Unhappy with Vegas, company moving to Mesquite

Cy Ryan and Richard N. Velotta

Thursday, Sept. 11, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.

A company that wants to pull out of Las Vegas and build an expanded plant in Mesquite gained sales tax and personal property tax benefits for the Mesquite project from the state Economic Development Commission Wednesday.

Nutri-Pharmaceuticals Research Inc., which turns liquids into powder to make herbal and dietary supplements and vitamins, plans to purchase 12 acres in Mesquite as part of an $8 million investment.

The company's 15,000-square-foot plant is now at Polaris Avenue and Spring Mountain Road and Godfrey Yew, president and chief executive of the company, said the firm wanted to expand.

He told the commission, however, he could not afford land in Las Vegas and did not feel welcome in the Las Vegas Enterprise Park at Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards, where he was thinking of relocating, and he "decided to depart Las Vegas permanently."

Jody Mack of the Nevada Development Authority told the commission that Wyoming, Virginia and West Virginia were trying to interest the firm to move to those states. "This company does not have to remain in Nevada," she said.

Mack said the fallout with the enterprise zone involved a misunderstanding between City of Las Vegas officials and the 10-year-old company over how much assistance the company could receive if it moved to the redevelopment area.

Yew said his company was welcomed warmly by Mesquite officials and that Nutri-Pharmaceuticals would be the first operation in the new 600-acre Mesquite Commerce and Technology Center. He said 10 of the company's 25 employees already have agreed to move to Mesquite and that others could keep their jobs if they move.

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, chairwoman of the commission, said this company was on "the cutting edge of technology." She said it will bring a lot of attention to Nevada and could act as a "magnet for Mesquite" to draw other companies to that area.

The commission granted a sales and use tax abatement, a sales tax deferral and a personal property tax abatement, worth more than $100,000 in savings to the company, which sells all its products outside Nevada.

The average wage for its employees is $18.04 an hour and Yew said there would be 40 employees at the 80,000 square foot plant in Mesquite, which should open in the third quarter of 2004. There would be enough room for a second expansion of 40,000 square feet and a third expansion of 30,000 square feet, Yew said.

At the close of the meeting Commissioner Sara Beth Brown of Reno asked the staff for a report on why Nutri-Pharmaceuticals was not welcome at the enterprise park in Las Vegas.

The commission also approved tax deferrals or abatements worth more than $500,000 for Harley-Davidson Financial Services to remain in Carson City. The company has 425 employees and is losing its lease at its present location in November next year. It says it can either find another location in Carson City or move to Texas.

In other business Bob Shriver, executive director of the commission, briefed members on the upcoming trade-tourism mission to China.

The group of 24-25, to be headed by Hunt, will leave Nevada Oct. 9 and will make stops in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.