By Eli Segall | Originally published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal | August 31, 2022
With its massive LED screen flipped on and an upscale steakhouse in the works, the Strip’s newest retail hub is pushing toward completion.
Construction of the first phase of 63, as the four-story complex being built at CityCenter is now known, is slated to finish in October. Tenants then will start to move in and build out their space, developer Brett Torino indicated during a tour of the property this week.
The first phase comprises the majority of the project and is probably 70 percent pre-leased, according to Torino, who said the second phase is fully leased and scheduled to be finished in February.
Located at the southwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue, 63 sits in a busy stretch of the famed casino corridor.
Big crowds of tourists regularly pass through the area, and the intersection already has pedestrian bridges, making it easier for potential shoppers to access the new complex.
It’s also near several huge hotels including Aria, Vdara, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and Bellagio, and it’s next to luxury mall Shops at Crystals.
‘Premium rent’
Such real estate doesn’t come cheap. Last year, Torino and New York developer Flag Luxury Group teamed up to acquire the 2-acre site for around $80 million.
David Miller, a top executive with 63’s newly announced tenant, Ocean Prime, would not disclose the seafood and steakhouse chain’s rent during the tour of the property Monday. But he did not deny it was pricey and said he expects Ocean Prime’s volume of business to justify its lease payments.
Miller, president and chief operating officer of Ocean Prime owner Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, said the location has great visibility and is close to a high concentration of hotel rooms.
He also cited access to the location, noting a restaurant inside a sprawling megaresort might require a long walk to reach.
“You wouldn’t be in an A-plus location on Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon and not expect to pay a premium rent,” Miller said.
Ocean Prime plans to invest nearly $20 million in its location in the retail complex formerly known as Project63. The 400-plus-seat restaurant will span more than 14,500 square feet, with a nearly 2,500-square-foot rooftop terrace, and it’s scheduled to open in spring 2023, according to a news release.
It will also feature lighter colors and a “softer” design than most steakhouses, with no dark woods or red-tufted vinyl, said Studio K owner Karen Herold, who is designing the space.
Unlike other steakhouses, she said, this one is “very much geared to the female audience.”
Space on the Strip
Torino and Flag Luxury’s project site was home to the never-finished Harmon hotel, a structurally flawed tower that was dismantled several years ago. According to Clark County documents last year, the new retail project will span 228,278 square feet.
It’s also across the intersection from Harmon Corner, a three-story retail complex that Torino and Flag Luxury developed about a decade ago.
Harmon Corner features an LED screen that spans about 18,000 square feet, Torino previously said, letting him sell advertising space on both sides of the busy intersection.
The 6,000-square-foot digital billboard at 63 started running ads Monday.
Torino has said that he initially started calling the development Project63 because he and Flag Luxury founder Paul Kanavos were both 63 years old when he named it.
Contact Eli Segall at [email protected] or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
