Major development

First phase gets under way on $40 million retail project

Territory Incorporated, a local retail real estate development and management company, broke ground Feb. 17 on the first phase of Centennial Gateway, a $40 million retail center at U.S. Highway 95 and Ann Road.

The 400,000-square-foot center is adjacent to Territory's 90-acre, 900,000-square-foot Centennial Center that opened in December 2000, anchored by Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Home Depot and Circuit City.

Gateway's first phase will include three national furniture retailers: Lane Home Furnishings, Ashley Furniture and La-Z-Boy. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and In-N-Out Burger also plan to move into the center.

Territory principal Terri Sturm said it was her intention all along to build on the success of Centennial Center.

"Centennial Center is doing great," she said. "We're still opening stores out there. We still have a couple of restaurants coming in and then we will be at build-out. We don't intend to duplicate what is available in Centennial Center, but rather to add variety to what we already have."

At build-out, Centennial Center will contain about a million square feet of retail space.

The first phase of the Gateway project is scheduled to be completed in the fall and will include a 30,000-square-foot, two-story office building that will house Territory's corporate offices. There also will be a four-story Holiday Inn Express. The entire project should be complete by fall 2006.

Sturm said her primary markets for both commercial centers are the growing neighborhoods north of Cheyenne Avenue and west of Decatur Boulevard.

"Retail follows growth," she said. "That's where rooftops are being developed."

And Sturm has built a history of following growth, primarily on the outskirts of town. She started Territory in 1993 and has since developed the 650,000-square-foot Eastern Beltway Center at Interstate 215 and Eastern Avenue, the Eastgate Power Center at Sunset Road and Marks Street in Henderson, and the Southern Highlands Marketplace near Decatur and Cactus Avenue, south of the Las Vegas Beltway and anchored by a Smith's grocery store. That marketplace, opened in late 2003, provided the area's first grocery store.

"We have been where the new development has come," said Territory President John Sullivan, adding that the company hasn't ruled out building in more urban areas of the city. "We are interested in being a full-service developer anywhere that makes sense."

"We are always looking for new deals," Sturm said. "We scour to find projects that make sense."

As part of the Centennial Center/Centennial Gateway developments, Territory agreed to make a 30-acre recreational facility out of an adjacent water detention basin.

"We can't build anything in there yet," Sturm said. "But we can do a driving range or something. We don't know what it will be yet."

Burke & Associates will do Centennial Gateway's infrastructure work, and Perkowitz + Ruth is the project's architect.