Three years ago, five developers talked to North Las Vegas city officials about a plan to join forces and transform a five-mile stretch of Cheyenne Avenue into a technology corridor that would attract quality companies, both locally and from other states. Their vision of a Cheyenne Technology Corridor is rapidly becoming a reality.
The Community College of Southern Nevada (CCSN) and the North Las Vegas Airport joined the partnership and other local technology service companies came on board. The result is that Cheyenne Avenue, between CCSN on the east and the airport on the west at Decatur Boulevard, is attracting companies requiring facilities for research and development, administrative centers, manufacturing and a variety of other needs. The city of North Las Vegas has provided infrastructure that makes it easy for new companies to have their communications and other high-tech systems running smoothly.
The partners began developing the corridor, which already has some large industrial facilities, more than a year ago. One of the new projects, NorthPort Business Center, is nearly completely leased and has attracted two major companies, DynCorp and C. Martin Company Inc. DynCorp provides information services technology to government and business clients and C. Martin builds and manages ranges for military installations.
“We are estimating that 10,000 jobs will be created and 4 million square feet (of facilities) will be developed in the next five years,” said Mike Majewski, North Las Vegas’ director of economic development, about projected growth along the corridor.
The five developers collaborating on the project are Brennan Brothers, Harsch Investment Properties, Jackson Shaw Company, RDS/Insight, LLC and Stoltz Management. “We had five major competitors that saw the benefits of developing here,” Majewski said. He explained the city did not want to work with just one developer, but preferred to have a group in order to create a corridor with a strong business base. He believes spinoff projects will be built by other developers that will complement the
projects created by the original five.
“We took an inventory of what assets we had around the city and Cheyenne appeared on the radar screen,” Majewski said of the initial discussions with the developers. The partnership liked the location because of its proximity to the airport, which has facilities for smaller or corporate aircraft, and the community college, which is developing new facilities for high-tech training.
The corridor has easy access to Interstate 15, U.S. Highway 95 and the new northern Beltway, Interstate 215, which will facilitate transportation to the Las Vegas Strip, McCarran International Airport and other destinations in the Las Vegas Valley.
North Las Vegas also developed an excellent fiber-optic network that can be utilized by companies along the corridor. Advanced Cyber Solutions, a member of the coalition, provides telecommunications services to the corridor. Communications to the area are routed through Colocation Gateways. The facility, which is in the local telecommunications corridor, is Las Vegas’ leading colocation and interconnect facility. It provides a secure location for companies to store their servers and other telecommunications equipment.
The community college’s role is to provide high-tech training for students who are potential employees for companies in the corridor, Majewski said. Its Engineering Technology Department has partnered with Sprint Corp. on a program to train students in fields such as high-speed data transmission and other telecommunications. Cisco Systems selected the department as its partner in a regional academy designed to provide high-tech training to Southern Nevada. The college also plans to build an 80,000-square-foot telecommunications facility to enhance its high-tech programs.
North Vegas officials believe the project will create jobs for the city’s rapidly growing residential areas. The city is experiencing a 9 percent annual growth rate in population and has several residential projects under development. The city has high hopes for residential development on a 7,500-acre parcel of land just north of the corridor, which is being released in phases by the Bureau of Land Management. Two homebuilders, American Nevada Corp. and Del Webb Corp., have joined forces to build Aliante, a 1,900-acre master-planned community that could have as many as 7,500 homes and a population of 20,000 in the next few years. The corridor also is not far from Summerlin, the giant northwest Las Vegas community. The partners believe there is nothing quite like their project in the Las Vegas Valley.
“It’s a rather unique alignment,” said Kirt Klaholtz of Stoltz Management. “Our alliance is going to help all the developers in the city of North Las Vegas. We are going to provide a service not available in the rest of the community.”
Mike Carroll of Jackson Shaw agreed. “It’s unheard of for five developers to work together this closely,” he said. “We really support each other and hold monthly meetings to discuss our projects.” Although the developers are in competition, they are cooperating by recommending clients to their coalition partners when their own developments are not what the clients are seeking. Majewski’s economic development agency is also involved and gives out-of-state companies a rundown on each developer’s project.
Jackson Shaw’s NorthPort Business Center is located on 24 acres on the south side of Cheyenne on both sides of Allen Lane. In addition to DynCorp and C. Martin Co., NorthPort has Sunterra Corp., a time-sharing operation with 450 employees that has relocated its headquarters from Orlando, Fla. to a 55,000-square-foot building in the center. Payroll Solutions, which handles payrolls for other companies, and Future Fun, which distributes health and beauty products, are also in the park. The company has leased most of the 126,000 square feet of space in the park and is looking for tenants for an additional 80,000 square feet it has completed. The company plans another 90,000 square feet by the end of the year. Carroll said facilities can be modified to handle a variety of business operations, from high-tech users to distributors and manufacturers. “I think the demand for space in this next phase is going to be real strong because of the population explosion in this area,” said Carroll.
Stoltz became involved when its parent company, Stoltz Management of Delaware Inc., acquired Hughes Cheyenne Center three years ago. The 209-acre master-planned project has land both east and west of Martin Luther King Boulevard on the southwest side of the corridor. The center features “big box” buildings designed for large office-warehouse users and is home to such large companies as Federal Express and Frito Lay. Stoltz owns three of the buildings for a total of 376,000 square feet, which are 50 percent occupied. Klaholtz said the company is working hard to have 100 percent occupancy and recently gained another tenant when the Clark County Election Department signed on. It has also attracted companies such as M&M Trucking and Creative Light Source, which makes custom-lighting fixtures.
Stoltz Management plans to develop 200,000 square feet of space on the 12 acres it owns in the park and is trying to acquire 38 adjoining acres to develop another 600,000 square feet. Stoltz will lease or sell the space and will build to suit for clients who want a certain type of facility. “Future buildings will be more like high-tech centers,” he explained. “We plan to attract clients that need the latest in communication technology and high-tech services.”
RDS/Insight’s Cheyenne West Corporate Center, a 40-acre mixed-used business park, has completed about one-fourth of the half million square feet it plans to develop on the site, which is on the southeast corner of Cheyenne and Simmons Street. The first phase was 80 percent leased by mid-June and includes a corporate headquarters-type building, a flex office building that can be modified to various uses and a mid-bay industrial building, which is the largest of the three with 52,000 square feet. Tenants are being sought for the recently completed second phase, which has 47,000 square feet. A larger third phase with 170,000 square feet is scheduled for completion late this year. Plans call for the fourth phase to include restaurants, a daycare center and a medical facility to provide services for tenants and nearby residents. The company also plans a hotel designed to accommodate business travelers.
“We are still in the early phases of development, but we have already signed a lease with a high-profile cellular company,” said Rick Smith of RDS/Insight. Some of the other tenants in the park include the Veterans Administration, Manpower Inc. and Gorilla Inc., which markets collectibles such as classic guitars.
Harsch Investments, which purchased 40 acres on the northeast corner of Revere and Cheyenne more than a year ago, has a different strategy than the other five developers. It plans to develop a commercial center that will concentrate on smaller businesses. Harsch, a regional company based in Portland, Ore., has developed 6 million square feet of industrial space in the Las Vegas Valley. Seventy percent of its more than 1,000 tenants lease 3,000 feet or less, said Ralph Murphy, vice president and regional manager. “We are confident there is a demand for this type of space,” Murphy said. “We think the amount of residential growth in North Las Vegas and the continued evolution of the Cheyenne corridor will create a strong demand for smaller companies.”
The park will attract a variety of tenants, from service-oriented companies to small manufacturers and distributors of products, he said. “We are going to lease space to businesses that have grown too big to be run out of a home or garage,” Murphy predicted. Construction on the first phase, which will include two buildings with a total of 100,000 square feet, is scheduled to be completed early next year, with a similar second phase to follow.
Brennan Brothers is developing the Cheyenne Valley project, a 100-acre-plus master-planned, mixed-use business park offering the most versatile land use in the area. The property, located at Cheyenne Avenue and Valley Drive, features the largest parcels in the corridor. According to partner Lyle Brennan, the substantial surrounding population is currently underserved for retail and other services, making the parcels ideal for banks, professional and medical offices, retail shops, restaurants and food stores. Other planned uses for the land include office, warehouse, flex space, light industrial, corporate campus/headquarters and residential projects. The project’s diversity allows it to be divided into very small units – down to 1,000 square feet – but it can also accommodate large users wanting to build a multi-building developments. Users can choose to purchase, lease, lease with the option to buy, or build-to-suit.
The Brennan Brothers, Lyle and Gary, have more than 70 years’ combined experience in Southern Nevada development. They have developed office parks, healthcare facilities, back office projects, hospitality and retail properties. “Since we are based here in Southern Nevada, decisions can be made almost instantly,” commented Lyle Brennan. “Our projects are often out of the ground while others are still stuck in the boardroom. We can also offer our clients greater flexibility, both in structuring deals and in building their project.”
Cheyenne Valley is in close proximity to the North Las Vegas airport, but is mostly outside the noise impact contour area. Consequently, businesses located within the park will enjoy all the benefits of the state’s second-largest airport with no negative impact from the planes coming and going. “The City of North Las Vegas has done a tremendous job of planning for future growth in the area,” commented Lyle Brennan. “It is our intention, by working with the city, to make Cheyenne Valley, and the entire Cheyenne Technology Corridor, the prototype for future development.”
Large Projects Being Developed in North Las Vegas
Developers are betting on the growth of North Las Vegas and an improved economy in the next few years to stimulate the demand for office-warehouse projects.
“The whole of North Las Vegas is waking up,” said Brad Myers, regional manager for DP Partners of Las Vegas, which is building a 2-million-square-foot industrial park at 3200 E. Gowan Rd., just west of Pecos Road. Myers said North Las Vegas has lagged behind other areas of the Las Vegas Valley in commercial and residential growth, but is now poised for significant development. DP Partners completed a 266,000-square-foot building designed for manufacturing and warehousing in July at its new industrial park.
The $70 million LogistiCenter at North Las Vegas will have seven buildings with a combined 2 million square feet of industrial space when it is completed in the next three to five years, Myers said. DP Partners had commitments for about half of the space by early summer and did not anticipate problems in leasing.
The developers of the Golden Triangle Office Park at Craig Road and Interstate 15 are taking a cautious approach and waiting to see what the market does before deciding the final size of their project, said Donna Alderson of CB Richard Ellis, which is handling the leasing. Construction was started this summer on two new buildings that will expand the industrial center from 1.5 million square feet to 2 million square feet of manufacturing-distribution space and a total of eight buildings. This phase will be completed in the first quarter of next year.
The Operating Engineers Fund of Pasadena, Calif. is developing the 200-acre Alexander/Pecos Industrial Park, named after the intersection where it is located. H&Z LLC completed 50,000 square feet of space this summer in the center, which is designed for smaller industrial users. Partners Kevin Higgins and Jim Zeiter are selling six of the seven buildings in the first phase. Higgins is also senior vice president of Voit Commercial Brokerage, which handles marketing for the park and also for LogistiCenter. The six buildings for sale range in size from 4,000 square feet to 7,500 square feet. The partners plan to lease the seventh building, an 18,000-square-foot multi-tenant facility. Tenants will be able to lease 500-square-foot offices with 1,100 square feet of warehouse space and yards ranging from 700 square feet to 800 square feet. Two or three more phases are planned for the 20-acre site. The developers are also selling eight half-acre lots in the park.
The Commerce Center at Brooks Park, which has nine buildings ranging in size from 5,500 square feet to 10,100 square feet, is scheduled for completion by the end of the third quarter 2003. The buildings in the 10-acre, office-warehouse project are for sale or lease. Jeff Smith of Los Nevados LLC is developing the project and Dan Doherty of Colliers International is marketing the commercial center. “He’s the most prominent small-building developer in North Las Vegas,” said Doherty, who pointed out that Smith has developed 65 free-standing industrial buildings in the community. The center, at the Commerce-Alexander intersection, is about a mile from Interstate 15, via Cheyenne Avenue.