The 6,000 revelers who used to wait for the invitation to Atlanta developer Charlie Hendon’s annual party in Las Vegas will have to keep waiting. Maybe for next year.
The party was an annual highlight at the International Council of Shopping Centers retail convention, which starts Sunday and will attract about 30,000. That's tracking ahead of last year, but still well below 2008, when attendance was 48,000.
The convention attracts scores of Atlanta brokers, developers, investors and lenders involved in the retail industry.
Hendon’s party, known as Hendon Rocks, was held for all but one of the last 14 years at the Las Vegas meeting. Part frat party and part rock extravaganza, it featured live bands, free flowing booze and lots of people wanting to blow off steam.
For the 2008 party held at the Palms Casino Resort, women threw t-shirts into the crowd of 6,000 partying around a pool and two stages.
Last year, Hendon scaled the party down to about 3,000. And this year? Zero.
“I’m going out, I’ve got a booth and I’m very busy in terms of appointments,” said Hendon, who owns North DeKalb Mall and is a partner in Greenbriar Mall, a property that narrowly avoided foreclosure this year. “But I am not doing a party this year. The economy is awful and that’s certainly part of the decision.”
Another part, he said, is that the convention is ending early and he’s not sure how many people would stay for the night of his fiesta. The only other time he has cancelled his party was also due the convention’s schedule change, he said.
Still, the parties will go on.
Atlanta retail brokerage The Shopping Center Group will host a party for about 2,500, Atlanta law firm Hartman Simons and Wood will host nearly 900, and Atlanta firm Arnall Golden Gregory will have a dinner for 50.
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