The Tourism Industry's Take
The push to revitalize downtown Las Vegas didn’t start with Zappos. While the company’s recent involvement undoubtedly kicked the effort into another dimension, in ultra high gear, tourism interests in the area have been investing in the rejuvenation of the area for many years.
The Freemont Street Experience got going in the early 1990s, according to president and CEO Jeff Victor. 
“We’ve been at it for a very long time, but we lacked the support of the surrounding areas,” Victor said. About $70 million was spent to create the Experience, including converting a portion of the storied thoroughfare into a pedestrian walkway topped by the wowza-inducing multi-media attraction that hangs above it.
The Fremont Street Experience already draws an average of about 15 million visitors per year, about 45% of all visitors to Las Vegas, Victor said. “But it doesn’t help to have dark and undeveloped areas around us. Now Zappos and others are focused on the areas that surround Fremont Street, and that’s great news.”
Will what Zappos is doing have any impact on the visitor experience in downtown Las Vegas?
I believe tourists will see us in a much broader light as the area feels safer and is more active,” Victor said. “Having Zappos down here is a great thing. We’re very glad they’re the kind of company that thinks outside the box.”
So is Alexandra Epstein, executive vice president of El Cortez Hotel & Casino, a property that opened 
downtown on Fremont Street in 1941. Her family started sprucing up El Cortez in 2004, and bought it in 2008.
“We are thrilled that they are here, and that they see the vision we have had for a long time,” Epstein said. In 2010, when Zappos announced plans to move its headquarters to downtown Las Vegas, “We were terribly excited. We thought it would be a great catalyst to speed up the development that was already naturally occurring. It’s moved us ahead at light speed.”
Zappos, and company founder Tony Hsieh in particular, “are going about this very strategically,” Victor said. “They’re investing a large sum of money into a variety of much needed concentrations including residential, education, business growth, the arts, and the general development of community.”
Epstein is, in a word, delighted that Zappos launched its Downtown Project. “We consider them our neighbors and our partners,” she said. “The collaborative nature of this thing makes coming to work every day really exciting and fun. It’s great when you get to come to work to a neighborhood where you know that every single day something new and exciting is happening.”
It’s 2018, and downtown Las Vegas is humming with energy.
It’s a densely populated area where residents from different economic strata gather in urban gardens, open spaces and one-of-a-kind cafes. Cars are a rarity. Throughout the neighborhood a rolling wave of chance encounters sparks connection and collaboration.
Downtown Las Vegas has evolved into the Valley’s magnetic urban core, attracting locals and visitors alike with its internationally celebrated creative culture. It’s a happy and dynamic place. The laughter of children emanates from newly built charter schools. Scores of eager entrepreneurs and start-ups work out of repurposed shipping containers. Musicians and artists of every stripe enjoy a wealth of opportunities to develop and give expression to their craft. Special events run throughout the year, and guest speakers from every discipline and all corners of the globe share their insights with packed houses.
That’s a thumbnail sketch of the vision Zappos.com has for transforming downtown Las Vegas over the next few years. Idealistic? Yes indeed. But it’s a vision backed by big bucks and massive doses of youthful passion.
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is investing a reported $350 million of his own money in the Downtown Project across a broad base of initiatives including 
$100 million in real estate, $100 million in residential development, $50 million in small businesses, $50 million in education, and $50 million in seed money for tech startups. The company also is relocating its headquarters campus to the area, leasing the old Las Vegas City Hall building. That will become Zappos central for some 1,200 or so employees after a $60 million structural renovation slated for completion in October 2013.
Zach Ware is heading up the Zappos Downtown Campus Development, and he works on the ambitious Downtown Project that's headed by Hsieh (please see A Bit About Zach, below). Zach is pretty busy right now, but he took some time out to email answers to questions from Travel Weekly PLUS.
Your website says, “We are a group of passionate people committed to helping to transform Downtown Las Vegas into the most community-focused large city in the world.” Beyond the fact that your new headquarters will be located there, where does the ‘passion juice’ for actualizing this vision come from?
Not long ago we added a 4th C to our list of priorities: Clothing, Customer Service, Culture and (now) Community. When considering what our future campus should be we were most inspired by campuses like NYU where you don’t know when you enter or leave the campus. Much of the work we do at Downtown Project and at Zappos is focused on helping create that community around our campus. We want to invest in the place that we live, work and play.
And, as a company that encourages people to always follow their passion (which leads people to have many different jobs during their career at Zappos), we think it makes sense to support the development of projects and ideas that are powered by passionate people.
Do you hope the Project will reshape the city at large, even beyond the downtown area?
Las Vegas has long lacked a beacon to draw its own residents together. We think that what’s happening downtown will become a magnet, not only for people who live downtown but for people who live all across the Valley. People often forget that Las Vegas is a metro area of nearly 2 million people. We owe it to each other to collectively build a place that helps us all connect as a city. Whether you live downtown or elsewhere, we hope that downtown Vegas is a place that makes you smarter.
That’s an interesting ideal. How will what you’re doing make people smarter?
Projects like a weekly speakers’ series, monthly fashion and tech weeks, investments in startups, partnerships with companies like Skillshare — all of those things come together to create a community that invests its time and energy in sharing knowledge and experiences, not just with people who live in downtown Las Vegas but with everyone who visits.
How will the Downtown Project benefit the people of Las Vegas, including those who might not be involved or even interested in art, music or creative culture, or who might not hold the same values and vision that you do regarding the ideal structure for urban life?
The core of our work centers around investing in an upwardly mobile creative class. We do this through things like the $50 million seed-stage tech investment fund, which has already brought nearly ten companies to downtown Vegas from places like San Francisco, Seattle and more. Investment in the startup community, education (via partnerships with Teach for America and Skillshare) and others will drastically transform the economic landscape of Las Vegas directly and indirectly.
Startups have a network effect, passionate entrepreneurs attract other passionate entrepreneurs and the community grows quickly. The culture that breeds around economies like this is organic and authentic. For someone not interested in the creative culture, you will still find yourself enjoying the benefits of it in Vegas via great local restaurants, music venues and more.
What about visitors? Will the Downtown Project have any impact on the millions of people from all over the world who visit Las Vegas every year and spend most of their time on the Strip?
When I first moved to Las Vegas I was surprised to learn that the
official “Strip” is not actually in the city of Las Vegas but rather
just outside of the city’s borders in Clark County. The original Strip
was in downtown Las Vegas.
If you visit downtown now you’ll find a number of
really cool, recently remodeled hotels like Golden Nugget, El Cortez,
The D and The Plaza which feature great local bands, occasionally a food
truck festival, and restaurants featuring local chefs. So a visitor
staying at a great hotel like The D will find themselves surrounded by
new local restaurants like Le Thai and EAT. It makes for a much more
organic experience.
By the end of the year we’ll see the start of monthly (theme) weeks like Fashion Week, Tech Week and more. These monthly events will bring together amazing thinkers, entrepreneurs and others on a monthly basis. So we hope that when people visit Vegas, specifically downtown, they will leave inspired and leave with a new view on life.
How does the travel and tourism industry fit into your vision for a community-focused city and vibrant interactive urban living?
Las Vegas is a very easy place to visit. We think that works in favor of creating a diverse and vibrant center of learning, sharing and innovation. Every week a successful entrepreneur visits Las Vegas for some reason. We’re working to create venues where those people can take 30 minutes and share their story or speak on a topic. We think small things like that make a huge difference in accelerating learning in the community. The fact that so many people visit Las Vegas makes it so much easier to invite those people to speak or perhaps relocate their companies here!
Are any hotels or casinos involved as investors or creative contributors to the Downtown Project?
The casino/hotel industry is very focused on its own business, as it should be. In the downtown Fremont East neighborhood we’ve been fortunate to have partners from all industries including El Cortez Hotel which is doing a great job supporting local art, music and food cultures. While it’s not directly involved in Downtown Project (the company) they are a big part of evolving the culture of downtown Vegas to one that supports and encourages the development of creative communities like artists, musicians and more. El Cortez is one of the oldest hotels in Las Vegas but is clearly evolving to be a hip, cultural leader. It’s interesting to watch it evolve.
Zappos has invested millions in the Downtown Project and you’re also investing in startups. What are the guiding principles behind these investments?
We invest in companies who want to invest in building community. For example, when we evaluate whether VegasTechFund should invest in a company, we ask those companies to spend a few days working remotely from downtown Las Vegas. Then after they leave we ask the community for feedback about the people who visited. We’re interested in investing in people who want to contribute rather than those who solely want to extract.
Do you believe all businesses have a responsibility to directly contribute to the communities where they operate?
We think that communities, cities and companies feed off each other. Today the average worker will change careers (not just jobs) several times in her working life. As the lines between work, life and passion continue to blur, companies can see great benefits by investing in the ecosystem surrounding them via education programs, investments and more. We believe that instead of solely focusing investments via things like closed progression programs, investments in the ecosystem and the communities around them will have a longer lasting impact.
Has working on the project changed you personally?
I have the best job in the world. I’m a part of building so many real things (like buildings), which is something I’ve never done before. I also have the opportunity to help people follow their passions and build their dreams. It’s one thing to invest in a company but it’s another to invest in a person who wants to change the world. I get to do that every day.