Development, redevelopment plans inching forward in North Las Vegas

By Brian Sodoma

Friday, July 24, 2009 | 6 a.m.

When it comes to the future growth of their city, the city of North Las Vegas’ economic and redevelopment brass would love to tell us about the huge strides made in the past year. But officials agree, they’ll have to enjoy the small steps for now, while keeping a long-term focus.

Mike Majewski, North Las Vegas’ economic development director, reserves much of his enthusiasm for long-term developments. He recently talked up the future University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus in the city, which will probably break ground about four years after master planning on the first building is complete and approved, most likely in the next legislative session.

While UNLV’s campus is shaping into a 2015 ground breaking, Majewski is excited about the Veterans Affairs hospital currently under construction in the northern part of the city, not far from the future UNLV campus.

“I see that (a future partnership between UNLV and the VA hospital) as being a real potential for doing research and bringing leading edge technology to the area,” Majewski said.

The new hospital will bring about 2,000 jobs to the area when it opens at the end of 2010 — some new and some transplanted from other areas of the valley.

Industrial space questions

Long known for its wealth of industrial land opportunities for investors and business owners, demand for industrial land and space has waned, to say the least, in North Las Vegas. Majewski points to strides being made by land owners in the Las Vegas Speedway area and Apex Industrial Park, which are bringing infrastructure improvements to both areas, as current positives.

Meanwhile, the northeast region Majewski is discussing makes up a northeast research region for Applied Analysis, a Southern Nevada economic research firm. Unfortunately, the area also has the worst industrial vacancy rate in the valley of 16.1 percent for the first quarter 2009. Valleywide industrial vacancy for the same quarter is at 10.5 percent, said Brian Gordon, an Applied Analysis principal.

“It’s a superb location, being off the I-15. Access for distributors and the ability to get in and out of there is important, and tenants historically sought out that area,” Gordon said. “But with the downturn in the economy, it’s being affected like other parts of the valley. No submarket is immune to this.”

Peggy Proestos, the business development manager for the city of North Las Vegas, said that having available industrial space helped bring in some companies in the past year, including Monster Cable.com. Others, such as Amazon.com and Priority Plastics, formerly known as Show Me Containers, expanded operations.

“(Priority Plastics) came here from the Midwest three years ago and have grown from 48,000 to 102,000 square feet. Between leasing new space and adding equipment, they spent over $13 million,” she said. “With Monster Cable, our friends in Henderson (economic development) called, and we had the land and we had the building available for them.”

Others businesses that moved to the area in the past year include: Amazon.com, which signed a five-year, $8.6 million lease for more than 280,000 square feet of industrial space, and GE Transportation, a division of General Electric, which signed a 10-year lease earlier this year for 87,000 square feet. In addition, Three Square, a nonprofit food bank, opened its building on land it purchased in 2007.

“I don’t think we’ll ever match the pace of 2005. But it hasn’t been stagnant. It hasn’t completely stopped.”

Proestos also said there have been some small companies coming to the area in the past year. She said North Las Vegas Tequila Co., a “green” multipurpose cleaner manufacturer and several restaurants along the Craig Road corridor are examples of smaller businesses coming to the city.

“We seem to be seeing more of those smaller companies with a ‘green’ focus coming in,” she added.

Fifth Street, redevelopment

Larry Bender, redevelopment manager for the city of North Las Vegas, says redevelopment plans are still in place for the city despite several setbacks due to the economy.

Bender highlights the area’s Fifth Street corridor and the importance of current widening efforts downtown as well as its extension north to the Clark County 215 as important facets of the redevelopment plans.

“It’s not redevelopment, per se, but it will help drive traffic downtown,” Bender said.

Equally important to redevelopment is the now under-construction $142 million city hall at 2250 N. Las Vegas Blvd., just north of the Silver Nugget casino. The site also will house an events center and about 3,000 square feet of retail space. Planning and public works will relocate to the new city hall in 2011, upon its completion. Meanwhile, the municipal courts and police headquarters will be located on Civic Center Drive, just north of Lake Mead Boulevard, where public works and planning is currently located. Currently, a police substation is located next door to North Vista Hospital, which could use the space to expand its operations. With the movement of the public works, space will be freed up for the jails, police and courts to be located “all in one place and all within walking distance of the new city hall,” said Bender.

With an economic turnaround, new government facilities in the city’s urban core and an expanded North Vista Hospital, Bender said the owners of Jerry’s Nugget and Silver Nugget casinos will likely move forward with their currently on-hold expansion plans.

The Los Flores factor

One project very much holding the key to the future of downtown redevelopment is the 352,000-square-foot, $100 million Los Flores project at the northwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Hamilton Street. Permits are being finalized, said Michael Townsend, chief operating officer for Montecito Cos., the development manager. But retailers are waiting on the sidelines for the economy to show some signs of life before signing leases.

“We (as developers) have taken this thing about as far as we can go,” Townsend said. “There’s been some waffling going on, and we can’t get commitments out of larger national or regional tenants. … The interest is very, very good. But it’s hard to move forward with 1,000- or 2,000-square-foot commitments when you’ve got 100,000-, 30,000- and 70,000-square-foot sites open.”

Townsend is hoping to break ground within 12 months. He was hoping to have the project completed and open next summer, but financing can’t be arranged until 55 to 60 percent of the space is leased, he said.

The 32-acre site is owned outright by Texas-based Sarofim Realty Advisors, which, with an unencumbered parcel, are in a good position to “play the waiting game,” Townsend added.

I don’t think it’s going to be too much longer of a wait. … People are starting to look around. Probably after the first of the year, then we’ll see more activity,” he added.