Back in business

     By Chris Jones
     View staff writer
      The newly renovated Sahara Square Shopping Center welcomed its first tenants in early June, marking a rebirth for the once-popular retail destination that had recently fallen on hard times.
      Laurich Properties Inc. was the primary force behind the center's redevelopment, located on the southwest corner of Sahara Avenue and Maryland Parkway. Laurich president Hank Gordon and his partners leveled most of the original buildings in the 31-year-old center last fall to make way for a new $21 million facility.
      The new center will house a 57,700-square-foot Lucky Store, as well as a Sav-on Drugs store, Domino's Pizza and several other neighborhood retail and service businesses.
      Gordon, who has previously worked on projects that redeveloped shopping centers in Alaska and California, describes the project as "a win-win situation for everybody."
      "We've been working on this for a long time," Gordon said. "I don't think there are any neighborhood centers that have been built in this area for a number of years."
      The new Sahara Square's first tenants moved into their locations earlier this month, and Gordon expects the final work on the center's remaining portions to be completed by January.
      "What we need to do is demolish the little building that sits (on the property's south side)," Gordon said.
      "When we can do that, we'll move Domino's Pizza into part of the new space. They had a long-term lease in the center and the only way we could get them out to build the new center was to provide them with a space to move into."
      Gordon expects the pizza chain to move by early July, paving the way for the demolition of the last remaining section of the original center.
      "We can build this (new) building in four months, it's just a matter of getting things going," Gordon said.
      The wheels for the project -- which Laurich officials said was the first of its kind in unincorporated Clark County -- were set in motion by American Stores Properties Inc., the parent company of Lucky Stores and Sav-on.
      "They had a 32,000-square-foot market on Maryland Parkway and Karen Avenue that was 28 years old," Gordon said. "It was obsolete. Modern grocery markets are usually around 60,000 square feet or double that size, so to be able to compete with the other stores in the area, they knew they had to have a larger store."
      With no vacant land available in the area, Gordon spoke with developers Ken Sullivan Jr. and Irwin Molasky to broker an agreement for a proposed center on the corner of Sahara Avenue and Maryland Parkway.
      "I went to them and said, `I'm going to buy it, demolish it and throw all your tenants out so I can redevelop the whole thing,' " Gordon said. "I came to them with a proposal and said they could be my partners. I can pay cash, or whatever you want to do. I just want to tear it down."
      The partnership gained control of the original Sahara Square and purchased some additional land from Bank of America, located west of the center, before proceeding with the redevelopment plans.
      Chris Huss, vice president of American Stores Properties, said the company is optimistic about its new location in the center.
      "We're delighted to bring this new Lucky Store to the community," Huss said. "This completely updated facility replaces a (former) store with a store nearly double the size and with many expanded offerings."
      Gordon also expressed a desire to continue to redevelop areas within existing neighborhoods. His company recently cleared out a car wash property to make way for a new drug store near Vegas Valley Drive and Maryland Parkway, and Gordon said he would also like to see redevelopment take place in the property just west of Sahara Square, which is currently occupied by Commercial Center.
      "There needs to be a `big box' retail mall there," Gordon said. "There needs to be stores like a Wal-Mart or Home Depot there. If people want to shop at places like that now, they have to get in their cars and drive out to the suburbs, and all that does is create a bigger burden on our traffic system. If you can provide those types of goods and services in the center of town, the people who live in those areas don't have to drive way the hell out to get to a Circuit City or something."