9/8/2021
Discovering The Smith Center
When guests return to The Smith Center after its fall reopening, they will find its neighborhood vibrantly transformed.
Multiple new developments recently finished construction near the center, part of an ongoing evolution for Symphony Park – the 61-acre parcel in downtown Las Vegas with The Smith Center at its heart.
These new additions include the 290-unit apartment complex Aspen Heights, adjacent to the center on South City Parkway. The complex ties into The Smith Center’s aesthetic, with colorful metal paneling that mirrors the color pattern of the Pipe Dream sculpture fronting the center.
Southern Land Company also completed a 5-story, mid-rise apartment community — Auric Symphony Park — on The Smith Center’s north side. This marks the first luxury, multifamily development in Symphony Park, and includes 21,000 square feet of ground-level retail and restaurants.
To top it off, across from the center on South Grand Central Parkway, World Market Center Las Vegas recently completed its new, 315,000-square-foot expo center.
“It’s just a great feeling (to see this happen),” says city Councilman Cedric Crear, representing Ward 5 that encompasses Symphony Park. “Symphony Park really has become a must-visit area of town, and is becoming a highly coveted development area for Las Vegas in general.”
More Growth Ahead
Even more lies in store.
The space fronting The Smith Center and the Discovery Children’s Museum off South Grand Central Parkway will soon see construction — previously delayed by the pandemic — on an Marriott AC/Element Hotel with 400 rooms, 20,000 square feet of meeting space and a restaurant.
The city will also soon lease the 29,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space in its parking garages beside the center. This will include the recently approved Vic’s Symphony Park, an Italian restaurant and lounge with live music that will open in 2022.
“When I grew up here, there was nothing but open space and railroad tracks where The Smith Center and these other amenities now sit,” Crear says. “(This development) not only changes the landscape, but it will draw more density in Symphony Park and into downtown as a whole.”
A New Experience
The growth in Symphony Park will change the experience for visitors and guests alike, Crear says.
He envisions people attending a convention at World Market Center, catching a show at The Smith Center, eating at a downtown restaurant and staying at the neighboring Marriot.
“It creates an environment where you’re not just coming down for a drink and then leaving — you come and stay,” he says. “It gives people options, and an enhanced experience for downtown Las Vegas.”
A Snowball Effect
This transformation of Symphony Park didn’t just happen out of the blue, Crear notes.
Ongoing development projects – such as the Las Vegas North Premium Outlets, the Clark County Government Center and the World Market Center – have transformed the area and attracted more businesses to join in.
“All of those great projects beget more great projects,” Crear says.
The Smith Center, completed in 2012, serves as one of the most significant “pioneers of Symphony Park,” adds Crear, a founding board member for the center.
“If The Smith Center was not there, this growth would not have happened so rapidly, that’s for sure,” he says. “When you build the state’s first performing arts center and you look at the caliber of quality that The Smith Center was built with, and it has shown it can attract a wide variety of people, then other businesses see that and say ‘if they can do it, we can do it.’”