A big new grocery player is taking shape in North Las Vegas, where a full-size Albertsons is going up on roughly six acres near the northeast corner of Decatur Boulevard and Elkhorn Road. By early January, heavy equipment and active site work were already visible across from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles office. Phoenix-based developer Vestar is steering the project and expects Albertsons to move into the finished building in 2027.
Project timeline and size
Construction crews broke ground in the first week of December, and Vestar says the supermarket will come in at about 62,000 square feet, with site work already underway on the parcel, as reported by Las Vegas Review-Journal. Kean Thomas, Vestar’s vice president of finance and development, told the paper that Albertsons is expected to take occupancy in the first quarter of 2027 and that the total project cost tops $20 million. The developer described the new store as a market-driven response to the wave of nearby residential growth.
Developer and local portfolio
Vestar, the Phoenix firm handling the site, owns and manages a wide slate of retail properties across the western United States, with Nevada holdings that include The District at Green Valley Ranch and the Best In The West shopping center, according to Vestar’s portfolio. The company’s leadership page lists Kean Thomas as vice president of finance and development, matching the Vestar executive quoted about the North Las Vegas project. Vestar says it concentrates on buying, developing and managing neighborhood and regional retail assets.
Land sale and lease structure
Property records reviewed by the Review-Journal show that Vestar purchased the North Las Vegas site from Albertsons for about $8.8 million, and the project is being delivered as a build-to-suit that Albertsons will lease, as per Las Vegas Review-Journal. In a build-to-suit deal, the developer keeps ownership while constructing a space tailored to the tenant’s needs. That arrangement lets a grocer move into a purpose-built store layout without holding the land on its own balance sheet for the long term.
What it adds to the neighborhood
A roughly 62,000-square-foot supermarket is set to be a major amenity for residents within walking or short driving distance, cutting down on longer trips to other grocery options. Albertsons already operates 35 locations in Nevada, most of them in the Las Vegas Valley, as noted by Albertsons. The new store could also help draw additional retail tenants to the surrounding parcel over time.
What’s next
Work is expected to continue through 2026 to hit the targeted first-quarter 2027 occupancy window, although Albertsons will ultimately set any official opening date. The chain declined to comment to reporters, and Vestar has not released a detailed public construction schedule beyond the occupancy estimate. Coverage will be updated if the developer or Albertsons shares more specifics on store features, hiring plans or the exact opening day.
