Take a gamble in Las Vegas and you just might hit it big. That’s the bet Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is placing with The Downtown Project, his five year, $350 million plan to revitalize the area just a few miles north of The Strip.
Outside The Strip, Nevada has been hit with the nation’s highest foreclosure and unemployment rates. Hsieh's revitalization project is an effort to rebuild the economy on a local basis.
Entrepreneurs are watching the Downtown Project closely, to see what it will become. According to an interview he did with Business Insider, “Hsieh's goal is to make Vegas the most community- minded, smartest city in the world.” Small businesses, like Romotive, a company building affordable fun robots, clothing boutique Coterie, and EAT Downtown, a breakfast and brunch restaurant, have already taken up residence.
Zappos has even decided to move its headquarters from Henderson, Nevada to the old City Hall building this fall.