Las Vegas Strip Retail/Dining Complex Planned, Replaces Hawaiian Marketplace

Posted on: August 15, 2022, 09:38h. 

Last updated on: August 15, 2022, 07:33h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

A Las Vegas Strip retail and dining complex project has been submitted to Clark County for approval. The more than 300,000-square-foot undertaking, if approved by local officials, would replace the recently shuttered Hawaiian Marketplace.

Las Vegas Strip Hawaiian Marketplace casino
Hawaiian Marketplace is seen on July 25, 2022, shuttered on the Las Vegas Strip. The former strip mall and outdoor dining and drinking complex is being targeted for redevelopment. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Last week, New York-based investment firm Gindi Capital submitted plans to the Clark County Commission for a retail, dining, and live entertainment complex. The project will be located on roughly 9.5 acres of land directly across from CityCenter. County commissioners are expected to review the plans during its meeting this Wednesday, Aug. 17.

Gindi’s tender seeks county consent to construct a mixed-use development with retail shops, restaurants, and “supper clubs,” on-premises consumption of alcohol for dining and bar service, and live entertainment.

Project documents include plans for a 95-foot-high building with 302,613 square feet of combined indoor and outdoor commercial floor area. While a casino is not included in the initial plans, Gindi Capital says a hotel could be proposed later.

The retailers at Hawaiian Marketplace shuttered their businesses in early July. Gindi terminated their leases in anticipation of redevelopment. The marketplace featured various vendors, such as bars and quick-serve food, souvenir and t-shirt shops, cigar and CBD stores, and tattoo parlors.

Casino Neighbor

The Hawaiian Marketplace is part of what’s expected to be a significant overhaul of the Strip’s center. Billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who owns the Golden Nugget downtown, bought 6.2 acres of property next door to the Hawaiian Marketplace in June for $270 million.

Fertitta’s acquisition includes the since-closed Travelodge motel and its paved parking lot. The NBA Houston Rockets and Landry’s hospitality and gaming empire owner is rumored to plan a new from-the-ground luxury casino resort on the land.

Gindi’s plans for the Hawaiian Marketplace were in development long before Fertitta expressed interest next door. Gindi acquired the Strip property in 2019 for $172 million. Soon after the purchase, the company hinted that it would seek approvals to redevelop the property.

The pandemic delayed those immediate plans. But with Las Vegas more than recovered as casinos are winning more money than ever, Gindi is reinitiating its project ambitions.

Luxury Focus

While Gindi Capital seeks land-use and construction approvals, the company says demolition of the current structures is imminent. If Clark County signs off on the retail and dining plans, the commercial project would remove yet another low-strung strip mall from the Strip in favor of a more upscale destination.

The sketchy malls have been the butt of jokes for some time. But it appears the owners of this stretch of increasingly valuable real estate are finally making moves to try and turn blight into delight,” said Casino.org’s Las Vegas insider Scott Roeben.

Gindi’s project would complement luxury casinos and hotels directly across the Strip. On the opposite side of S. Las Vegas Blvd. sits Aria, Vdara, The Cosmopolitan, and the Waldorf Astoria — four properties typically included when discussing Las Vegas’ finest resorts.

With Fertitta unlikely to build another Golden Nugget but a much fancier casino resort, the Strip’s center will likely continue moving towards more five-star luxury.