DEAL FINALLY CLOSED TO BRING ZAPPOS TO DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS
The City Council voted unanimously on three motions to allow a developer to buy the old City Hall for Zappos to renovate and import as many as 2,000 workers.
Zappos moved from San Francisco to Henderson and originally employed only 70 workers, now has 2,000, eventually predicting as many as 5,000 workers.This event is being compared to Howard Hughes arrival in the 1960s.
After the vote, Hsieh spoke to the Council explaining how he planned to have a campus like setting for workers in the fashion of Google, Apple or Nike. Additional acreage has been optioned in the area for this purpose.
In addition to boosting development downtown, the city won't have to leave recession-weary taxpayers being stuck with an empty, decaying old City Hall.
The infusion of Zappo workers will have an impact of nearly $273.4 million downtown.
A timeline presented to the Council said the deal will close escrow by April. Zappos will begin renovations in the summer and move-in by late 2013.
The City plans to move into the new City Hall building by the end of the month.
STRIP ATTRACTION WILL INCLUDE 550 FOOT OBSERVATION WHEEL AND 200,000 SQUARE FEET OF RETAIL AND ENTERTAINMENT SPACE
Caesars Entertainment Corp's 550 million dollar Linq project between the Flamingo andImperial Palace is a pedestrian shopping, dining and entertainment venue that will include a 550 foot tall observation wheel.
To make way for the project the tennis courts at the Flamingo were demolished along with 90 rooms at the Imperial Palace, some of the oldest rooms at the hotel.
The observation wheel will be named "The Las Vegas High Roller", and the components are being made at factories outside of Las Vegas.
In all, the buildings will house some 32 tenants. Caesars hasn't yet announced the retail, dining and entertainment lineup but it will be impressive as interest in the project has been high.
Estimates are that theLinq will employ about 3,000 construction workers and create some 1,500 permanent job once it opens.Its diverse tenant mix will appeal to clientele ages 21 to 46.
RESORTS AND ZAPPOS ARE SYMBOLS OF LAS VEGAS' FUTURE
Says Richard Florida, a University of Toronto professor and well known author. He will be a featured speaker at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce annual economic forum.
He told the Review-Journal that both Casinos and Zappos will be assets as Las Vegas attempts to diversify it's economy.
Zappos has consulted with Florida's firm, the Creative Class Group, according to Fortune magazine."Other companies in their industry pay low wages, don't treat their workers very well, don't engage them, Florida said."
"Upgrading service workers, paying service workers better, engaging their capabilities, is an example not only for Las Vegas, but could be a signal project that could inspire other cities."
In his books, Florida describes the transition of a knowledge and creative based economy and the rise of a "creative class" of people who are congregating in urban cores. A creative class that goes beyond musicians and artists.
"The application of creativity can occur in many different professions. We can learn from Zappos and some of the big gaming companies how to make service jobs better jobs."
Downtown redevelopment and concentrating Las Vegas growth in and up, rather than sprawling out will also be part of the city's destiny.
"When asked how long this will take, I said a generation." Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh and former mayor Oscar Goodman said, "we don't have a generation - we are going to do this in 5 years."
WINCO FOODS BRINGING TWO STORES IN MARCH TO LAS VEGAS, OFFERING GROCERIES AT DISCOUNT PRICES
Both stores will occupy about 94,000 square feet when finished. The company employs about 14,000 people in it's 82 stores Washington, Idaho, Southern Calif. and Utah and has operated 2 stores in Reno since 1994.
The company's business model compares with Walmart's, which a spokesman said is Winco's largest competition.Winco requires neither membership or store reward cards. A private research analyst said, "Winco should do very well in Southern Nevada."
Because Winco is an employee-owned company,morale tends to be higher than more traditional grocery retailers. "Employees will be a lot more engaged with the shoppers."
Winco Foods, which bills itself as the Supermarket low price leader, was founded in 1967 in Boise, Idaho, and is listed at 66 in Forbes 500 privately held companies in 2011.
A Winco spokesman said, "because of the economic downturn, he predicts customers will respond to the low-price business model."
"Our format is going to be more appealing compared to Albertsons, Fresh and Easy or Smiths." With Albertsons and Fresh and Easy closing stores in other markets, Winco just makes another dent in both brands.
EMPLOYER-ASSISTED HOUSING NOW AN EMERGING STRATEGY TO HELP BUSINESSES RECRUIT PRODUCTIVE, STABLE WORKERS
A group of business and government leaders are urging local companies to offer assistance for workers to rent or buy homes in Las Vegas.
Some of the solutions include offering counseling for first-time homebuyers and foreclosure prevention, matching grants for down payments, and even short term loans to workers.
Businesses will benefit by employee retention, improved morale, greater productivity and lower turnover.
Employer-assisted housing is another benefit provided by an employer, much like vacation time, health insurance and retirement plans.
This isn't a new concept as Mining companies built and rented homes for miners. It can be rental assistance, down payments, and closing costs on a home. It could be grants or loans or matching funds.
Employers could offer 5 year "forgivable loans", if an employee stays with the company for 5 years. That is common among hospitals facing a high turnover rate.
Employers can require that the home is within 5 miles of work so that the employee can get there quickly.
Companies such as Aflac Insurance, Advance Foods, and CVS Pharmacy have used this concept with great success.
A good example in Nevada is Primm where former owner MGM Mirage built rental units for casino workers. More than half of the tenants since 2004 are still there today.
$25 BILLION MORTGAGE PACT GOES TO STATES - THE NATION'S 5 LARGEST MORTGAGE LENDERS HAVE AGREED TO OVERHAUL THEIR INDUSTRY
However, those who lost their homes due to foreclosure are unlikely to get their homes back or benefit financially from the settlement. About 750,000 Americans may receive checks for about $1,800 under this settlement.
More than 262,000 Nevada homeowners could be eligible for a settlement. As part of the deal about one million homeowners could get the principal amount of their mortgages written down by an average of $20,000.
Under the deal - $17 billion will go to reducing the principal. $5 billion will be placed in a reserve account to cover the $1,800 check payouts. $3 billion to help homeowners refinance.
Five major banks, BOA, Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank and Ally Financial could adopt the agreement within weeks. The settlement would be the biggest of a single industry since the 1998 multi-state tobacco deal.
Some say the deal doesn't go far enough. Some states say that banks should not be protected from future liability. The deal will not fully release banks from future criminal lawsuits from individual states.
In December, Massachusetts sued the 5 major banks over deceptive foreclosure practices. V.P. Biden is opposed to the proposed settlement as drafted.
LAS VEGAS NAMED AMONG THE TOP 10 CITIES FOR "SCORING GREAT DEALS AND SHOPPING BARGAINS"
Las Vegas ranked number 4 on a list of the "nation's best cities for bargain shopping."
The list published by Forbes says Las Vegas is one of the top cities because it's metro area has 19 Walmarts and the area has 225 factory outlet stores.
The other cities in the top 10 are New Orleans, Nashville, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Phoenix, Austin and Orlando.
While Las Vegas has luxury malls on the Strip, including Crystals and the Forum Shops at Caesars, tourists also frequented the bargain oriented outlet centers along Interstate 15, including two Las Vegas Premium Outlets and the Fashion Outlets in Primm.
Forbes noted that during the, bargain hunting behavior rose, and it continues with 26 percent of shoppers buying discounted goods today compared to a year ago.
The Convention Authority reported for 2010 that 64 percent of visitors went shopping and average spending increased from $102 in 2009 to $123 although it was $141 in 2006.
Forbes also noted that Las Vegas has about 27.7 million square feet of leasable retail space, more than the 18 million in Orlando, but less than the 40 million in Phoenix. Las Vegas has 3,056 retail stores.
Jeremy Aguero, a local analyst from Applied Analysis, spoke at the Four Seasons hotel before 200 members of the Nevada Development Authority.
In a state where 20 percent of the people work in hotel-casinos, Nevadans should think twice about overstating the need to overhaul the state's tourism-heavy employment situation.
"We have to be very, very cautious about changing some of these things." Frankly, we don't want to look like the national (industry employment concentration) averages.
To understand what Nevada could do better, start with how it is diversified. Nevada led the nation in diversification in 2000 to 2010. Nine of every ten jobs in the decade coming from outside hotel-casinos.
Las Vegas is full of diversification success stories, from Allegiant Airlines to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to Zappos, to solar-power maker Amonix.
And, as the State opened 45 new hotel-casinos in the same period, 11,000 new businesses were launched as well.
The Silver State created 88,100 net new jobs in the decade, while it would have formed just 20,900 jobs if it would have reflected the national average of job distribution.
"So, there's something we are doing right," Aguero said.
Still, Nevada remains the third least diversified region in America, after Wyoming and Washington, D.C.
Aguero said the state's narrow focus on leisure and hospitality - it has three times the concentration of hospitality jobs as the
LAS VEGAS HOUSING MARKET INVITING TO MANY FOREIGN INVESTORS
The risk of deeper recession in European could encourage more Europeans to invest in U.S. real estate markets such as Las Vegas, an economist for Trulia.com said.
Las Vegas ranks number 8 among U.S. cities for international buyers, Trulia reported. " The United States in general looks like a safer investment bet than Europe."
"Europeans will spend less on nearly everything, but for those Europeans who are in a position to invest, U.S. real estate assets could turn out to be safer than European stocks, bonds or property."
Las Vegas has two things going for it - global recognition, and affordability.
Prices have fallen more than 60 percent from their peak.
The median condo price was $58,550 in December 2011 and single family homes were at $120,000.
"San Francisco is a great global destination but lacks the great real estate deals that are rampant in Las Vegas."
A local Vegas Realtor said she sees a lot of Canadian investors and expects European investors to increase in numbers.
The three most expensive homes in the U.S. last year were bought by European Billionaires and their heiress daughters.
Greece, despite their financial crisis, showed a 17.8 percent increase in U.S. real estate investing followed by Italy with 7.2 and Spain with 3.1 percent.
"This suggests that many of these Europeans aren't just looking for a home away from home. Instead, they are looking to take their money and fly the coop,"
High Tech Lights has moved its corporate and international headquarters from Honolulu to Las Vegas.
The company designs, develops and manufactures light-emitting diode solid state light products and is hiring a full staff, expecting to employ over 100 people within 12 to 18 months.
In a statement, High Tech Lights said it is moving research and development, manufacturing and operations facilities in Hawaii and China.
The firm is seeking a facility large enough to house it's manufacturing and assembly operations.
The company produces lighting products for commercial, industrial and residential applications.
In it's statement, High Tech said that the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March accelerated it's move into the North American market.