Molasky sells Best in the West retail center

The Best in the West retail center in the northwestern valley has been sold by Best West LP, a part of The Molasky Group of Cos., for $65 million to Desert Troon, a Phoenix-based real estate company.

"Best in the West was developed with the intention of being an asset to the community by providing the residents in this growth area with a high-quality and convenient shopping experience by name-brand stores offering value pricing," said Irwin Molasky, head of the company that bears his family's name. "We succeeded even beyond our expectations by creating a retail environment with architecturally appealing buildings, elegant landscaping and a lineup of superior merchants, some coming into Southern Nevada for the first time."

The 35-acre complex, located on Rainbow Boulevard near U.S. Highway 95 and Lake Mead Boulevard, offers 475,000 square feet of leasable retail space. Currently there are 30 tenants, including Best Buy, Office Depot, Babies "R" Us, DSW Shoes, Copeland Sports, Paddock Pools, Bed Bath & Beyond, PetSmart and Jared Jewelry. Other retailers include Old Navy, Ulta, JoANN ETC, Sprint PCS, Organized Living, Men's Wearhouse, Borders Books, Omaha Steaks and Starbucks. Restaurants include Tony Roma's, Sweet Tomatoes, McDonald's and Applebees.

Desert Troon Cos. has operated for more than 20 years in master-planned communities and mixed-use projects throughout the United States and Europe. Its portfolio includes more than 2,000 acres of master-planned golf communities and in excess of 1 million square feet of commercial/retail developments valued at more than $300 million.

"The Best in the West shopping center's ... striking design and architecture, high-quality construction and first-class roster of tenants combine for an ideal fit with our long-term hold investment strategy. We spent considerable time assessing the Las Vegas market and feel extremely fortunate that the opportunity presented itself for us to acquire a property of this caliber," said company President Daniel S. Smith.

Mark Lucescu of the Lucescu Group at Marcus & Millichap, located in Newport Beach, Calif., represented both parties in the transaction.

"Best in the West is the most dominant, open air shopping center in all of Las Vegas," Lucescu said. "It ... represents the largest square footage of gross leaseable area under one ownership and, as a result, has set the record for the highest price ever paid for a shopping center in the state of Nevada. The offering was aggressively pursued by some of the largest institutional and noninstitutional companies in the country due to its premier location, architectural quality, national tenant roster and the gross sales the center was generating."

Realty Holdings Group will continue to provide leasing and property management services under the new owner.

"It is now time for The Molasky Companies to move on to new projects in the valley," said Richard Worthington, president of The Molasky Group, which is developing the four-story Internal Revenue Service building in downtown Las Vegas, apartment complexes, and a private air terminal at McCarran International Airport.

For more than 50 years The Molasky Cos. has shaped the landscape of the Las Vegas Valley, providing residential, commercial and mixed-use properties. The company built the city's first high-rise office tower, Bank of America, in downtown Las Vegas; Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, the city's first private facility; Boulevard Mall, the first enclosed regional mall; and thousands of houses, apartments and condominiums, including Park Towers at Hughes Center, a $150 million luxury high-rise project.

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