Meow Wolf to Anchor New Themed Retail and Entertainment Complex in Las Vegas

Jan 24, 2018 Joe Kleiman Attractions, News, North America, Themed Dining/Retail, World markets 0

A new entertainment and retail complex will open in Las Vegas in mid-2019. AREA15 weaves together immersive experiences, themed events, art installations, restaurants, bars, and nightlife. The complex will appeal to a variety of clientele, including gamers, comic-con and sci-fi enthusiasts, artists, music and festival lovers, and anyone simply looking for an immersive and unique experience. AREA15 is a development project led by a joint venture between real estate development firm Fisher Brothers and creative agency Beneville Studios, both of New York.

AREA15 announced it has signed Meow Wolf as the anchor tenant. Meow Wolf creates immersive, interactive experiences that transport audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of story and exploration. Well over 100 Meow Wolf artists work together to tell immersive stories through fabrication, painting, sculpture, architecture, virtual and augmented reality, sound, performative experiences and interactivity. Meow Wolf’s first permanent exhibition, House of Eternal Return (recipient of a 2017 Thea Award for outstanding achievement – connected immersion on a limited budget), is located in Santa Fe and has welcomed nearly a million visitors in its first two years. Meow Wolf will work with local artists and talent in Las Vegas and the surrounding areas to create experiences in AREA15.

“AREA15 is a radical re-imagining of retail,” said Winston Fisher, a principal of Fisher Brothers. “It will be a 21^st century immersive bazaar and an entirely new concept in retail and entertainment. We’re excited to debut this groundbreaking concept off the Las Vegas Strip, attracting tourists and locals alike, and we are thrilled to have Meow Wolf join as the premier anchor tenant.”

Game of Thrones author and fellow Santa Fe resident George RR Martin is one of Meow Wolf’s biggest investors. “The people of Las Vegas have a treat coming their way,” said Martin. “Over the past two years, hundreds of thousands of visitors have explored House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe and thrilled to its unique blend of mystery, fantasy, and fun, a world of imagination made tangible by the amazing artists of Meow Wolf. Now those same artists, and some new ones, will be showing us new wonders, new terrors, and new beauties in a new city, for all those who dare to follow. We’re talking expansions, not duplications, and I couldn’t be more excited to learn what weirdness we’ll find behind the new doors that Meow Wolf will be opening for us in Las Vegas.”

“AREA15 understands the current cultural shift into new dimensions of experience, whether that’s in telling a story, entertainment, dining or retail,” said Vince Kadlubek, CEO of Meow Wolf. “Meow Wolf has envisioned an entirely new way of telling a story—more immersive, more interactive, more exploratory than anything before—and we are looking forward to producing an otherworldly experience for the vibrant local population of Las Vegas, as well as the year-round visitors from around the globe.”

AREA15 offers up to 126,000 square feet of customized tenant space for a curated collection of experiential and retail businesses; 68,000 square feet of leasable ground floor space and up to 58,000 square feet of mezzanine space. A 40,000 square foot indoor and outdoor event space, ideally suited for live music, festivals, corporate events, e-sport tournaments and much more will be adjacent to the retail and dining options. The indoor and outdoor event space has the capacity to accommodate up to 3,000 guests at a time, with plans to host more than 100 events per year. AREA15 will offer over 800 complimentary parking spaces.

Complementing the retail and event space is the interconnected “Spine,” a destination unto itself as an immersive bizarre and promenade that ties all of the tenants together. “We respect that the visitor to AREA15 is an adventurer and explorer, someone who wants to be authentically engaged and inspired. We have scoured the world for visionary artists and talent to bring this alternative reality to life,” says Michael Beneville. Designed to showcase inventive dining and nightlife options, unique activations, innovative art exhibitions, and bespoke performances, the 30,000 square foot Spine will be a canvas for artists to showcase their work. BARTKRESA Studio’s twelve-foot tall faceted skull, Shogyo Mujo, a collaboration with sculptor Joshua Harker, utilizing projections, 3D mapping, lighting, music, and interactivity, will come to life in the center of the Spine. Henry Chang, a Las Vegas based sculptor best known for his ability to include both sophisticated engineering and artistic themes in his designs, has found a permanent home in AREA15 for “The Flux Capacitor,” one of his cars originally built for the Burning Man festival. The Spine will feature an ecological forest of an original bamboo structure from Bali, designed by IBUKU and built by the traditional skills of Balinese craftsmen.

A quick ride from the Las Vegas Strip, AREA15 will be located on the southwest corner of Sirius Avenue and Rancho Drive near Palace Station. A sales and marketing center is open at 3230 W. Desert Inn Road, Suite 180, Las Vegas for leasing and sales inquiries.