LAS VEGAS-Siegel Group Nevada Inc. has acquired a 36,000-square-foot office building that will be the company's new corporate headquarters and also represents a value-add play for the company. Stephen Siegel, president and CEO of the company, explains that the property is "a class B building in a class A location" that the company will upgrade and "make into a state-of-the-art office complex" that will serve its own space needs as well as those of tenants it plans to attract to the building.

The new Siegel property is a two-story building on .84 of an acre at 3790 Paradise Rd., across from the Wynn Golf Club and the Hughes Center. Included with the sale were a billboard and a cellular phone tower that are leased to third-party operators. Under the previous ownership, the property suffered from management issues and substantial deferred maintenance that hindered leasing, according to Siegel.

Although the building is approximately 80% vacant, the Siegel Group―which intends to occupy 40% of the leasable space beginning the first quarter of 2011 for its growing corporate operations―is confident that it will be able to quickly stabilize the property. It intends to make improvements to the facade and common areas that are necessary to attract and secure a stable, long-term tenant base. The new headquarters is near the company's existing headquarters at 3900 Paradise Rd., where Siegel is leasing but does not plan to renew.

Michael Crandall, director of business affairs for the Siegel Group, says that the acquisition reflects the company's bullish outlook for Las Vegas. "We are extremely bullish on the Las Vegas Market because we believe Las Vegas is one of the greatest cities in the world. It can’t be duplicated," Crandall said. "The Vegas economy is NOT hurting Vegas, the world and national economy is hurting Vegas."

Crandall continued that, once the economies around the country and around the world start to improve, people will start coming back to Vegas. "Not only will they come here but they will come here and spend lots of money, a lot more than they are spending today," he said. "Currently everything in Vegas is on sale and the Siegel Group is taking advantage of that by acquiring office buildings, apartment buildings, hotels and casinos. Ten years from now people are going to look at our Vegas holdings and wonder how we possibly own the properties we do and how we own them for the price we paid for them.”

Stephen Siegel said that in addition to the new headquarters acquisition, his company is actively looking to acquire value-added properties throughout the Las Vegas market and is working closely with lenders and private parties to take over distressed assets. In the company's purchase of the new headquarters building, the price of which was not disclosed, Siegel secured long-term financing from a local lender. The company represented itself in the transaction, in which the seller was represented by Kent Clifford of Clifford Commercial.