The theme was borrowed from the television show, "The Amazing Race," in which contestants race around the globe to compete for a $1 million prize.

Anyone who has tried to traverse the city's roadways on a Friday afternoon knows there was not much racing going on, but with the escalating cost of projects in the valley, the stakes for developers could be much higher than $1 million.

Aaron Kazarian of Tradewinds Design/Build Interiors summed up the brave new world of Las Vegas development projects with one simple statement.

"Billion is the new million," he said.

It was a clear reference to the massive ventures, such as MGM Mirage's $7.4 billion CityCenter being built on the Strip and the proposed $10.5 billion REI Neon project downtown, that have redefined, and some would say erased, the dollar limits placed on development.

While most of the projects in development on the tour, still had pricetags in the millions, the "b" word is becoming more common.

The tour is probably more about networking than information gathering.

Of course, while all of the pertinent statistics, including square footage, property type and leasing prices were available for all of 83 properties listed on the tour, the really valuable information was provided at the lunch before the tour, or at the mixer after the tour.

For many participants, this was not their first rodeo, so old friendships were renewed or pleasantries were exchanged among established business acquaintances.

Still, there was plenty of flesh pressing and cards were being exchanged faster than a group of 12 year olds in the middle of baseball season.

The inside of tour central, which this year was located at the Sport Center on Sunset Road, was filled with booths and resembled a church carnival, complete with the occasional raffle ticket.

Shannon O'Connor, a commercial real estate broker with Commerce CRG, was experiencing her first bus tour as a member of the private sector, but she was no stranger to the action. Last year, she worked for the City of North Las Vegas and manned a booth inside tour central.

"It was a lot different this year," she said. "I'm really still learning my way on this end."

Those who manned booths offered everything from pens, to first “aid kits, to tiny basketballs and footballs to draw people in.

An overhead view of Arroyo Market Square, which is part of The Arroyo, a 450-acre master-planned community being developed by EJM along the Las Vegas Beltway between Rainbow Boulevard and Buffalo Drive. The project includes retail, restaurant, industrial and office space. The Arroyo was among the 83 properties featured on the NAIOP Amazing Bus Tour. Courtesy photo

Meanwhile, those working the room moved from one booth to another, pressing the flesh and grabbing the swag.

This year O'Connor got to be a swag grabber.

"This is kind of nice," she said.

You see, the tour is kind of like a big jigsaw puzzle, or maybe a bunch of small ones. There are several subgroups on the tour and each represents a different puzzle piece.

One piece may be a developer, such as Plise Cos., one of the tour's major sponsors. Another could be the city of North Las Vegas, which is looking to attract new development. Still another might be Kazarian of Tradewinds, who is looking for projects in the works that he can offer his services to.

The idea is to keep moving the pieces around until two that fit come together. Then maybe they add another piece and eventually, when all the pieces come together, a mutually beneficial partnership may develop.

While it's unlikely that the next Project City Center was hatched at the tour, undoubtedly there were a few seeds planted.

The tour itself was really a break in the networking action.

The participants were loaded onto several buses, each with a corporate sponsor and some equipped with adult beverages to make the ride a little more pleasant.

They then embarked on a two-hour trip to either the east side of town or the west side, depending on which side of the valley interested them most.

There used to be one tour covering the whole city but NAIOP decided to split it up this year.

"Some of the feedback we got was from people who said the tour was too long," said Lori Lea, marketing manager at Dekker/Perrich/Sabatini, an architecture firm. "And with all the development in the west now, it would have been even longer."

Lea was one of the tour's sponsors and a companion on our Community Bank-sponsored, alcohol-free bus, which toured the west side.

She also won the unofficial contest for hardest company name to pronounce.

Our bus seemed to be divided between old acquaintances who staked out territory in the front or the back of the bus and newbies who settled into the middle.

The tour guides are not unlike those at Universal Studios, except half of the Las Vegas Valley makes up their back lot.

Personality determined whether a tour guide was going to keep you entertained and ours were pretty good.

Bruce Follmer of CB Richard Ellis and Lisa Gilstrap of Lee and Associates dutifully pointed out all of the pertinent developments along the tour, such as Town Square, the mixed-use development on Las Vegas Boulevard, south of the strip (350,000 square-feet of office space “asking rates $2.75 to $3.10 MG). But they also interspersed a little fun in between, chatting up participants and asking trivia questions, such as "Who is the godfather of baseball player Barry Bonds?"

Willie Mays was the answer, by the way.

Trivia winners either got a free gift, a shirt with a sponsor name on it, or an entry to the drawing to be held later at tour central. Prizes included DVD players and a plasma screen TV and by the end of the tour everybody had at least one entry.

Follmer had everyone reaching for their complimentary first aid kits at one point, as the bus driver slammed on the brakes heading onto I-15 and the guide almost went headlong through the window. He managed to brace himself against the front windshield, however, and an injury that would have made the tour seem more like the real "Amazing Race" was averted.

Participants would occasionally break into private conversations about one property or another, with Kazarian discussing properties with medical office space, since that type of design was his firm's specialty and O'Connor paying more attention than most to all of the information, because "I'm still sort of new to this."

By the time the tour reached Summerlin and headed back along the 215 Beltway, the tour guides began to sound like auctioneers, rattling off one quickly passing property after another.

"Arroyo North Phase II, developer EJM, comprised of three buildings totaling 309,000 square feet. Park West, developer Panattoni Development Company, asking rates $130 to $180. Rainbow Sunset Pavilion, developer Plise, development acreage 25."

The properties were coming so fast, the guides had to take turns talking and sometimes point behind themselves to keep up.

"See what I mean about how fast this part of the valley is growing," Lea interjected.

As the bus arrived back at tour central, the networking began again, but not quite as vigorously.

After a two-hour bus ride and with more food and adult beverages available, people were still attempting to work the room, but most looked like they were ready for a nap.

While most participants said the tour was a great networking opportunity, a few felt the event still ran a little long. One even suggested that if the program is of similar length next year, a more appropriate theme might be "Survivor."