Wal-Mart, Sam's Club ready to open

By BROCK RADKE

VIEW STAFF WRITER

New northwest locations of Sam's Club and Wal-Mart are set to open this week in the Centennial Center shopping center, adding more growth to a new but already flourishing retail area.

Centennial Center, a 900,000-square-foot shopping village in development at Centennial Parkway and U.S. Highway 95, has emerged as the prominent retail area surrounding the planned northwest town center. Home Depot opened the center in the fall of 2000, and spring will bring the arrival of more nationally recognized tenants such as Circuit City, OfficeMax and Petco.

Wal-Mart and Sam's Club held off on a planned late 2000 opening, said Tami Lord, retail leasing and sales official for Territory Incorporated, one of the center's developers.

"It's important to have good access roads, and the roads surrounding them were a little behind schedule," Lord said. "But the Home Depot parking lot is almost always full. It's doing really well."

Centennial Center is considered one of the hottest retail land commodities in the valley. Lord said approximately 75 percent of the space is leased.

Other plans for the center include a seven-dealership automall, and a central village with an open courtyard surrounded by restaurants.

Centennial Center is not the only northwest development making big moves. Montecito East, a 55-acre site on Tenaya Way at Frontage Road, is set to break ground in June and is on the verge of signing its anchor tenant.

"We're getting very close," said Matt Bear, retail vice president for Colliers International, the company overseeing development there. "Frontage Road construction is set for June and then the site work will begin, so we're on target to hit both."

Bear estimated it would take 18 months for the center to be finished.

Details on tenants have not been released, but the developers are planning to anchor the site with major grocery and drug stores and include parcels for restaurants, retail space and office use.

"We're trying to create a project that people can come and hang out at, not just get in and get out," Bear said. "We'd like to get as much true retail and restaurants as we can. Some centers offer more service retail, stores that you can't really go in and shop at. We're thinking of nice, sit-down restaurants and shops you can browse while you're waiting for your table."

Upon completion, Montecito East's half-million square feet will make it one of the largest commercial centers in Southern Nevada.