Public/Private Alliance Ushers in a New Era of Development in North Las Vegas

[ By Rick Smith ]

CheyenneWest Corporate Center is located on a 40-acre site near the North Las Vegas Airport. The $50 million complex will approach total buildout by the end of 2006.

The ultimate measure of success in all development lies not so much in arriving at a certain, predetermined cluster of uses, but rather, in achieving a certain, projected level of value. Mixed-use development must begin with a plan that prepares the site for success, not only for its currently targeted markets, but for potential and developing markets, as well. Sometimes, you get lucky, and end up not only with the right product reflecting significant value, but also with a development that has a positive impact on an entire community.

The Greater Las Vegas Valley in Nevada -- including Las Vegas, Henderson and unincorporated Clark County -- has been among the fastest growing geographic areas in the U.S. for the past several years. This has been evident in population and job growth, housing starts and many other economic indicators. Lying most-northerly within this Valley, and most prominent in its emergence, is the City of North Las Vegas. Today it is the third-fastest growing city in the country.

In 1999, when the developers of CheyenneWest Corporate Center (CWCC) purchased 40 acres of raw land near the North Las Vegas Airport, the land stretching to the east and west along Cheyenne Avenue had only begun to develop, with small pockets of isolated industrial buildings. By and large, what remained represented little more than a three-mile stretch of rolling hills, dust and fissures.

In their desire to create a development area with regional impact, the developers of CWCC made a strategic decision in 2000 to seek the cooperation of the City of North Las Vegas and, unprecedented, that of the four neighboring (and competing) major land developers along Cheyenne. This decision, and the resulting cooperation of the City, the developers and, ultimately, the Community College of Southern Nevada, led to the formation of a public/private alliance between the parties and the emergence of what has become the highly successful Cheyenne Technology Corridor (CTC).

A New Planning Paradigm Needed
Prior to the development of CWCC and the establishment of the CTC, commercial development in North Las Vegas had been characterized primarily by industrial parks, featuring concrete tilt-wall buildings of varying sizes, providing light- manufacturing and distribution to the Las Vegas Strip, the greater Valley and to points beyond. There was also a shortage of move-up and executive housing, owing primarily to the scarcity of retail goods and services. That scarcity, in turn, was due to the lack of proximity to existing residential areas and to commercial and industrial centers with sizable employee populations.

In years past, the community had evolved into a place where people worked primarily in lower-paying jobs, with entry-level housing and little retail support. As a consequence, the population of the city would grow by day, as people arrived for work, and shrink by night, as many of those same workers would return to their homes in other, neighboring communities.

Pivotal in contributing to this condition had been an outmoded attitude within the city that areas of development should be exclusive rather than inclusive, that is, residential confined to one area, industrial to another and retail to yet another, with the linkage between those elements generally served only by private vehicles and limited bus service. And, while well intended, this mode of planning had resulted in disjointed segments of development and largely, a community ill-prepared for the rapidly increasing demand for land, growth, goods and services.

Given these fundamentals of the North Las Vegas market, there appeared to be an opportunity, if not a mandate, to challenge the traditional approach to development in the city. Discussions with the mayor, the director of economic development, the Chamber of Commerce and with fellow developers were persuasive that a different paradigm could emerge in North Las Vegas, supported by a new standard of development that would feature elements of mixed uses.

The approval of CheyenneWest Corporate Center with its office, flex-office and retail components, coupled with the emergence of the Cheyenne Technology Corridor, proved to be the catalysts for a new breed of business park in the City of North Las Vegas. Other, expanding opportunities proved equally critical, as a major local developer purchased 1,900 acres from the Bureau of Land Management in a nearby area, annexed into the city, and is well-underway in the development of an upscale, master- planned community.

New Housing, With Retail Close Behind
Featuring housing to meet all segments of the market, appealing new suburban office buildings and a hotel/hospitality element, this very successful, community ultimately will offer significant retail goods and services to local residents. Additional residential communities continue to rise, ranging from multi-family, condominiums and entry-level housing to executive single-family homes, resulting in an expanding and increasingly sophisticated labor force.

Predictably, of course, retail has followed the rooftops. Of greater significance, in keeping with the mixed-use model, support retail has also followed along the path of the new, emerging master-planned business parks, such as CWCC and the others along the CTC. The retail component of CWCC is being developed by a local retail developer.

The emergence and success of CWCC as the first of the City's mixed-use business parks, along with the establishment of the CTC, have been the reward of extraordinary effort and unprecedented cooperation among the parties within the CTC alliance. For its part, the City provided a network of fiber optic cable along the CTC, while private concerns have brought wi-fi capabilities, allowing tenants the benefit of state-of-the-art telecommunications.

In addition, the Community College, in cooperation with Cisco Systems, has developed a career certification program in telecommunications, directly benefiting the CTC alliance and its tech-type tenants. Together, these efforts have generated awareness of the CTC, interest in its capabilities, and, most important, numerous leads resulting in notable tenants and owner/users along the Corridor.

Perhaps most notable among these was the July 2005 ground-breaking by Qualcomm for its 265,000-square-foot, $800 million operations center, which will house its nationwide MediaFLO Network. This new multi-media services network will distribute television and other multi-media services to cellular users with third-generation wireless standards. Also contemplated is yet another public/private partnership, this one involving Qualcomm and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to enhance research and training.

Among other notable successes along the Corridor has been the addition of restaurants, banks, convenience shopping and other retail to serve tenants, owners and their employees, customers and guests. The CTC has received various awards and recognition, and in April 2003, the Economic Development Department of the City of North Las Vegas was selected from more than 500 applicants for the Partnership Award from the International Economic Development Council, in recognition of the CTC. Today, the $50 million CWCC will approach total buildout by the end of 2006, and the CTC continues to grow and thrive. Among CWCC's major tenants are the Veterans Administration, Cingular Wireless, Celebrate Homes, Net One Systems and Horizon Irrigation. About half of the tenants bought rather than leased their facilities.

It may be said that involvement in the planning stages of the development of a mixed-use project is a little like being the parent of a child during the "formative years." Probably the best we can do is to try to instill a solid foundation, along with the flexibility and resilience that will provide healthy options to prepare for success in a dynamic and ever-challenging environment.