World Jewelry Center Interest on Pace

LAS VEGAS-Interest in a planned one million-sf World Jewelry Center complex here is on pace to meet a July deadline set by the City of Las Vegas. The planned development would include a 60-story tower with 800,000 sf of commercial condominium space for the jewelry industry topped by luxury residential condominiums, and a three-level, 125,000-sf public retail center filled with retail jewelry shops, a gem museum and a café.

The developer is Robert Zarnegin, president of Heritage-Nevada and Probity International Corp., a Beverly Hills, CA-based development firm. His exclusive negotiating agreement with the city for a 5.4-acre site in the 60-acre Union Park redevelopment district calls for him to have accumulated LOIs for 25% of the planned commercial condominium space. At a press conference Thursday evening for industry press that included Mayor Oscar Goodman, project manager Bill Boyajian, formerly president of the Gemological Institute of America, said 80 companies have signed LOIs to purchase just that much, 200,000 sf, and additional LOIs are in the offing.

The coming months will be spent converting those LOIs into reservations, which would include a 5% down payment. In April, Boyajian told GlobeSt.com he expects a high conversion rate. “The hard part is getting people in the industry—[people] who usually make commitments via verbal agreements and handshake–to sign on the dotted line, even a non-binding letter of intent,” he said. “The good news is that while it is harder on the front end it should result in a higher conversion rate than is normal. I’m hoping [to convert] 80% not 50%.”