NEWS

Tuesday, January 05, 1999 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Verne Winchell, founder of Winchell's Donuts and former chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Denny's Restaurants, is building a 155,000-square-foot shopping center on the southeast corner of Eastern Avenue and Horizon Ridge Drive in Henderson.

Horizon Marketplace, scheduled to open in the fall, will include a 64,500-square-foot Smith's Food & Drug supermarket and about 30 retail and service shops and restaurants.

The center, developed by Marathon Commercial Real Estate, will serve the Seven Hills, MacDonald Ranch, Green Valley Ranch, Southfork and Anthem housing communities.

Wednesday, January 13, 1999 Copyright © View
By Lynn Collier
View staff writer

Verne Winchell may be best known for his doughnuts, but soon he and his family will have their own Henderson shopping center.
Horizon Marketplace, set for Horizon Ridge Drive and Eastern Avenue, will feature a Smith’s grocery store.
Winchell’s son Ron plans to open a new restaurant and bar in the center, said Diane Smith, president of Marathon Commercial Real Estate, which is developing the 155,747-square-foot shopping center for the Winchell family who were unavailable for comment.

Smith said she met the doughnut giant when looking to buy the prime 14 acres of land that abuts the Seven Hills MacDonald Ranch and Green Valley Ranch master-planned communities.

"I thought, gee, I wonder if this guy is that Winchell,” she said.

Verne Winchell lives in Spanish Trail, a master-planned community in the southwest part of the valley.

He not only founded Winchell’s Donuts, he also owned Denny's restaurants. These days he manages his thoroughbred horse breeding and racing business based in Lexington, KY. He has produced more than 65 prizewinning horses.

It was horse racing that brought Winchell, 83, to the Las Vegas Valley said Barry Smith, Diane Smith’s business partner and husband.

“ He moved here because of the sports books,” Barry Smith said.
"That way he can easily track his races all over the country.”

Smith said Winchell keeps a very low profile in town. Still, he and his family will manage the shopping center, which is scheduled to open next fall.

Some in the business community would wonder why the successful entrepreneur like WinchelI. 82, would be attracted to the growing Henderson area.
“ He still likes to make money." Barry Smith said.

The shopping center will feature a restaurant with outdoor dining, which seats 75, a water fountain and misters, palm trees and a large cupola tower, which will be lighted at night.

Diane Smith said the center will compliment the surrounding upscale master-planned communities with details, such as metal grill work, lighted glass bricks, colored stamped concrete walkways and lush landscaping.

She and her husband have more than 15 years experience each in real estate. They’ve most recently leased the Showcase Mall on the Strip and in 1989 leased the retail space at the Sahara Pavilion shopping center at Sahara Avenue and Decatur Boulevard.

Diane Smith said the center, which will include 10 restaurants, will be 60 percent leased soon.

First phase of $30 million office complex will cover 37,000 square feet

Tuesday, September 03, 2002 of Las Vegas Review-Journal
By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Softening demand for office space has pushed the vacancy rate in Las Vegas to about 13 percent, up from 10 percent a year ago, but isn't deterring Park One LLC.

The Las Vegas developer is building the $30 million St. Rose Business Park on 13.6 acres just east of St. Rose Dominican Siena Campus Hospital, with the first phase of 37,000 square feet expected to be ready by April.

"There's still enough businesses that continue to need to do business in this market," said Diane Smith of Marathon Commercial Real Estate, who is leasing the property.

Smith said she's going to be "very aggressive" in getting the first phase completed and leased, charging rents below the market price of $1.85 to $2 a square foot for upscale, premium office space.

There will also be allowances for tenant improvements.

Upon build-out, the office park will have 12 buildings covering 180,000 square feet. Sizes will vary from single-story buildings with 6,500 to 12,000 square feet to two-story buildings with 24,000 square feet and balconies.

All buildings will come equipped with high-speed fiberlink cable. They'll have stacked stone exterior entrances, lush landscaping in a campuslike setting with a parking ratio of five spaces for every 1,000 square feet.

Lease agreements with the option to purchase will be considered, Smith said.
" Nobody in that whole corridor is offering small space for sale," she said. "Although ideally, I want to lease them."

The buildings are attractive to buy because they typically have 3 percent rent increases in the lease rates to keep up with inflation, plus they appreciate in value by 3 percent to 5 percent, she said.

John Restrepo, principal of Restrepo Consulting Group, said in his second-quarter commercial real estate report that office demand in most of the submarkets of Las Vegas Valley remained stable.

The amount of newly completed space finally dropped, so net absorption, or the amount of space taken by tenants, actually outpaced new space coming onto the market for the first time since fourth quarter 2000.

There are two factors that could hamper the continued recovery in the office market, Restrepo said in his report.

One is the accounting scandals around the nation. Because accounting firms don't represent a significant portion of office space in Las Vegas, it will not likely damage the market here.


" More worrisome is the medical insurance trouble gripping the Las Vegas Valley," he said. "News stories have touted wildly different numbers of doctors who are leaving the profession or the city entirely. Brokers have indicated that some deals have been lost due to doctors either closing shop or waiting to see what kind of financial future lies ahead with them.”

" That said, the medical office vacancy rate dropped this quarter, demonstrating that the hyped mass exodus of medical professionals has not yet materialized."

Sunday, January 21, 1996 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun

Barry Smith and Diane Potier-Smith, principals of Marathon Commercial Real Estate, say they have a combined 30 years experience in commercial real estate and have handled lease transactions representing more than 5 million square feet throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

“I love the fast pace of the Las Vegas real estate market,” Smith said. “There is nothing like it on the planet.”
Potier-Smith founded the company in 1989, when she handled the leasing activities for the Sahara Pavilion and Winterwood Pavilion commercial centers in Las Vegas.

The couple married in 1993. They recently represented Pacific Islands Apartments, 2151 N. Green Valley Parkway in Henderson, in the sale of the complex to Metric Realty. The 352-unit complex sold for $25.5 million and will be managed by Metric Property Management. Metric Realty also owns the 504-unit Canyon Lakes Apartments in the west valley.

Smith said he and his wife are now handling the leasing activity for two shopping centers at MacDonald Ranch in Henderson and the Green Valley Design Center, a 160,000-square-foot home and office furnishings outlet to be built on Green Valley Parkway, north of Sunset Road.