Area 15 in Las Vegas to offer an artsy spin on retail and entertainment experience
Last week, in a large, empty plot of land near Desert Inn Road, a scissor-lift raised a platform of riders high up into the air. Below them, a group of performance artists largely adorned in leotards and masks playfully danced without music atop a large sculpture that looked like a rusted Iron Giant sinking into the pavement. This could have perplexed rush-hour passersby on the nearby I-15 — and they weren’t alone.
Plans for a 126,000-square foot retail/ entertainment venture called Area 15 to be built on that site were announced, but its managing partners are keeping details to a minimum. A preview center for the project, which is slated to break ground in April and open during the last half of 2019, revealed the various sections of the future complex, a couple of large-scale artworks and the signing of Area 15’s first tenant: Meow Wolf, the multimedia art crew responsible for Santa Fe’s popular House of Eternal Return exhibit.
But what exactly the endeavor is supposed to be — other than an “immersive and unique experience” that would “appeal to a variety of clientele, including gamers, comic-con and sci-fi enthusiasts, artists, music and festival lovers,” as touted in its marketing — remains unknown. Which, of course, is by design.
“Area 15 will be a radical reimagination of entertainment and retail for the 21st century,” said Winston Fisher of Fisher Brothers, one of the two New Yorkbased companies behind the joint venture (Beneville Studios creative agency is the other). “We’ve created a place with leasing for tenants that offer experience.”
“The mall of America isn’t dead,” Michael Beneville of Beneville Studios