Company holds groundbreaking in North Las Vegas

Wednesday, July 6, 2005 | 11:05 a.m.

A ceremonial groundbreaking for the San Diego-based technology company Qualcomm Inc. was held Tuesday, but construction on the new North Las Vegas facility won't begin until the end of the year.

Construction on the 265,000 square-foot Qualcomm facility is expected to cost more than $100 million will employ 125 people in five years and is expected to be complete by the Spring of 2007, said Paul Jacobs, the company's chief executive. The facility will be located on 32-acres of land in the Cheyenne Technology Corridor at the corner of Cheyenne Avenue and Valley Drive.

Senmate Minority Leader Harry Reid, UNLV President Carol Harter, North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon and other officials were on hand for the ceremony. During the ceremony officials said the new Qualcomm facility is set to attract more technology firms and other ancillary businesses eager to benefit from Qualcomm's presence.

The Hazmat Emergency Response Operations and Information Center (HEROIC), a partnership between the federal government, Qualcomm and UNLV will also be housed at the facility. Reid led an effort in the Senate to earmark $4 million for the partnership. The program could potentially track the 800,000 daily truck shipments of hazardous materials nationwide, and would be used to provide emergency responders information about the contents of a truck and how to handle an accident or an attack on a shipment.