Greg Beato on Urban Renewal, Corporate-Style

In December 2010, Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, an online retailer, announced plans to move the company's thousand-plus employees from an office park in Henderson, Nevada, to the old Las Vegas City Hall. In 2011, he leased 50 units in a luxury high-rise in the neighborhood, and he and some of his Zappos.com co-workers moved in. He's hoping more will follow—Zappos.com employees and anyone else who wants to live in a lively, community-oriented urban neighborhood near his eight-acre worksite. It's something he calls The Downtown Project, writes Greg Beato.