Las Vegas-area development still seems to be on track

Kevin Ferguson

Thursday, Sept. 20, 2001 | 10:55 a.m.

Boeing is cutting 20,000-plus jobs as demand slows for new airliners due to terrorism. Timet's titanium is used in jet engines.

"It's not a matter of if it will impact us, but when and how much," said Mark Wallace, chief financial officer.

"I can't believe Boeing and all these airlines are announcing layoffs when we don't know what's going to happen. We may be going to war," said Rick Taber, president of United Steel Workers of America Local 4856, which represents Timet workers.

Las Vegas real estate expert Richard Lee has some good news, finally, for the beleaguered Southern Nevada economy.

Lee's research of the past few days turned up no cancellations of local nongaming real estate development projects, despite the dramatic decline in business for hotel-casinos after last week's terrorist strikes.

"I haven't seen any (development) cancellations or heard any dialogue of pulling the plug on any projects," said Lee, a real estate consultant for First American Title Co. of Nevada. "We've been out looking and beating the bushes and haven't seen anything."

Those findings were echoed by city staff and planning commissioners for Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, as well as other real estate developers and brokers.

Scott Gragson, a senior vice president for real estate broker Colliers International, said the office, retail and home building sectors won't feel an impact -- if any -- for at least another two to three months.

"It usually starts with the hotels, and if they have a couple of bad weeks, then it will trickle down to the home builders, and then to the office and retail," Gragson said.

Local government planning officials said no development projects have been yanked from planning commission meeting agendas as a result of investor concerns over the terrorism.

Real estate giant American Nevada Corp., developer of the 60,000-resident Green Valley master planned community in Henderson, hasn't postponed or cancelled any projects in the past week.

Phillip Peckman, chief operating officer of the Greenspun Corp., America Nevada's parent company, said it's too early to see any affects of the terrorism on the building industry.

"If you haven't started a project, you may not want to do so at this point. But it's hard to say (what the affects will be)," Peckman said.

He said the company is closely evaluating each future project. American Nevada is under way with construction and planning on substantial commercial development in the Green Valley and Green Valley Ranch areas. It's also a partner with Pulte Homes' Del Webb unit in a major planned community in North Las Vegas.

The Greenspun family owns American Nevada and the Las Vegas Sun.

In western Las Vegas, Summerlin home sales took a dip last week as did the number of visitors to the Summerlin Home Finding Center, but traffic has picked back up this week, said Tom Warden, vice president of community relations for developer Howard Hughes Corp.

"But that could be because people were staying close to home last week and watching the television," Warden said, noting that Hughes has not cancelled or delayed any retail or office developments as a result of last week's tragic events.

Tod Little, chief executive of Silver State Bank, said his bank has not cancelled loan agreements with local developers because of fears that a project may fail because of the slowing economy.

"What's going to happen (if the economy dives), sales will slow down for developers and they will stop planning so many projects," Little said. "Nobody's interested in building things people are not going to buy."

Collier's Gragson said he hasn't had any escrows canceled since the Sept. 11 hijackings that triggered jitters in the business community. He said Colliers closed a few commercial land deals worth a couple million dollars in the past week.

Little, who said he's "cautiously optimistic" in the long-term economy, said there's no question the short-term will be tough.

Describing how the short-term economy will be hurt by cancelled travel plans, Little cited his own plans to not attend a banking conference in October in Washington, D.C. He said he's not going because of the airline hassles he thinks he would have to endure.

"The airline's not going to get (the money) from my ticket. The baggage guy is not going to get my $5 tip. The hotel is not going to get my $400, $500, or $600 for the room, and the restaurants I would eat in are not going to get my $40 or $50," Little said. "And I'm just one little guy."

He said he may go to the conference if it's rescheduled for sometime next year and if the travel industry settles down by then.

"It's not worth the hassle, right now," he said.