Hughes Center buyer revealed — but sales price is shielded

The Hughes Center’s potential new landlord has been revealed.

But for now, at least, the purchase price is shielded from view — with the seller claiming the public has “very little interest” in the terms of the deal for the once-prominent Las Vegas office park.

Borden Industries, led by founder Michael Borden, has reached an agreement to acquire the Hughes Center, according to filings last week in Clark County District Court. Located a mile east of the Las Vegas Strip, the sprawling office park has been in court-ordered receivership for two years.

The receiver, Logic Commercial Real Estate, filed court papers on July 15 seeking an order to approve the sale, saying the deal is expected to close around September.

Borden is a former top executive with Las Vegas data-center owner Switch, which is led by his brother, Rob Roy.

Overall, his business interests include manufacturing, biotechnology, nuclear power, and military technology, according to Borden Industries’ website.

Borden did not respond to requests for comment.

‘The public has very little interest in this information’

A copy of Borden’s purchase agreement for the Hughes Center was filed in court last week, but the purchase price was redacted.

Attorneys for Logic submitted a motion to file portions of the agreement under seal, claiming the “highly sensitive and confidential nature” of the document “pertains to a yet to close significant real estate transaction, including financial terms which are still being negotiated and finalized,” court records show.

They also argued that outsiders aren’t interested in the terms of the deal.

The attorneys, with law firm Duane Morris LLP, wrote: “The public has very little interest in this information, as it is difficult to see how such details would benefit public knowledge or understanding of this lawsuit pertaining to the appointment of the Receiver.”

They also argued that releasing this information publicly “could result in misuse, potentially harming the interests of the parties involved, and put the deal in jeopardy.”

In Clark County, once a real estate sale has closed, the purchase price is routinely public information, as it’s listed on the deed that records the transaction with the county.

Big vacancies

All told, if the Hughes Center changes hands, it would mark a new chapter for a business park that was once packed with white-collar workers but is now laced with empty offices.

Located at the intersection of Flamingo and Paradise roads, the Hughes Center has nearly 1.4 million square feet of office space, and around 61 percent of that is vacant, according to a court filing last week by Logic.

It also has about 98,000 square feet of retail, and nearly 85 percent of that is occupied, the filing shows.

Unlike other cities, Las Vegas doesn’t have a traditional big downtown office market — its skyline is filled with towering hotel-casinos.

But for many years, the Hughes Center was widely seen as the region’s top office district. It was filled with lawyers, accountants, commercial real estate brokers and others.

In 2004, then-owner Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. reported that the Hughes Center was 94 percent leased.

Then, in 2013, New York investment giant Blackstone acquired the Hughes Center for $347 million.

‘Good faith negotiations with a buyer’

Eventually, however, the Hughes Center lost waves of tenants to newer high-end buildings in the less-congested suburbs, especially the southwest Las Vegas Valley and Summerlin.

By 2023, the landlord had reportedly stopped making payments on its $325 million loan for the Hughes Center, and in 2024, District Judge Susan Johnson appointed a receiver to take control of the office park.

The receiver, Logic, was given authority to sell the property, court records show.

Brokerage firm CBRE Group — one of several firms that moved out of the Hughes Center in recent years — announced last fall that it was hired to find a buyer for the office park.

Court filings in May showed that a potential, albeit then-unnamed, buyer for the property had been landed.

At the time, filings showed that Logic was in “good faith negotiations with a buyer” and that a lawyer for the receiver said in court that the Hughes Center was under a purchase contract with a prospective buyer.