The Downtown Project: Can Downtown Las Vegas Be Saved?

Image Credit: Downtown Las Vegas Skyline | Wikipedia

The Downtown Project is an ambitious urban renewal project from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. Along with moving his company headquarters into downtown Las Vegas, he’s dedicated to attracting a startup community to the area that is aligned with the culture of Zappos.

The online shoe-and-apparel company is now owned by Amazon, but is still managed by Hsieh. Thus, Zappos was able to retain its zany corporate culture despite the new ownership. The same kind of “serendipitous interactions” is what the chief executive would like to happen with Downtown Project.

We wanted the new campus to benefit from interaction with downtown, and downtown to benefit from interaction with Zappos.

For Hsieh, transforming the downtown Vegas was part of the appeal. It would help them retain existing Zappos employees while attracting and hiring more staff. On the other hand, it would help revitalize the city’s economy. That’s because he believes that “if you fix cities, you kind of fix the world.”

“The strip” of Las Vegas is known for its plethora of oversize casinos, cavernous luxury malls and monstrous outdoor LED displays. However, just two miles to the north is the so-called homeless corridor, a patchwork of soup kitchens and air-conditioned shelters that houses thousands of homeless people.

Despite the current condition, Downtown Project hopes to bring 10,000 “upwardly mobile, innovative professionals” to the area in the next five years. The project basically seeds money to entrepreneurs in exchange for company stakes, as well requesting the employees to live and work in downtown Las Vegas.

This is not just meant to populate their urban community; it is also designed to maximize the project’s Return on Community or ROC. For every business coming in the city, it potentially gives employment to the area’s existing residents. Moreover, it makes companies aware of their social responsibilities.

Providing less costly living and working alternatives for both startups and employees, as an alternative to expensive tech centers such as the San Francisco bay area, is an exciting premise. Do you think it will work? Would you move from Cupertino to downtown Las Vegas for a killer startup opportunity?