A pair of national site selectors who evaluate communities for companies seeking to relocate were asked to tell it like it is about Southern Nevada.
What they shared with the Southern Nevada Chapter of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association was no surprise. In fact, local real estate professionals have heard it all before.
Southern Nevada’s workforce isn’t very well educated, the cost of living here is relatively high, government budget cuts are going to limit growth and Las Vegas is often perceived to be “just another gambling and entertainment town.”
“It’s something you’re going to have to work on,” Jonathan Sangster, senior marketing director for CBRE, Atlanta, said of Southern Nevada’s workforce availability.
About 100 people attended the association’s “The Road to 2020: Strengthening Nevada” symposium today. Two panels addressed issues in the state’s bid to diversify its economy, including the perspective from the national site selectors and how growth can be accelerated through education.
Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki provided keynote remarks, focusing on how the state is addressing economic diversification.
Sangster and Dick Sheehy, director of advanced site planning for CH2M Hill, Portland, Ore., said the state’s business-friendly attitude, the low cost of conducting business, the area’s rail and airport amenities and the fact that lawmakers increased incentives to attract businesses were all positives.
But the two added that the negatives would be tough to overcome.
Sangster said such cities as Dallas and Atlanta offer transportation amenities on par with those in Las Vegas and have become the home for several corporate headquarters. And Texans are notorious for offering economic incentives to companies they’re trying to attract.
He also encouraged Nevada to narrow its business recruitment efforts based on its strengths — a process that’s already under way.
Following the work of the New Nevada Task Force and reports issued by several think tanks, the state has embarked on an economic diversification plan to attract companies categorized in clusters. Among the categories under consideration for recruitment are aerospace and national defense companies, health science and medicine, information technology, renewable energy, mining, and movie and television production that crosses into the city’s gaming and entertainment areas.
Panelist Mike Skaggs, executive director of the Nevada Economic Development Commission, said the state would further narrow its recruitment focus in November.
The Nevada Legislature approved a comprehensive economic development overhaul in its last session, replacing the existing Economic Development Commission with a board guided by the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and top legislative leaders. The legislation also approved a $10 million “catalyst fund” to offer companies incentives to move to the state.
The existing Economic Development Commission will continue to operate through June, offering tax incentive packages.
While the two national site selectors found shortcomings in Nevada’s education system, they were impressed that the state was addressing problems.
The panel on accelerating growth through education included Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Klaich, Clark County School District Superintendent Dwight Jones, Alan Schlottman, an economics professor at UNLV, and Doug Geinzer, CEO of the Southern Nevada Medical Industry Coalition.
Jones described initiatives the school district is taking to reverse dropout rates, raise standards and better prepare students for higher education and developing skills to enter the work force.
Klaich explained efforts to increase the number of college graduates with programs that would achieve the state’s diversification goals, and Schlottman added details on how to coordinate the effort.
Geinzer offered a case study of how private enterprise and government programs averted a shortage of nurses in Southern Nevada by developing a strategic plan to develop new nursing schools and attract students with on-the-job training and attractive employment contracts.