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Former bakery building up for sale in downtown Las Vegas

Updated December 1, 2021 - 10:24 pm

When developer Jeff LaPour bought the shuttered Holsum bakery in downtown Las Vegas, it still had a commercial oven that, he recalled, was the size of probably two semitrailers.

Workers had to cut it apart with torches and haul it out in pieces.

Nearly two decades later, the former bread building is home to architecture firms, a modeling agency, a photo studio that offers the “perfect immersive experience for your selfies” and a marijuana testing firm.

And now, LaPour wants to sell.

Listing brokerage Colliers International announced Monday that Holsum Lofts, 241 W. Charleston Blvd., just east of Interstate 15, is on the market.

No asking price was given.

The 46,831-square-foot complex is 67 percent occupied, Colliers said.

Its main vacancy, at 12,890 square feet, was previously home to NS8, a cyberfraud-prevention firm that filed for bankruptcy last year after its former chief executive was arrested and charged with securities fraud.

LaPour said that one offer for Holsum Lofts came in on Monday and that he expects a few more in the next week or so.

A sale would mark the culmination of LaPour’s nearly 20-year run with the property, including through the real estate crash of a decade or so ago, and follow a surge of new businesses setting up shop in the nearby Arts District.

Asked why he decided to sell, LaPour, founder of LaPour Partners, pointed to his long ownership of Holsum Lofts and noted that he has changed his focus to larger-scale projects.

For instance, he is developing a roughly 100,000-square-foot office building in the southwest valley with G2 Capital Development, and he announced early this year that he broke ground on a nearly 340,000-square-foot industrial complex in Henderson.

He also said Holsum Lofts is a relatively large building for downtown and boasts unique architecture.

The building is perhaps best-known to passersby for its multicolored Holsum Bread signage outside that proclaims “hours fresher” and includes a massive clock.

LaPour acquired the 1950s-era structure in 2003 and reportedly envisioned a mixed-use facility with art galleries, offices, retail space and live-work lofts. He ultimately scrapped the residential plans.

He indicated Tuesday that he was drawn to the shuttered bakery by its history, design and location along a busy street near a freeway interchange.

Like countless other properties in Southern Nevada, Holsum Lofts also faced a volatile time after the mid-2000s real estate bubble burst and the broader economy tanked.

LaPour said he couldn’t refinance the property’s mortgage because financial markets had collapsed, and the lender sold the debt to investors who tried to foreclose on the complex.

In summer 2012, he filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the property, court records show.

LaPour said the move was intended to stave off the foreclosure and give him time to refinance, which he ultimately did.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.

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