Rising adjacent to the confluence of South Grand CentralParkway, West Charleston Boulevard and Interstate 15, World MarketCenter is an integrated home and hospitality contract furnishingsshowroom and convention complex in Las Vegas, a place wheredesigners and manufacturers lease space to show off their latestproducts to retailers and other wholesale buyers. WMC was conceivedby real estate developers Jack Kashani and Shawn Samson in 1999. In2004, they brought on the Related Cos. LP of New York City to helpfinance the development.

All three of the existing buildings are fully leased orcommitted, a company source tells GlobeSt.com. The first twobuildings--a 1.3-million-sf structure opened in July 2005 and2.6-million-sf building opened in early 2007--had some spaces comeavailable as tenants opted to lease larger showrooms in the newestbuilding but those availabilities have since been backfilled, thesource says.

The fourth building is slated to get under way later this yearand open in early 2010. When completed, World Market Center willhave six million sf of permanent showrooms, making it the largestwholesale merchandise mart in the country. The overall $3-billiondevelopment plan calls for 12 million sf in eight buildings to becompleted by 2013.