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Vegas to get center for jewelry

Las Vegas is getting a 50-story building complex featuring jewelry stores, condominiums and restaurants in a project developed by Probity International. The 1 million-square-foot World Jewelry Center, which would be one of the tallest office buildings in the city, will include a tower to house the corporate offices of several hundred gem and jewelry companies. The center, which also will have a free-standing gallery of jewelry stores, will be a ``several hundred million dollar'' project, Beverly Hills-based Probity said last week in a statement.

The top floors of the tower will be used for residential condominiums. The center, which will be downtown and is scheduled to open as early as 2009, also will have meeting and exhibition facilities, restaurants, a private club and a fitness center. Probity chose to build the center in Las Vegas because the city attracts both business travelers and vacationers and has no state corporate, inventory or personal income taxes, the company said. Las Vegas also hosts the annual Jewelers' Circular Keystone Show, the world's largest gem and jewelry exhibition.

The Las Vegas area had the biggest population expansion in the nation as of the 2000 census, with the number of residents having increased 83 percent in 10 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nevada has three of the country's top 10 construction projects, according to Reed Construction data, as companies build condominiums, hotels and casinos.