Fourth Building at WMC

Construction is scheduled to begin later this year on the fourth structure at World Market Center in Las Vegas, for which officials recently announced they had received all city approvals. According to plans, the 1.1 million square foot Building D will connect to Building C and have enough flexible event space for up to 150,000 square feet of temporary exhibits, doing away with exhibits in the parking lot and at other venues during Las Vegas Market, said Shawn Samson, WMC managing partner.

“Having all our exhibitors in a single location is a definite plus,” he added. “Attendees will no longer have to be spending time on shuttle buses. Furthermore, finding alternate venues can be difficult. We were at MGM (Grand) this year. Three other locations we checked were already booked.”

With the completion of Building D, World Market Center will have more than 6 million square feet of permanent showrooms.

As part of its future growth strategy, center management is moving some of its eggs to other baskets. Although Samson said, “our primary focus remains the furniture industry,” gifts and home textile companies are expected to occupy one third of the new building.

A press release on plans for Building D noted that its flex space would be available “to outside groups looking for a uniquely positioned venue.” However, Samson told TSW that, while it might be “possible” that Building D flex space would be made available to outsiders, “synergistic uses” for the flex space likely would be introduced by World Market Center itself.

His prediction for the fourth building? “We're going to be full when we open.”