Firms OK’d for incentives to come to Nevada

Kevin Rademacher

Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004 | 10:56 a.m.

Three companies expanding or moving to the Las Vegas Valley, and promising to create at least 122 new jobs, received state incentives on Wednesday from the Nevada Commission on Economic Development.

One of the companies, Lyon Mercantile Group Inc., said the relocation of its headquarters from New York City to Las Vegas was based almost entirely on the presence of the still-under-construction World Market Center.

Lyon provides credit reporting services to the giftware and furniture industries, making a location close to the developing furniture market a natural fit, said Gregg Thaler, Lyon's director of marketing and business development.

"Their presence here was actually a key determinant in our decision to relocate here," Thaler said, adding that the company also is looking to expand its services to include financial and accounting outsourcing services to small and mid-sized companies.

Somer Hollingsworth, chief executive of the Nevada Development Authority, said the presence of Lyon is likely to be a sign of things to come as the furniture market attracts ancillary businesses to Las Vegas.

"It's going to be a big draw for us," he said. "I think we are going to see some manufacturing, a lot of assembly and then we have situations like this we never would have thought of wanting to be close to this."

Thaler also said that Lyon is looking to provide construction companies with similar credit reporting services, allowing contractors and subcontractors insight into the payment and billing tendencies of their possible business partners.

Lyon received $3,878 in sales and use tax abatement from the commission. Lyon, which has an office at 7924 W. Sahara Ave., told the commission it would have 17 employees and an average wage of $45.06 an hour by the end of 2005. Thaler said that employee count was conservative and after the meeting predicted at least 25 employees and increasing prospects for the future.

"We believe we are in an explosive growth mode," he said.

Also receiving incentives was Interglobal Nutritional Products Inc., which is considering moving its nutritional supplements plant to Las Vegas from San Bernadino, Calif.

The commission granted Interglobal $450,075 in sales and use tax abatement and deferrals. Interglobal, if it completes the move, said it would spend $6 million on a local plant and hire at least 32 employees in the first year, eventually employing more than 100 workers.

The commission granted $125,209 in sales and use tax abatement and deferrals to Unicache North America Inc. The company said it would create 73 jobs in its effort to develop and market a cash remittance system. The debit-card-like product would allow consumers without a bank relationship or credit card to transmit money to other countries without fees associated with competing services.

The incentive approvals for the Clark County projects came after a long debate over a request for incentives for printing giant RR Donnelley. That company was seeking $2.7 million in incentives for the third expansion of its Reno plant.

The commission's 3-3 vote on the proposal denied the request, but left open the option of Donnelley resubmitting a modified request.

The commission questioned the incentives-per-job rate of $128,439 for the Donnelley package.