I am so glad to be living and working in the Las Vegas economy. Living and working here keeps me busy and engaged, because our economy is always in flux and always changing. I left Cleveland 16 years ago and the market there is not much different than it was then, but Vegas change is constant and analyzing the market to predict the future is difficult and a fun challenge. My dad taught me to pay attention to ALL the local news, because a real estate market is dependent on events that happen in every corner and throughout the community. In this year of great political change, I find myself comparing my analysis methods with the political pundits, who look at any/every tiny detail as an indicator of what is to come.
Back before the “Great Recession”, I frequently blogged and preached in class that Southern Nevada could easily be grown into a major (perhaps THE major) economic and transportation hub for the west coast. I saw that with some economic diversity and infrastructure improvements, the Las Vegas Metro area could become significantly more than just America’s playground, it could become one of the most important and significant technology/light industry centers of the world! That possibility is well on its way to reality.
Buy your Vegas investment properties this Summer, because by the time 2017 rolls around, I foresee the beginning of a shortage of rental homes, which will only to grow exponentially over the next few years.
Southern Nevada seems to be coming out of the Great Recession a changed city. Yes, casino’s and entertainment still dominate the local economy, but the list of alternative industries is growing, and growing FAST!!! I believe that in the not too distant future, Vegas will be known for several industries, not just gaming and entertainment.
The Great Recession was mainly about real estate and hit Las Vegas harder than any other American city. While other cities caught up long ago, we still have a long way to go to get back to before the crisis, but we are still heading in the right direction and will get there. When we do, we will find a very different Las Vegas.
The recent period of great economic stress on the Southern Nevada economy finally convinced city, county and state officials that it was important to diversify. As a result, legislation was passed, money poured into marketing and promotions and now, several large employers have moved (or are planning to move) to the valley. Not only are they building factories and commercial centers, but they are hiring entire new employees in the tens of thousands, driving a regional emigration to come work in Las Vegas. The word on the street is anywhere between 15-20,000 additional direct employees will be hired in the next 3-5 years, bring with them the “ripple effect” of all those earnings to the local area.
• Zappos.com was the first to commit to Las Vegas and moved to Downtown after renovating and improving quite a bit of frontage there. They hired 3000 employees.
• NV Energy built a new gas fired power plant with added capacity of over 700 megawatts.
• Tesla has $5 billion dollar plans to build auto & household batteries in a new and huge plant, hiring 6500 employees.
• Faraday Future just struck a billion dollar deal to build electric cars in a sprawling new planned factory in the Apex industrial center, hiring up to 4500 employees.
• The first Ikea is opening in the valley and bringing 300 permanent jobs.
• Hyperloop Technologies Inc., announced it will build a test facility for a futuristic transportation system in North Las Vegas. I am sure there is much more to come.
• Sutherland Global recently announced that they will open a 2,000-employee operations center in Las Vegas
In addition, the normal cycle of build and rebuild for casinos downtown and on the strip is in full swing with The Riviera the next casino to be replaced, making room for the convention authority to expand. In addition, Resorts World International is also building a massive entertainment complex with 7000 room hotel, casino and arena, bringing 13,000 permanent jobs to the site which formerly held the Stardust. There are also plans being considered for other redevelopment on the south side of the strip.
My father always said, “Sales Breed Sales”, meaning that a successful sale in a community will draw the community’s attention, enticing more clients to hire us. He was right, but not just for real estate and auction sales, in Las Vegas, “growth brings more growth” and “diversity brings more diversity”!
For example, a year after Tesla and shortly after the Faraday Futures announcement, Las Vegas and the APEX Industrial Park popped up on the radar of several smaller companies looking to relocate or expand.
In the opinion of John Boyd, president of The Boyd Company, a New Jersey-based site-selection consulting firm, Southern Nevada, with the arrival of Faraday, could be poised to become a magnet for the auto industry of the future. “It’s the dawn of a new era for this industry,” he said in an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal. “Nevada, because of its business climate, is going to be capitalizing on that.”
Boyd also indicated that in addition to other companies that will supply its plant, Faraday will attract more high-tech brain power to the region and could entice big corporations to not Of The Faraday & Tesla Las Vegas Projects, “It’s a trophy project and will have long-range implications in the years ahead. There will be global focus on the business climate advantage of Southern Nevada,” said John Boyd, president of The Boyd Company, a New Jersey-based site-selection consulting firm. “It’s making Nevada the center of gravity for the new auto industry.” http://www.reviewjournal.com/…/faraday-futures-nevada-facto…
In addition to the infrastructure improvement for these new industries, general municipal infrastructure improvements are also in full swing. The county is putting the finishing touches on their airport expansion, there are sewer expansion project and road resurfacing projects plaguing drivers all over the metro area and several parks have gotten or are getting “face lifts”. After several years of lean operation and postponing work, employment in Vegas is now readily available and creating/boosting incomes across the socioeconomic strata. I truly believe there were more orange construction barrels in the valley this holiday season than Christmas trees! And it’s getting worse, not better as the year progresses.
Here are just some of the major projects planned or already underway in Southern Nevada, which over the next three years, will have more than $12 billion in capital expenses and spur economic development throughout the valley.
• Resorts World Las Vegas, Strip resort project — $4 billion: A 3,000-room resort at the former site of the Stardust and Echelon. It would be the first Strip megaresort to be built in Las Vegas in close to seven years.
• Las Vegas Global Business District, Las Vegas Convention Center refurbishment — $2.3 billion: Convention Center overhaul would include a home for the World Trade Center and incorporate a transportation hub to accommodate several modes of transportation, including buses, taxis, the Las Vegas Monorail and, possibly, light rail.
• Project Neon, Spaghetti Bowl freeway interchange project — $1.8 billion: The state’s largest public works project. It will include the redesign of several freeway exits and the construction of high-occupancy-vehicle flyover bridge designed to ease traffic on the merge of southbound U.S. Highway 95 to southbound Interstate 15 as well as its northbound counterpart.
• Union Village, integrated health village in Henderson — $1.4 billion: Tabbed as the largest integrated healthcare facility in the world, ground has been broken on the 158-acre project that would include a world-class hospital complex and health center, residential, entertainment and specialty retail space, a senior retirement community and a civic and cultural arts center integrated into a master-planned community.
• Switch, digitally connected data storage center — $1 billion: The expansion of the Supernap project in Southern Nevada is being coupled with similar facilities in Reno, Northern California and Southern California. When completed, it would be the largest looped data system in the country.
• First Solar, solar power plant near Primm — $1 billion: The massive field of mirrors and towers in the desert straddling the Nevada-California border.
• Downtown Summerlin, retail center by Howard Hughes Corp. — $500 million: The first phase of Downtown Summerlin has already opened. Located next door to the Red Rock Resort, the center also may someday be home to the AAA baseball stadium for the Pacific Coast League, Las Vegas 51s.
• T-Mobile Arena, MGM Resorts International 20,000-seat stadium — $375 million: Just west of the New York-New York property at Interstate 15 and Tropicana Avenue, the arena, already under construction, will handle large entertainment events, boxing matches and maybe, someday, a National Hockey League or National Basketball Association franchise.
• Interstate 11-Boulder City bypass, state highway project near Boulder City — $350 million: Destined to be the first piece of Interstate 11, a freeway linking the two largest cities without an interstate highway connection, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Decades from now, it will be a portion of the Canamex Highway linking Canada and Mexico, serving as a primary route for goods arriving at ports in Mexico.
The Apex industrial park is a huge set aside of industrial land for development just north of Las Vegas. It is where the Farday plant, the new NV Energy power generating station and many other new industries that are coming to the valley will be/are located. Recent state legislation was passed giving tax breaks, providing infrastructure and other incentives to develop the property.
According to a recent Las Vegas Sun article on the project,“An analysis of building out the 7,000 currently developable acres at Apex shows very impressive numbers; that a fully occupied Apex could generate 52,960 direct jobs and 116,439 total jobs with an annual economic impact of $23.7 billion
— or just over 20 percent of the region’s current GDP. In total, $175 million in infrastructure improvements are planned for Apex, with $35 million designated for water and the remainder allocated to road and rail upgrades.” http://lasvegassun.com/…/faraday-deal-will-spur-new-era-of…/
I am impressed with that kind of commitment and believe that if only 15% of that potential is realized in the next decade, it will cause steady and growing pressure on the ability of the housing market to serve these new employees.
All of this, telling me to tell you to invest in Las Vegas real estate this Summer.
Jay Rosen, Broker/Manager
Since 1917 Realty & Property Management in Las Vegas
Rosen1917@yahoo.com
http://kickfiremarketing.com/…/Things-are-going-to-start-ha…
