Developers break ground on next phase of $400M UnCommons
Developers of a sprawling mixed-use project in Las Vegas have broken ground on its second phase, after landing tenants for the first batch of buildings.
Matter Real Estate Group finished two office buildings, two parking garages and the food and beverage space at UnCommons and started construction on the project’s next portion, partner Jim Stuart told the Review-Journal.
The second phase includes two more office buildings, another parking structure and a 5,000-square-foot conference center called The Assembly, which is designed to hold meetings from 10 to 250 people and will offer catering from restaurants in UnCommons.
Construction of this portion is expected to be finished by summer 2023, according to a news release.
Stuart said The Assembly is geared toward local businesses, which, he noted, often use restaurant space or hotel-casino ballrooms for events.
Overall, the $400 million project at Durango Drive and the 215 Beltway in the southwest valley — across from Station Casinos’ under-construction Durango resort — calls for more than 500,000 square feet of offices, as well as eateries, health and fitness studios, and 830-plus residential units.
According to Stuart, the first office tenants will start opening for business in June, with food-and-beverage outlets starting in July.
The coronavirus pandemic sparked global office closures more than two years ago as employers sent staff home over fears of the outbreak. The mass exodus sparked discussions over how much real estate firms really needed as people worked from their kitchen table, couch or home office, albeit at risk of prolonged isolation and distraction.
Not everyone has returned to their office buildings. But many have, and Stuart noted his team fully leased UnCommons’ first two office buildings after the pandemic hit.
As he sees it, the pandemic accelerated employers’ desire to offer a “vibrant workplace experience that is far superior to sitting at home in your pajamas.”
Matter announced plans for UnCommons in February 2019 and later that year obtained project approvals from Clark County commissioners and a $150 million construction loan.
It planned to break ground in April 2020 but shelved the start of construction after the pandemic sparked widespread business closures and other chaos.
Matter redesigned elements of the project with new health and safety features and broke ground in August 2020. It announced the first confirmed office tenant, commercial real estate brokerage CBRE Group, the next month.
The developers have since unveiled other tenants, including financial services giant Morgan Stanley, accounting firm BDO, luxury real estate brokerage Sotheby’s International Realty, and online sports-betting company DraftKings, which said last fall that it expects to eventually have more than 1,000 employees there.
Among the announced office tenants, DraftKings is taking the most space at around 90,000 square feet, Stuart said.
He also estimated that UnCommons’ retail space is about 90 percent leased.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
