Triple Five Nevada has changed some of its plans for its Great Mall of Las Vegas, the development, once advertised as the first indoors shopping mall in over two decades, will now be an open-air center. The complex will be located at the northeast corner of

Grand Montecito Parkway

and

Deer Springs Way

, contiguous to U.S. Highway 95. The shopping mall will hold 20 single-story outdoor buildings instead of the three-level structure the company had originally intended.

The initial project was going to be developed on almost 50 acres and it was intended to use 1.575 million square feet for the commercial office and retail space including 250 shops and stores. However, the developers have considered reducing the plans by one-third. The new plan will be developed in a 1 million square feet area and it will feature 185 stores and 16 restaurants.

"We will start infrastructure work by end of January," said Triple Five's vice president, James Grindstaff, "And we expect to begin vertical construction in the fall. People today prefer the outdoor environment instead of having to drive from venue to venue; The Great Mall of Las Vegas will be an extension of a consumer's personal lifestyle." Gridstaff said.

Triple Five has yet to present modified project plans for their final approval. The Great Mall of Las Vegas is scheduled to open its doors by October 2010; the project is expected to attract over 20,000 people every day. Triple Five has plans to change the name after its inauguration, even though; there are no alternative names on the table yet.

"We will spend in excess of $11 million in trees for this project," Grindstaff said. "It's a very ecofriendly and extremely green project. Our goal is to generate enough power from the project to sell it back to the grid."

Green features will contain light-emitting-diode lights and a solar-power panels. Triple Five also expects that the developing of an open-air complex will save millions annually in cooling costs.