Counties cooperate, compete for companies

A new business moving to northern Nevada benefits everyone because what's good for one county is good for another.

That's what county officials, economic developers and commercial real estate brokers said at last week's Critical Issues Conference put on by the Business Council of Douglas County.

And while that may be true, it is also clear that Douglas, Lyon, Storey and Washoe counties and Carson City, in particular, are competing fiercely for a limited pool of companies looking to locate in northern Nevada.

Douglas County and Carson City, for example, have been involved in a muchpublicized spat over retailers such as Wal- Mart which are locating in north Douglas County and siphoning off sales tax revenues from neighboring Carson City.

But competition is just as ferocious among counties for manufacturing companies that don't generate as much tax revenue as retailers, but usually bring more and better paying jobs to an area.

Right now, for example, "another Niketype company," is trying to decide between locations in Stead in Washoe County and Minden in Douglas County, according to Kris Holt, an advisor with Grubb & Ellis Nevada Commercial Group in Carson City.

That sports-related company, said Holt, who spoke at the conference, will likely make 400 new hires and locate in 350,000 square feet of leased or purchased space.

Another example is The Sherwin- Williams Co., which is still deciding whether to build a plant in northern Nevada and is looking at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center in Storey County and the Nevada Pacific Industrial Park in Fernley, in Lyon County, according to Ron Weisinger, executive director, Northern Nevada Development Authority in Carson City.

"It will be a big investment and the company will hire a lot of people," said Weisinger during his talk at last week's conference.

Those major companies follow the arrival of the much-sought-after Starbucks, which last year located a roasting plant in Minden.

The coffee company had been courted by both Douglas County and Fernley's Nevada Pacific Industrial Park.

"I would have bet the house, the car and the cat that Starbucks would not go to Douglas County," said Mary Lou Bentley, executive director,Western Nevada Development District, during her conference talk.

"But Minden was where Starbucks management wanted to live."

Bentley says she understands why Starbuck's executives would rather live in Douglas County, but as the head of WNDD, which works to develop the needed infrastructure for seven northern Nevada counties, she strives, like a mother with seven children, to love each county equally.

She and others said each area, and each business park, offers it own advantages and disadvantages.

Reno, for example, has the amenities of a metropolitan area, but space there is limited.

"They're out of Schlitz there," said Holt.

"I have one client looking for 20 acres or more to expand.

He'd like to be in South Meadows but he can't buy even 15 acres there."

He said different areas and industrial parks have distinct profiles.

The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center in Storey County, for example, is close to rail and Interstate 80 and offers huge parcels of land.

That's ideal for large manufacturers, but smaller manufacturers make decisions based more on quality of life, said Holt.

"Douglas County is by far the best off in terms of highest income, lowest unemployment," said Bentley.

"Those factors are very different than Lovelock or Hawthorne."

Each county, though, is working hard to attract manufacturers.

Churchill County's Fallon, for example, just received a $1.7 million grant to develop a cityowned business park.

"They tried to get a private developer but no one was interested," Bentley said..

She said Yerington, in Lyon County, is trying to develop an airport industrial park.

The good news, though, for everyone is that inquiries about the area and site visits to northern Nevada are up, said Weisinger.

"There are a lot of things we have to overcome, a lot of misconceptions about Nevada," said Weisinger.

"We need to sell northern Nevada as a team."