In 2005, real estate investment firm Fisher Brothers acquired a sprawling parcel of land formerly occupied by an auto dealership. It abutted Interstate 15 at the Desert Inn arterial overpass and was oddly isolated—accessible only through a series of turns onto anonymous-looking side streets lined with industrial businesses. Here, a typical commercial development—a shopping center, a casino—would be challenged to succeed.
“I had a lot of wacky ideas about what to do with the land,” says Winston Fisher, director of Fisher Brothers’ property acquisitions and development initiatives. “Then I met a gentleman named Michael Beneville.”
The rest is history in the making. Beneville Studios, a New York-based creative agency, collaborated with Fisher Brothers to develop that property into Area15, an interactive entertainment, dining and events complex that hosts Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart and nearly 20 other one-of-a-kind interactive attractions. Fisher, now Area15’s CEO, leaned into the offbeat location, adopting the slogan “Area15 does not exist.”
“Shogyo Mujo” inside the entrance to Area15
Yet it plainly does. Throngs of tourists and locals find their way to Area15 nightly to enjoy sets from superstar DJs, take selfies with Burning Man art or slip through a door to a parallel dimension. Now, what began as a single building in September 2020 is a cluster of experience-based attractions and retail—Fisher calls it a “district”—that’s soon to add a 20-acre expansion anchored by a permanent horror-themed attraction created by Universal Parks & Resorts. And a second Area15 location in Central Florida, adjacent to its theme parks, is in the planning stages. “Everybody imports stuff to Vegas. We’re exporting,” Fisher says.
Recently, Fisher spoke with the Weekly about Area15’s runaway success.
How did the Area15 concept come to be? It must have felt a bit like a moon shot. Everybody thought I was crazy. When Michael Beneville and I started working together, there were some parameters: What will be an additive to Las Vegas, the decline of malls and what is the future of the experience economy and location-based entertainment. We’d always say we grew up at the Dungeons and Dragons [section of the mall]; that section was 5% of the mall. That’s where we had to hang out.
So we built our imagination. It was an idea where creativity is what guides you, and not being scared of it. You’re creating placemaking, creating a district that attracts best-in-class experiences and art, [that’s] accessible to everybody. We thought that Vegas was the absolute perfect place for it; it’s the entertainment capital of the world. What’s the next evolution of entertainment in Las Vegas? It’s a city that has wonderful reinvention. And we really saw ourselves as being a part of that next chapter, of what Vegas can be.
Did you take any inspiration from Vegas’ previous non-gaming efforts on the Strip—the theme park-styled attractions, the themed shopping malls? It’s interesting because people always ask, “What are you?” I hate the term “mall,” because we’re not a mall, though there’s some inspiration there. We’re not a theme park, but there’s some inspiration, right? We’re an event center. We’re taking everything that was working [in Vegas] and we’re putting it together, in a new and unique way, with intention. Vegas has engaged in some of this stuff, the experience economy, but we’re building an immersive world, in an immersive district that houses immersive experiences. So there’s no skipping of the record.
The context is important for our type of experiences. I think that when you start looking at some of our experiences, they have the capability to be more successful with us than they would be in some other location. People are coming here with a mindset.
And find a very thoughtfully curated tenant mix. We’re very intentional about what goes in the district. We’re very happy about Universal. We’re getting an experience inspired by their Halloween Horror Nights, which are the coolest experiences in the world. They could have gone anywhere, but they’re in the district. Meow Wolf, Lost Spirits, Dueling Axes—there’s some really cool stuff going on.
We’re not trying to be like the clubs [on the Strip], because you can’t. But we throw like “whoa, man” costume parties—Alice in Wonderland, down the rabbit hole. Let your freak flag fly, be yourself, celebrate loudly.
Area15 has broad appeal. I’ve seen clubgoers there, but also families with kids. Authenticity is a word we use a lot. We take it seriously. We built something that we genuinely believe in, in our soul. This place is approachable. It may not really be for everyone—maybe you don’t like the flashing lights—but everybody is welcome here. Except the haters; we don’t need them (laughs).
People shop for memories here. That’s what they’re collecting. We’re giving people that. … You hear Disney talk about being a creative-led company, and that is at the heart of what we are. We are a creative-led company that is trying to push the boundaries, and in a way that’s approachable. We’re trying to expand people’s minds, for them to have the best time of their life.
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