will make the entire area around Paseo Verde Parkway more accessible. The point of The Cliff is that residents can come early and do a workout, have a cup of coffee, shop, have lunch with a friend or just lounge, Clifford said.
“You can hang out,” he said. “It’s going to be an open environment. And the hope is that you can spend 12, 15, 18 hours a day at this property, where you actually feel comfortable spending that type of time there. So it’s a passion project to actually bring some of the lifestyle that I have here in Southern California out to the Las Vegas Valley, because it’s lacking. It’s extremely lacking.”
The project has been more challenging than a run-of-the-mill retail development, Khorshidi said, because of how determined the developers are to stay true to the community and not just sign leases for big retailers like Starbucks or TGI Friday’s.
“We’re saying no to those tenants, because we want something different,” he said, noting that the development has a running list of tenants but declining to announce them.
Many retailers who have never considered a Las Vegas location love The Cliff project and its demographic, he said.
“It’s really a passion project,” he said. “It’s like, how do we really pay homage to the community and at the same time create something that’s profitable for our venture? And so I believe we struck the balance.
The Cliff is expected to generate an estimated $100 million in local GDP, officials said in a new release.
“We’re just really excited about what we’re doing here,” Khorshidi said.
And the name “The Cliff?” That’s inspired by Clifford himself, Khorshidi said.
Though it started out just as a working title, Khorshidi said, The Cliff eventually stuck. The project really started with Clifford, Khorshidi said, who was born and raised in Las Vegas.
“(Clifford) actually personifies many of the things that we’re doing in this project,” he said. “We didn’t want this to be a bunch of folks coming in from out of town and building something.”
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