Energy efficiencies qualify for $5.5 million in SBA 504 financing
In the aftermath of the Great Recession, trial attorney Robert Eglet wanted desperately to give something back to his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Downtown Las Vegas was just dying in late 2009 and early 2010,” Eglet said. “Real estate was at the bottom of the market. We wanted to do something to help. The idea was to create a public building and allow different organizations to use it for events. It’s a historical district, so we wanted to do a building that looks like it’s been here for 100 years.”
The resulting 4-story, 46,000-square-foot structure is the largest privately funded building in Las Vegas in past decade. The $18 million construction project includes office space for Eglet’s law firm, Eglet Prince, on the top two floors, a full-size, state-of-the-art mock trial courtroom for the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law, a full gym with showers and 75,000 square feet of parking, wired for up to 125 electric car charging stations.
“The lobby has 16-foot ceilings and looks like a French Parliament building,” Eglet said. “It has crystal chandeliers, tin ceilings and all wood floors. My partner in life and law Tracy designed it, then worked with an architect to bring it to life.”
The building also includes sustainability features such as energy-efficient lighting and water conservation measures, which qualified for additional SBA 504 funding.
“The $5.5 million SBA 504 loan helped us not have to put so much down,” Eglet said. “A conventional loan would have meant 20 percent or more out-of-pocket from our working cash. With TMC, we don’t have as much risk.”
The Robert T. Eglet Advocacy Center was honored with a 2015 Spotlight Awards for Office Building of the Year from the Southern Nevada chapter of NAIOP, a leading commercial real estate organization.