General Growth Properties Unveils Plans for Summerlin Centre; Summerlin's Social, Civic and Commercial Heart
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CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 2006--General Growth Properties (NYSE:GGP), parent company of The Howard Hughes Corporation, unveiled details Thursday of its plans for Summerlin Centre -- the future social, civic and commercial heart of the 22,500-acre master planned community of Summerlin, located on the Las Vegas Valley's western rim.
Plans for Summerlin Centre include a 100-acre community hub that combines retail shopping, dining, office space, a hotel and residences, all surrounding a series of grand public plazas to be known as Summerlin Square. An adjoining 300 acres of Summerlin Centre, which includes the new Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, will consist primarily of residential development, offering a wide array of housing styles set amidst town greens and gardens, all interconnected by paseos and pathways. Summerlin Centre will be located northeast of the intersection of the 215 Beltway and Sahara Avenue.
The eastern portion of Summerlin Centre will also include 1 million to 1.5 million square feet of office and commercial space, starting with the 6-story Business Bank of Nevada's corporate headquarters, for which ground has already been broken.
General Growth plans to begin construction of Summerlin Centre in spring 2007 and celebrate a fall 2008 grand opening.
"Summerlin Centre and Summerlin Square will be places of quality and charm where people come together to shop, work, play, relax, linger and people-watch. Summerlin Centre and Summerlin Square will be both an expression of the larger Summerlin community and a place that strengthens community," said John Bucksbaum, chief executive officer of General Growth. "We are paying close attention to the quality of the buildings and to the quality of the spaces between the buildings. Their collective purpose will be to create a place that brings people together."
General Growth planners based Summerlin Centre's features on extensive market research, including focus groups and meetings with local community leaders. Through a major collaborative effort involving several world-class architectural firms and consultants, General Growth anticipates development to be ongoing for more than a decade after the 2008 grand opening.
As a result of recent acquisitions, General Growth gained significant expertise with building large-scale mixed-use developments. Its other projects include the master planned communities of The Woodlands near Houston and Columbia, Md.
"We have found through development of large-scale mixed-use facilities that follow a carefully crafted plan, we achieve both critical mass and a harmony of uses. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Meanwhile, our master plan will remain a living document, always subject to review and amendment as phases are complete and we learn more about features that work," Bucksbaum said. "Any of these buildings could succeed on their own but their success will be vastly greater because they are conceived and built with attention to the larger place they create collectively."
Highlights of the development include:
-- 1.2 million square feet of retail shopping including four major department store anchors, additional "mini-anchors" and other local and national retail merchants.
-- A north-south pedestrian street, or paseo, that invites visitors to stroll, window-shop or relax at outdoor gardens and seating areas. Much of the retail shopping and restaurants will be located on the first floor of low-rise buildings stretched along the paseo. A grid pattern of east-west streets will allow easy vehicular and pedestrian access and add vitality.
-- A central plaza, Summerlin Square, which will host public and civic events such as musical or dramatic performances and community celebrations. Located at the paseo's mid-point, in the heart of the development, it will serve as a local and metropolitan destination.
-- An east-west "Marketwalk," intersecting the paseo at Summerlin Square. As an important point of arrival from the east, the Marketwalk will receive special design treatment, including pedestrian shelter from the sun.
-- A 250-room, 11-story, 4-star upscale hotel with conference facilities.
-- At least 5,500 residences of all varieties, everything from single-family homes in park-filled residential settings to condominiums in buildings with street-level retail stores and restaurants. About 10 percent of the residences will be part of the development surrounding Summerlin Square.
-- Two class-A office buildings of five stories each with street level space containing retail shops. The buildings constructed in the initial phase will total more than 250,000 square feet. More office space could be added later.
-- To maximize comfort during summer months, ample use of shading with trellises, awnings and special-design curtains.
-- Shaded patios and seating areas located throughout Summerlin Square for outdoor snacking, respite from heat and whiling away the day.
-- A 10 to 15 year plan for ongoing development of additional residential, retail, hospitality, civic and office buildings, making Summerlin the centerpiece of a larger business center creating jobs, amenities, homes and quality of life for southern Nevadans.
The northern portion of Summerlin Centre already boasts the just-opened 414-room Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, which offers entertainment, meeting facilities, 10 restaurants, a 16-screen theater, a world-class spa and a 3-acre pool complex. Summerlin Centre is 12 miles from the Las Vegas Strip.
To ensure high quality buildings and design, General Growth has assembled a team of world-class architects and design consultants including ELS, Berkley, Calif., project architects; Communication Arts, Boulder, Colo., environmental design and image; SWA Group, Sausalito, Calif., landscape architecture and urban design; CBT, Boston, hotel architecture and design; ROMA Design Group, San Francisco, residential community architecture; Rocky Mountain Institute, environmental sustainability consultants; and Martin Yoklik, an authority on outdoor comfort in warm climates.
"Central to the success of Summerlin Centre is our commitment to long-term vision, quality design and to organizing space that leverages the value of early-phase development, thereby enhancing the value of all future development," said Bucksbaum.
"We have an unwavering long-term commitment to Summerlin, with an ongoing willingness to adjust and modify plans in the short term as circumstances warrant. We always think of each step as one of many yet to come, with future phases of development anticipated and the ground made ready."
"Summerlin's location on the western rim of the Las Vegas valley, close to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, places great responsibility on our shoulders to be good stewards of the environment. By building according to our master plan, we avert urban sprawl and give people a place where they can live, work and shop all in close proximity without long commutes by car," said Bucksbaum. "We plan a commercial and civic center that is aesthetically complimentary to its beautiful surroundings and is a model for environment-friendly building and design."
Development of the Summerlin master planned community was started by The Howard Hughes Corporation in 1990 and final realization of the plan is expected by 2020. Today, more than 92,000 people live in 37,000 homes and apartments in the 36 square miles that Summerlin occupies. The community is currently home to 19 schools, nine golf courses, a dozen houses of worship, more than 100 parks and more than 120 completed miles of the Summerlin Trail. Summerlin's master plan calls for a variety of housing styles, parks, bike trails and retail and office space.
General Growth Properties acquired the The Howard Hughes Corporation in 2004.
General Growth Properties, Inc. is the second largest U.S.-based publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). General Growth currently has an ownership interest in or management responsibility for a portfolio of more than 200 shopping malls in 44 states, as well as ownership in planned community developments and commercial office buildings. The portfolio totals approximately 200 million square feet of retail space and includes more than 24,000 retail stores nationwide. General Growth Properties, Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GGP. For more information, please visit the Company Web site at http://www.generalgrowth.com.
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