A Las Vegas developer has built a project in the Arts District area that is designed to look like converted shipping containers filled with food-and-beverage outlets.

KLA Capital owner Adam Foulad finished construction earlier this year on The Distrikt. The project, near the northeast corner of Commerce Street and Wyoming Avenue, has eight retail buildings that span from 300 to 2,250 square feet each, according to a site plan.

Overall, he plans to have outdoor seating, live entertainment space, and tenants that include a coffee shop, microbrewery, boba tea shop and taco place, he said.

He expects the first tenants to take occupancy in January.

Foulad said his project at 1561 S. Commerce St. was inspired by a waterfront complex in Copenhagen called Reffen, which boasts food stalls, bars, retro arcade games, a skatepark and more.

“We don’t have stuff like this in Vegas,” Foulad said.

He acquired the site on Commerce in 2021, property records show. But, he said, he scrapped his previous project plans after he took a trip to Copenhagen that included an outing at Reffen.

Reffen’s market is built mainly from repurposed shipping containers, “giving it a raw, urban edge,” according to the official tourism organization for Denmark’s capital region.

Foulad did not build his project from old shipping containers. Instead, he constructed the buildings from metal, steel and glass, he explained.

He also said that Reffen is “grungy” and feels fun and that he is banking on his own buildings in The Distrikt getting a little banged up over time.

A dozen or so years ago, Las Vegas’ Arts District was a quiet place. It had furniture stores, second-hand clothing shops and other tenants, but also vacant storefronts, empty lots and thin foot traffic.

But in recent years, a surge of new eateries, coffee shops and retailers opened in the area, drawing more people there to eat, drink and shop.

Amid the increased popularity, landlords also have charged higher rents, and developers started building some big apartment complexes.

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