Less than 10 miles Northeast of Ontario, officials at Rancho Cucamonga, CA, can point to one recent, major development that was built as a direct result of the convention. Last year in that city Forest City Enterprises opened the 1.2 million-sf, open-air Victoria Gardens.

Rancho Cucamonga had a head start at the convention – it was the first municipality to exhibit, 16 years ago, according to ICSC. "We went to ICSC because we saw what our future would be, and we needed to educate developers, brokers and retailers about Rancho Cucamonga," says Linda Daniels, the city's redevelopment director.

Now that the city of 147,000 has landed a super-regional center, the city's aim at the convention will be different from years past, she said. "The appetite is so much different now than it was three years ago," Daniels says.

Ironically, one city that will make its debut as an exhibitor, is the municipality that hosts the convention. Las Vegas officials will promote the city's downtown redevelopment efforts, which include 32 projects, all of them calling for ground-floor retail. Additionally, they are looking for entertainment tenants to fill up a proposed 300,000 sf of space.

"It's the one event where it brings together all of the major retail tenants and developers," says Scott Adams, the city's director of business development. "It's kind of neat that we don't have to travel to come to it."