NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – City leaders in North Las Vegas are making a bold claim that they’re taking the lead on diversifying the economy in Southern Nevada.
The city is competing on a national level to get big businesses there, and it’s working.
The industrial boom in North Las Vegas didn’t just happen overnight. There was a strategic effort to bring big businesses here.
According to city leaders, cutting through the red tape has them seeing green. Fortune 500 companies and global brands like Amazon, Crocs, Smith’s and Sephora now call North Las Vegas home.
Industrial buildings bigger than football fields are popping up in the desert in areas like Apex Industrial Park.
But it’s not like city leaders are running away from sports, casinos and tourism which is what the Strip is known for. Take it from Jared Luke, the Director of Government Affairs and Economic Development with the City of North Las Vegas.
“We love the gaming sector, and we’re not trying to take away from that. I mean, they’re kind of the lifeblood of the valley,” Luke said. “But because of that lifeblood and the attractiveness of the valley, we’ve had a massive influx of folks moving into the Las Vegas Valley, and those people need jobs.”
Luke says around 45-70,000 jobs could come to the area over the next 10-12 years, depending on the types of companies that come in.
The Economic Development director says that’s because city leaders run their government like a business.
“Money in the private sector is not patient, so the municipality needs to move at the speed of business,” Luke said. “The sooner that you can get your doors open, the sooner that you can start being profitable on your new venture.”
That process is moved along with expedited permitting and grading, and a self-certification program that Luke can move at breakneck speed.
“We have had programs in the past where we’ve been able to give a permit at the table right there on the same day,” Luke said.
Because of this, North Las Vegas ranks third and fifth in the country for largest industrial properties completed in the first half of 2024, according to a recent report from Commercial Search.
Big businesses coming to town helped the city turn things around financially.
“Through what we call ‘grownomics’, primarily up in Apex, we attracted new businesses to the valley and to the city that created jobs, long-term, sustainable career type jobs and a new tax base for the city,” he said.
That new tax base has helped the city reinvest in the community with expanded police and fire service, new parks, roads and amenities… making it one of the fastest-growing cities in Nevada.
Former mayor, John Lee tells FOX5, leaders planned to diversify the economy back in 2013. City leaders say that’s led to a population boom, growing by more than 25% since 2013, and a meteoric annual budget increase by almost 140%, now sitting at over $1 billion.
The industrial expansion is not just limited to the City of North Las Vegas.
Commercial Search ranked Las Vegas seventh in the country in terms of cities slated for the biggest industrial expansions compared to current stock since the beginning of the year.
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