if we don't start to retake our freedom soon, america is doomed. that's our show. see you next week. >> i'm bob massi. for 32 years, i've been practicing law and living in las vegas. i help people with all sorts of real-estate problems, from trying to save their homes to closing major deals. eight years ago, 6,000 people a month moved here, looking for employment and affordable homes. little did anyone know that we would become ground zero for the american real-estate crisis. now, it's a different story. the american dream is back. we're gonna meet real people who faced the same problems as millions across america, and we'll dive deep into a city on the rebound because las vegas was a microcosm of america, and now vegas is back. [ woman vocalizing ]

thanks for joining us. i'm bob massi. what if you could change your whole neighborhood or even an entire city? i'm gonna introduce you to some people who are doing just that, with amazing results. downtown las vegas has a rich history, but as the famous strip got built up and the suburbs grew outward, well, much of old vegas -- it became abandoned. then came the recession, which devastated the entire area. attorney oscar goodman was mayor at that time. his wife, carolyn, now is the current mayor. >> when you become the mayor, you see the first signs of blight. i didn't even know what the word meant at the time. windows were becoming boarded up in the downtown. i had been around the country. i went through various downtowns, and i saw what looked to me like war zones -- rubble and the like. and i didn't want that here for las vegas. >> things were looking pretty bleak for vegas, especially downtown, and despite the financial troubles, the city had already committed to moving out of this building, which housed city hall, the municipal court,

and the metropolitan police department. that would have left this enormous campus simply empty -- another massive hole in already depressed downtown las vegas. but tony hsieh, the c.e.o. of online retail giant zappos -- he approached the mayor. rather than constructing a new headquarters for the rapidly expanding zappos, well, tony hsieh had an idea. he wanted to take over and repurpose the old city hall. the end result was the largest ribbon cutting ever... >> cut! [ cheers and applause ] >> ...with every single zappos employee taking part. it was just the beginning of what some people say saved downtown las vegas. let's go take a look at exactly what they did. >> as you know, it's a historic building. the building's over 40 years old. it was the very first city hall that the city actually built itself to be the government seat. there was the metropolitan police department here, the municipal courts. for us, it was an adaptive reuse of an old building. so, we respected the exterior of the building. we added a very modest neon sign

on the outside, but, really, the magic is on the inside, where we really transformed the building and zappified it, as we like to say. >> and that they did. not only does it not look like a courthouse and city hall anymore, it doesn't look like any corporate office you've ever seen. the unique zappos culture has taken over. in all the days i've practiced law, i remember walking in here, and i remember what was here -- a lot of the city attorneys and things like that. and now another extension of zappos -- walk into a room that is full of stuffed animals. we have these plastic balls. we have zebras. >> this is just part of our culture. >> there are some things from the old building that zappos couldn't resist leaving alone, like the decor of the company gym. this is the old holding tank, where they used to bring the prisoners in the city. >> this is for our employees here to come and work out. most of the second floor of the old city hall in this part of the building was the old city jail. they used to bring the prisoners through the basement, and, actually, they would land here on the second floor, where they would be processed, given a nice uniform to wear, and stayed a

few nights. >> another historic piece of old vegas was left untouched -- the old city chambers, which is now zappos' corporate meeting space. >> this we left exactly the way it was when it was city council. you can tell by the design -- the stereotypical late '80s, early '90s. >> oh, absolutely. and to have a company like yours to come in and sort of preserve this is really very nice, you know, because it's sort of a part of the past. >> exactly. you know, for us, preserving this historic building, especially the exterior of the building, which is covered -- almost 90% of the building is all travertine marble. we respected that. >> thank you so much for calling zappos. my name is shannon. and who am i speaking with today? >> the call center is the backbone of our operation -- over 600 strong, from our 1,600 employees. they're located in this area and several parts of the building. these folks are on the phones 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, helping our customers out. >> and filling the old city hall with thousands of young zappo employees had an immediate effect on the surrounding area. >> so much of what tony hsieh has brought to town, which truly has electrified us, 'cause, boy, have we gotten international

focus on us because of this youthful, energized collision of people, and it's so exciting. >> when we come back, zappos decided to transform not just their headquarters but all of downtown, using a giant, fire-breathing praying mantis. it's something that could come to your city very soon. [ woman vocalizing ] when you think about success, what does it look like? is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student? is it one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves? is it finally witnessing all the artistic wonders of the natural world? whatever your definition of success is, helping you pursue it, is ours. t-i-a-a.

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here's your invoice, ladies. a few stops later, and it looks like big ollie is on the mend. it might not seem that glamorous having an old pickup truck for an office... or filling your days looking down the south end of a heifer, but...i wouldn't have it any other way. look at that, i had my best month ever. and earned a shiny new office upgrade. i run on quickbooks. that's how i own it. ♪ >> i'm bob massi, the property man. when tony hsieh and zappos plopped themselves down in the middle of downtown las vegas, well, things started to change. but then he decided to really shake things up and transform the entire area. ♪ he launched a massive private-redevelopment program called the downtown project. >> the project itself has been funded entirely by tony hsieh. so, there's $350 million been put into this project. $200 million went into

property -- just buying real estate -- so the project itself owns 65 acres of land in downtown. $50 million went into funding a whole bunch of tech companies to try and bring innovation and creativity downtown. $50 million went into small businesses -- everything from hairdressing salons to amazing restaurants, food and beverage, bars, juice bars, yoga studios, just to really try and kind of be a catalyst for change for this community. >> along comes tony hsieh and zappos, and they take over the old city hall, and he brings in the critical mass, where we now have the little grocery stores. and a week ago, i actually went to a bookstore in the downtown. it was phenomenal -- i mean, a real bookstore in downtown las vegas. >> i came to las vegas about 14 years ago and been working in the casinos and cooking as a chef. >> natalie young had always wanted to open a restaurant, but she was completely broke. then she met tony hsieh and suddenly had a $250,000 loan.

>> tony walked in to where i was at, and he said, "what size restaurant do you want?" and eight months later, i had my own restaurant. i paid back the loan in a year and three months, so it's a win-win situation for everybody. it's been amazing. across the street, there was a motel 6 right when i moved in here, and that was pretty much it. now there's five restaurants in the very close vicinity of here and other small businesses that are coming in. >> john curran is head of rgg, the downtown project's housing-development arm. >> here we've got glutton, which is sort of a gourmet-comfort-food concept. and right next door, it's got vegenation, which is an all vegan, or plant-powered, as they call it, restaurant. >> ♪ fremont street just can't be beat ♪ ♪ when lady luck shines on me >> downtown las vegas area had long been blighted, but they didn't want to disneyfy old vegas, so on the outside, the old vegas vibe remains, while the inside is completely

transformed. >> so, john e. carson was a 64-unit extended-stay residence hotel. each of the units was like 10'x10'. it had a sink and a closet in it and a shared toilet. >> the old john e. carson hotel may look the same as it has for decades on the outside, but it is now the home of new stores like the doughnut store. >> this very cool, kitsch, retro kind of design doughnut shop that has the best doughnuts in town. >> if there's something standing and in good shape, like the john e. carson was, we're really not going to tear it apart and reassemble it, so you get this sort of collision of the old and new. >> it's so exciting, what they're doing. there's an old medical office converted into the beat, which is a coffee shop -- really cute. but all those examining rooms made into individual art galleries. ♪ >> and they have life is beautiful, which is a special event. you know, you talk about the burning man? well, they used a similar concept, but they make it into an urban experience, and they have music, they have speeches,

they've got artwork, they have a cooking fair. i mean, it goes on for three days and nights. it doesn't stop. i remember our first first friday here when i was the mayor. i guess it's like 14 years ago. 30 people came. now they get 20,000 down there. ♪ >> the local barbershop -- been around for decades, and they have seen the neighborhood transform around them. >> it's changing dramatically, and we love it here. the neighborhood was pretty bad. when we moved down here, it was all base -- you know what i'm saying? -- drugs, prostitution. but now it has -- there wasn't even restaurants down here at the time. a lot of people are starting to walk around and smile. it's a smiling area now. >> ♪ never seen the sky so blue ♪ >> an old motel, long run down and abandoned, has been brought back to life as a swanky boutique hotel, but that classic old vegas vibe remains. >> we are an 86-room hotel. all 86 rooms are individually

designed, unique to one another -- different artwork, furniture, and layouts, as well. >> in the old days, this was basically -- really did become somewhat of a rundown motel, correct? >> this originally was a travelodge built in 1962. with the changes that have been happening in the last couple of years, what we've seen is that a lot of people are coming down here and gravitating down here, just to come hang out and take downtown in and just hang out. >> well, i can tell you this -- this is definitely not a room from 1962. >> no. not at all. >> this is beautiful. >> thank you. the gold spike was a casino way past its prime. >> i was scared to go into the casino for fear of getting a secondary lung disease. now it's a boutique hotel. >> that used to be in the pit, where we used to have table games. >> yep. >> there'd be gaming machines all throughout here. you know, it's just one of those things where it used to be a lot smokier back then, as well. what you see here monday through friday during the day is you walk in and there's people working on their computers. we use it more as a co-working space, and as we get later on into the evening, the lights get dim, the music gets a little bit louder, the happy hour starts,

and it morphs into a party pretty much every night. so while people work in the day, they party at night. >> but how do you know if a business will succeed? well, you could try them out first by putting them in a shipping container. ♪ container park is a collection of businesses which inhabit 30 reconstructed shipping containers and 41 metal tubes. they plopped them down on the former site of an old run-down motel and put a giant treehouse playground in the middle -- out front, a giant, fire-breathing praying mantis that tony hsieh got at burning man. mark rowland runs dtp ventures, which supports the businesses created by the downtown project. >> there are lots of small businesses working out of these little containers, and it's shops only, so it's a little bit of a business incubator. >> so, let's talk about these containers. like, for example, i'm looking at this barbecue. >> yep, big ern's bbq. >> so, this is a container? >> that's an old shipping container repurposed. >> they came from a shipping yard in southern california, and

we repurposed them, you know, redecorated them, insulated them, and did whatever we had to do to get them to be habitable structures. we've got six food-and-beverage outlets, which range from barbecue to tacos to gourmet hot dogs and a vegan restaurant. the largest container in there is about 1,200 square feet, and that's a toy store. they have all the coolest toys in the world, according to them. there's a lot of sort of boutique, fashion, crafts. >> not every business survives, and the downtown project has certainly seen some come and go. >> some businesses have started and stopped, and a bunch of businesses have started and grown. the other good thing about the project itself is we have a ton of people that can help. all these businesses, whether it's marketing support, finance support, operational, human support, so that they can actually run their business as best they possibly can, flourish, and continue to grow. i moved over here two years ago, and this was a vacant block of land. there was nothing here. and then as soon as the containers went in and the playground went in, it was the first time i'd literally ever seen young children, mothers with strollers, walking down the streets. >> in downtown las vegas. >> downtown las vegas. >> that's really amazing. is this something you think that

should go to other places in the united states, other cities that have been going through tough times? >> not just the united states. >> all over the world? >> could be globally. >> yeah. up next, you've heard of buying a fixer-upper, right? how 'bout buying a 1.2-million-square-foot fixer-upper? we'll meet the man who did this, plus an update on a story we brought you a few weeks ago of a couple fighting to keep their home. stick around. [ woman vocalizing ] you can't predict... the market. but at t. rowe price, we can help guide your investments through good times and bad. for over 75 years, our clients have relied on us to bring our best thinking to their investments so in a variety of market conditions... you can feel confident... ...in our experience. call a t. rowe price retirement specialist or your advisor ...to see how we can help make the most of your retirement savings. t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

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♪ >> thanks for staying with us. i'm bob massi, the property man. sometimes when everyone is running one way, you'll find one person going the other direction. that's the case with roland sansone, and he might just save an entire neighborhood by doing it.hink buying a housea big investment, how about buying

75 acres of fading shopping mall? as shoppers flock to the internet in the ever-expanding suburbs, malls across america have faced some real tough times. but that's where one man sees an opportunity to not just bring back the american shopping mall but revitalize an entire neighborhood in the process. throughout the 1970s, the boulevard mall -- well, it was the place to shop in las vegas. it was the first and the most popular shopping mall in the area. but as time marched on, the mall and its surrounding area fell on some hard times. now developer roland sansone is taking a major gamble. he bought the boulevard mall for $54 million and is sinking more than $25 million to complete it. >> this is the old dillard's building. it's approximately 200,000 square feet. it's been vacant for about eight years, and when we purchased the mall, a large portion of the mall was vacant and abandoned. we felt that it had a lot of potential. the upstairs will probably never

be retail again, so we're converting it, as you can see, into office use. we are taking the downstairs and cutting it up for retail. the actual exterior of the mall hasn't seen much change in it. it was built back in the '60s. we are creating a completely new facade on the outside. we're bringing the inside out. >> we've got a lot of out-of-the-box things going on. for example, we've got entertainment, like free magic show on the weekends, live music, live dj. >> the shopping is gonna be like a secondary aspect. the experience will be number one. what we're doing is we're creating what will almost be like a downtown disney feel to the outside. it's awnings, large walkways, landscaping, music. >> ironically, it was the recession and the real-estate crash that allowed them to make this happen. >> a lot of the malls had a lot of heavy debt, which then required large rents, and with the malls going into foreclosure, people like us were able to come around and pick up these malls at a discount and

able to offer discounted rates to people. >> like any city over the years, things change, and this became a blighted area. tell us about what's happened with malls all over the country. >> certain parts of the cities or towns got forgotten or left behind and became blighted. as the neighborhoods turned, these 100-plus malls around the country have become abandoned. now you have what you see -- opportunity for those of us that have a vision for changing the malls into something else. >> particularly in today's day, where so much is done on the internet, a lot of people think malls are extinct. >> it's fun because many people said it can't be done. old malls like this should be torn down and turned in to an apartment complex or something else. but i feel people still want to shop in air conditioning. it's about a new experience. it's about entertainment, dining, and shopping all included as one. >> and now we're gonna walk into a place that was abandoned for years, and, again, you're gonna revitalize that. let's go take a look. >> right. empty for about eight years, so let's see. >> now we're in here, which, basically has been, as you said, abandoned for eight years.

>> finding a big-box user today is, i think, next to impossible. >> what does that mean -- a big-box user? >> 200,000 square feet, which is what this building is, so we're cutting the building up to accommodate smaller users. >> makes it easier to market and get tenants? >> yeah. it's risky because we're doing something without having a tenant signed up. >> it's gonna create jobs and energy and families coming together again. >> it'll create hundreds of jobs -- not a hundred but several hundred jobs. >> this is a pretty aggressive move. so, what do some of your colleagues think about you coming in and doing this venture? >> actually, most of my friends think i'm a little crazy, and they think my vision's a little off the wall for what i have planned for this mall. all i got to say is come back in six months and see what it's gonna look like. >> it's like the american dream again, you know? it's like, "look, believe in us. believe in who we are." and the other thing i liked is you are using local contractors, people in the community, to make this happen. >> turning what used to be a big

box into several different things -- family entertainment downstairs, office use upstairs -- says that with just a little creativity, you can actually transform these old malls that were built back in the '50s and '60s, because i believe you shouldn't abandon america's malls. >> up next, an update on a story we brought you a few weeks ago of a couple fighting to keep their home. stick around. [ woman vocalizing ] at ally bank, no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like vacations equal getting carried away. more proactive selling. what do you think michal? i agree. let's get out there. let's meet these people. unless you have allergies., then your eyes may see it differently. only flonase is approved to relieve both itchy, watery eyes and congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. when we breathe in allergens our bodies react by over producing six key inflammatory substances that

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♪ >> welcome back. i'm bob massi, the property man. a few weeks ago, we met karen and dennis. they hit hard times when they both lost their jobs and the insurance company said they need a new roof. they fell behind on their payments and even turned to selling things on ebay to pay for their bills. i told them the only way out was a loan modification and explained how to approach the banks to get one. time now to check in and see how they're doing. tell us what's happened since the last time we saw you. >> well, we did get a loan modification, and it took a big -- and thanks in large part to your efforts, as well... >> thank you. >> ...we have our head above water at this point, and we're beginning to reorganize things here and inside the house. >> it's taken a whole year. >> now, i know that there was a period of time that you had made payments, so part of the modification was what on what was owed? >> they put the part that i had

missed payments for several months in a row -- they put that at the very end of the loan, so we still have that coming up. >> right. but that's the end of the loan? >> that's the end of the loan. >> so, we have a modification -- signed agreement between all parties? >> yeah. >> okay. you saved a little bit on your monthly payment, which helps. >> couple hundred. it helped. >> everything helped. >> yeah, definitely. >> but, more importantly, what you were concerned about was what was owed. were they gonna make you come up with that money? that allowed you to take a deep breath. >> that's right. >> and so with that -- now, i know you're working now. things are better with you, employment-wise. things are good with you. you successfully made it through some tough times. >> really bad, yeah. >> what's your message to those people who still find themselves wanting to keep their home? >> find someone like you. [ laughter ] >> it's true. >> just keep going and keep going. don't lose faith. >> that's it for today. be sure to send me your questions or property stories at... and check out our website at...

i'm bob massi. i'll see you next week. [ woman vocalizing ] >> i'm bob massi. for 32 years, i've been practicing law and living in las vegas. i help people with all sorts of real-estate problems, from trying to save their homes to closing major deals. eight years ago, 6,000 people a month moved here, looking for employment and affordable homes. little did anyone know that we would become ground zero for the american real-estate crisis. now, it's a different story. the american dream is back. we're gonna meet real people who faced the same problems as millions across america, and we'll dive deep into a city on the rebound because las vegas was a microcosm of america, and now vegas is back. [ woman vocalizing ]