Friday, May 25, 2007

LV Chamber sells building to Wynn, moves to Town Square

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce is vacating its aging facility for new digs inside a mega-mall on the South Strip. The 7,000-member trade group yesterday closed escrow on the sale of its longtime headquarters building situated at 3720 Howard Hughes Parkway to Steve Wynn owned entity for an unspecified sum. The chamber bought the two-story, 35,000-square-foot building and on 4.65-acre property for $5 million in 1988, county records show. Yet it had only occupied 15,000 square feet inside in the building, subletting the added space to other tenants. Wynn will subsequently inherit those subleases. The chamber building and property was assessed at $8,822,302 for 2007-08.

The nonprofit business group has since signed a 10-year lease to occupy 25,000 square feet of office space inside Town Square, a new $750 million, 117-acre mixed-use project, located at Sunset Road and Las Vegas Boulevard, South. The move will increase its facility size by 40%.

“We’ve outgrown our current space. We looked at renovating, but it made more sense to look at new office space,” said Cara Roberts, public relations manager for the Chamber. “This really puts the commerce in the chamber of commerce. We are going to be front and center where business takes place.”

The 63-employee chamber looks to move in late November. Town Square is a joint-venture development between Centra Properties and Turnberry Associates consisting of 1.7 million square feet worth of retail, entertainment, and office space. It, too, is expected to open in November.

“We liked that Town Square was conveniently located with high visibility,” said Roberts. “It’s next to Interstate-15, the Beltway and the Strip, making it easy for people to get there.”

tonyillia@aol.com l 702-303-5699

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