World Market Center Las Vegas
World Market Center Las Vegas, located at 495 S. Grand Central Parkway in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a 5,000,000-square-foot (460,000 m2) furniture wholesale showroom and market place. The facility is intended to be the United States' largest and most preeminent complexes of its type. Within the center is also a gourmet restaurant by the name of Mundo.
Similar operations include High Point Market, the Chicago Merchandise Mart, Dallas Market Center, Americas Mart in Atlanta, and the San Francisco Mart, though the World Market Center Project is on a larger scale.
History
In 2002, the developers announced that the project was to be built on a lot adjacent to the City of Las Vegas' 61 acres (25 ha) redevelopment parcel, as an eight building, 7,500,000 sq ft (700,000 m2) facility designed by Jon Jerde. The square footage of the main building alone is greater than that of the Empire State Building in New York City.[citation needed] In 2005, WMCLV announced plans for completion of an expansion increasing the space to a total of 12,000,000 sq ft (1,100,000 m2) complete with skywalks between all buildings on all levels.
Building A opened in May 2005 with 1,300,000 sq ft (120,000 m2).
The first show, July 21-25, 2005, was so overbooked that it used space in three Pavilions (huge tent structures) and the Las Vegas Convention Center. These tent structures have been declared by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest tents in the U.S.
Construction started on the 16 story, 1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m2) Building B in 2005. It opened in January 2007.
Construction on the 16 story, 2,100,000 sq ft (200,000 m2) Building C started on September 27, 2006 and completed July, 2008. The first 2 floors are part of the Las Vegas Design Center.
At a construction cost of $550 million, the architecturally iconic Building C stands with 130,000 sq ft (12,000 m2) on each floor, which is nearly 30 percent larger than those in Buildings A and B. In all, more than 400 showrooms comprise Building C. In conjunction with the opening of Building C, a $60-million, seven-story parking garage with 175,000 sq ft (16,300 m2) on each level also opened in July 2008. The parking garage accommodates 3,600 vehicles and allow for up to 15 levels.[citation needed]
Buildings
- Phase One (Building A)-1,300,000 sq ft (120,000 m2), 10-story building; opened July 2005
- Phase Two (Building B)-1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m2), 16-story building; opened January 2007
- Phase Three (Building C)-2,100,000 sq ft (200,000 m2), 16-story building; opened July 2008
Design and layout
All eight of its buildings will be on a single site with enclosed skywalks connecting all buildings on the site. Buildings 3, 4, and 5 will be butted up against each other in order to create one building, and a parking structure will be built behind building 3 in order to supply more parking for buyers and exhibitors. However, construction has been halted on future buildings as occupancy has fallen to 88%.
New York-based Fitch Ratings reported that a $217.4 million loan secured by more than one million square feet of showroom space at World Market Center was transferred to special servicing in September for "imminent default" after the borrower indicated it would no longer be able to cover debt service shortfalls beyond January.
Las Vegas Market
Las Vegas Market is the name of the major trade show hosted by the World Market Center Las Vegas. Currently the Las Vegas Market is held twice a year. The winter show, is held in February and the summer show is held in August. Tym De Santo, a cast member from the TV show "Design Star", is currently the host of the "Style File" show; a trends watch video show produced by World Market Center for each market.
The Summer Las Vegas Market show, for the first time, brought all exhibitors together on one campus from July 28 - August 1, 2008.
Las Vegas Design Center
When not hosting the Las Vegas Market or other trade shows, the first two floors of Building A and the first three floors of Building C are open as showrooms for interior decorators. These spaces are called the Las Vegas Design Center (LVDC) and contain more than 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) of permanent showrooms, which are open Monday – Friday to members of the trade.
Gallery
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World Market Center Las Vegas Grand Plaza depicting Buildings A, B and C
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Aerial of World Market Center Las Vegas 5,100,000 sq ft (470,000 m2) campus featuring Buildings A, B and C, along with a Parking Garage
References
http://www.lvrj.com/business/executive-says-world-market-center-current-on-all-loans-74532907.html
External links
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