$76 Million, 350k Square-Foot Expo Center to be Erected Next to Las Vegas’ World Market Center
LAS VEGAS, NV – International Market Centers announced plans this week to construct a mammoth $76 million, 350,000 square-foot expo center in downtown Las Vegas, next to the group’s World Market Center, pending a signed deal with city officials that is expected to be made within the next few days. The project is slated to be one of the biggest projects in terms of construction volume in the downtown area within the last several years.
Provided the City of Las Vegas gives final approval to the proposal, work on the expo center is expected to begin in anywhere between 12 and 18 months. The completed project would see the 60 acres next to the World Market Center transformed into a cutting-edge exhibition hall and meeting venue that would allow the facility to host large-scale trade shows, conventions, and other events that may be too large for other halls to accommodate.
The current plot of land that is slated for the expo center is already host to three showroom buildings, a parking garage, and several temporary tent-based pavilions; it is currently not known if the new expo center would incorporate these existing buildings into its design, but the pavilions are expected to be removed upon completion of construction in order to make room for more expo parking spaces.
The expo center could also be used to host elements of the bi-annual furniture, gift and home décor focused Las Vegas Market, which brings some 100,000 visitors to the city. In addition, IMC will offer the Expo Center for a set number of days throughout the year to host non-profit events as designated by the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency.
The Las Vegas Market, a popular home décor-based bi-annual event that typically attracts 100,000 visitors to the city, could also run aspects of their show in the expo center; also, according to the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency, a pre-determined number of days each year at the center will be made available to not-for-profit organizations for attraction and fund-raising purposes.
The City of Las Vegas is proposing to partially fund the expo center project to the tune of $30 million in tax increment financing, which means that taxes collected by the construction of the expo would be put right back into the project by the city. Such an investment is seen as a wise expenditure on the part of local officials; once completed and functioning at maximum capacity, the expo hall is expected to attract a large increase of visitors to the area on a regular basis, creating an influx of tourism-based funds for downtown Las Vegas in the projected amount of $97 million annually, in addition to $234 million for the overall region of Southern Nevada.
The expo center is expected by many to fill a large void for large-scale event hosting made by the closure of the Cashman Center in late 2017, which had operated as a meeting, theater, and sporting venue in the downtown Las Vegas area.
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