and the Company - Nevada Business Magazine

Transcription

R.&O Construction~ 20 years of experience has given
us the real-world advantage of buildi"C buildings for the
people who use them. No other firm brings the diversity
yet specialized construction that the real induStry demands.
No matter how large or small the client or proJect.
KBtO's commitment is the ame...dellverlng a product
that exceeds expectations.
and the Company ~!t~~).~~..l!~!!,~·
3275 Ali Baba Lane, Suite 507,L.as Vegas, Nevada 89118 702.895.9322
I
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WWW. US
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SI N C E • 1 9 8 5
jBUSINESS
4QY.~ti~~
2000
lAS VEGAS PERSPECTIVE
Now on Sale I
THis colorful ancl comprehensive
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PUBLISHER
Lyle E. Brennan
EDITOR
Connie Brennan
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Contents
volume
1s ·
No.3
•
Features
48 TopRank Nevada
18 Anatomy of a Startup
CINDIE GEDDES
Las Vegas-based MPower Communications
opened less than half a decade ago, with
30 employees. Today, nearly 1,000 work
for the finn in seven markets.
20 Investing in the Future
STJITEWIDE BOOK
Of LIS1S
• Graphic Design
Firms
• Manufacturing
Companies
• Pool Contractors
• Residential
Builders
• Securities
Brokerages
KIM PRYOR
Maintaining a quality investment portfolio helps
your business in both good times and bad.
23 Top M&As
TONY ILLIA
Ten deals that changed Nevada.
Building Nevada - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - 29 Office Design & Productivity
35 Building Nevada News in Brief
JENNIFER BAUMER
Creating an environment that
Southern Nevada communities recognized •
keeps employees happy.
33 Interior Design Mistakes
jackson-Shaw begins work on Northport •
CINDIE GEDDEs
Turnberry acquires more Las Vegas property •
Avoiding the most common pitfalls.
CB Richard Ellis has biggest year in Southern
Nevada • Laurich to add two million square
feet of space • Colliers International opens
Valley Freeway Centre • RMI establishes sin-
Office design
photos courtesy
The Salix Group
gle-family home division • The Zachman
Group formed in Las Vegas • Southwest Engineering wins Elkhorn Meadows contract
Departments
4 Commentary
LYLE BRENNAN
If I Were President - Part II.
37 Neighborhood Watch
• M&A activity on the rise, likely to continue.
• HMOs, banks, insurers face trouble in good times.
• Tech workers increasingly offered signing bonuses.
• evada earns kudos as mining investment site.
• Bible on tax: "Irresponsible and destructive."
• References still key in hot job market.
MARGARET E. MAU L
Investment strategy offers potential for increased
stability during volatile market fluctuations.
TOM DYE
Persistence key to success - Businessman
sees challenges, not limitations.
MANUEL J. CORTEZ
Upscale retail explosion cuts a bright new facet
in the Las Vegas travel experience.
14 People on the Move
JENNIFER BAUMER
AMY SORENSEN
Paragon Asset Management - Changing the way
Las Vegas views investing.
47 Money Management
St. james's Village - Home in the pines.
NEVADA CPAS
Business Valuations - Know your business's
38 Vrtal Signs
CINDIE GEDDES
Sanford Center for Aging -Adding life to years.
40 Banking On It
KI M PRYOR
Business Bank of Nevada - Growing smart.
Merger Makeover - Customer still comes first.
true worth
56 Nevada Briefs
Reno earns kudos from national magazine
Sunrise Hospital tops out emergency facility
RTC establishes commuter service
42 Teleconnections
JENNIFER BAUMER
World in Motion -From portable phones to
12 Small Business Solutions
13 Travel & Tourism
46 Corporate Profile
Economic Development Authority of Western evada
8 Business Up Front
10 Smart Investing
16 Regional Spotlight
portable offices.
43 Inside Politics
Nevada Power Services to build Las Vegas plant
New transportation firm debuts in Las Vegas
MICHAEL SULLIVAN
Taxes slated to be hot button issue in
IGT, Truckee Meadows partner on degree program
Stations Casinos fonds Problem Gambling Center
state elections.
44 Power of Attorney
Silver State Bank expands to new markets
First Independent Bank ofNevada posts growth
PAUL C. RAY
Getting more bang for your counsel's buck.
john Peter Lee, Ltd announces new services
58 Business Indicators
•
KEITH SCHWER
M&A activity on the rise,
likely to continue
nationwide survey of financial consultants
reveals many don't think the flurry of corporate marriages will end anytime soon.
More than two-thirds of respondents to a survey
developed by RHI Manncreased corporate
agement Resources said
consolidation will gen- they believe the current
level of merger and acquierate stronger competition sition activity will increase
over the next three years.
as cash-rich companies
"Increased corporate conamass greater resources, solidation will generate
stronger competition as
tap new markets and con- cash-rich companies
amass greater resources,
tinue to expand globally.
tap new markets and con-CECIL GREGG tinue to expand globally,"
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR stated Cecil Gregg, execuRHI MANAGEMENT RESOURCES rive director of RHI Management Resources,
adding that consultants are observing the trend
firsthand. "Because of the complex and short-term
nature of the merger and acquisition process, a
greater number of companies are bringing in senior-level project professionals who specialize in
analyzing financial ratios, developing forecas ts
and assisting with tax compliance issues."
A
I
8 Nevada-Business Journal •
hile still primarily confined to senior executives,
signing bonuses - cash
incentives to potential workers
who join a company- are making their way down the employment ladder. A survey developed
by RHI Consulting queried 1,400
chief information officers (CIOs),
and found a growing number of
firms offering signing bonuses at
staff and management levels to
recruit top information technology candidates. More than 30 percent of the survey's respondents
W
say they tender such bonuses
both to staff and management recruits. But be sure you really like
a company before accepting a
signing bonus; job hoppers may
have to pay portions of it back.
"The cash incentive is designed to both attract talent and
encourage tenure," noted Greg
Scileppi, executive ·director of
RHI Consulting. ''Therefore, if
the minimum terms of employment are not met, individuals
may be asked to partially repay
their bonuses."
TAXES
&
REGULATION
Bible on tax:
"Irresponsible
& destruutive"
ILL BIBLE, PR ESIDENT OF THE
B
NEVADA RESORT ASSOCIATION
(NRA), LEVELED CRITICISM AT STATE
SENATOR )OE NEAL'S PROPOSAL TO RAISE THE GROSS GAMING TAX IN
NEVADA. BIBLE, WHO HAS PREVIOUSLY SERVED AS CHAIR OF THE
STATE GAMING CONTROL BOARD AND STATE BUDGET DIRECTOR,
he 1999/2000 Annual
Survey of Mining
Companies cited
Nevada as the highest rated
region for investing in new
mining projects . This represents the second consecutive
year the state's mining industry earned top honors from
the survey, which includes
hard rock mining companies
worldwide. In receiving the
accolade, Nevada surpassed
17 other mining states, in addition to such countries as
Mexico, Canada, Australia,
Argentina, Peru and Chile.
States and countries were
T
judged in two categories:
mineral potential and public
policy, the latter of which
includes such issues as taxation, regulatory consistencies and land use policies.
"Nevada was one of the few
regions that placed well in
both ... categories," observed
Russ Fields, president of the
Nevada Mining Association.
"This recognition is a tribute
to the partnership the mining
industry has built with the
state of Nevada to establish a
relationship that encourages
production while protecting
the environment."
CALLED NEAL'S PROPOSAL "IRRESPONSIBLE AND DESTRUCTIVE."
" TH E PROPOSAL TO RAISE GROSS GAMING REVENUE TAXES BY 80 PER·
CENT REPRESENTS THE MOST RECKLESS TAXATION POLICY
I HAVE SEEN
IN MORE THAN THREE DECADES OF PUBLIC SERVICE," BIBLE ASSERTED.
" GAMING ALREADY IS THE MOST HEAVILY TAXED INDUSTRY IN THE STATE
OF NEVADA AND IS THE LARGEST SINGLE SOURCE OF STATE GENERAL
FUND REVENUE. SIX OUT OF
10 OF THE
LARGEST PROPERTY TAXPAYERS
IN THE STATE ARE GAMING-RELATED, AND THE INDUSTRY IS BOTH A SUB·
STANTIAL PAYOR AND COLLECTOR OF SALES TAX. THE ADDITIONAL FINAN·
CIAL BURDEN OF AN
80 PERCENT TAX INCREASE AT THIS TIME WILL FORCE
SMALLER, MARGINAL PROPERTIES TO CLOSE THEIR OPERATIONS ENTIRE·
LY, AND WILL FORCE EVEN THE LARGEST CASINOS TO LAY OFF WORKERS
IN ORDER TO TRIM OPERATIONAL COSTS. SENATOR NEAL'S TAX WILL PUT
NEVADANS OUT OF WORK, WHETHER THEY ARE CASINO WORKERS OR
THE INDIVIDUALS AND SUPPLIERS THAT PROVIDE ANCILLARY SERVICES."
THE
1999
N EVADA LEGISLATURE REJECTED SENATOR NEAL'S
EARLIER PROPOSAL TO RAISE THE GAMING TAX BY
•
30 PERCENT.
Nevada Business Journal 9
To Have or
To Have Not
Investment strategy offers
potential for increased
stability during volatile
market fluctuations
uring the past year, the equity
markets, as measured by the
Standard & Poor's, the Dow
Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ
indices, continued to return lofty and
above average historical returns. However, many investors are reviewing their
portfolios and wondering if they were at
the same ball game, especially those with
portfolios based on the more traditional
criteria of companies with a strong balance sheet, a history of solid earnings
and/or a record of dividend payments not to mention a reasonable PIE ratio.
Unfortunately, 1999 was a very unusual year, with the market rewarding a select few "haves" and disappointing the
many who fell into the category of "have
nots." For example: although the S&P
500 was up 19.5 percent in 1999, only 78
stocks were up 20 percent or more, while
more than 200 stocks were down 10 percent or more. And a smal~ group of only
10 stocks in the NASDAQ Non-Financial
Index accounted for 46 percent of the
movement in that index, while 66 percent
of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange were down for the year.
A more dramatic example would be to
look at a composite of the three most
popular indices by taking a measure of
the movement of only 31 stocks. In 1999,
these 31 stocks, mostly in the Technology
D
10 Nevada Business Journal •
or Telecom Sectors, were responsible for
40 percent of the gains in the DJIA, S&P,
and NASDAQ indices. Only 20 stocks controlled 28 percent of the movement in the
S&P alone. These stocks were: Microsoft
Corp., General Electric, Cisco Systems,
Wal-Mart Stores, Intel Corp., Exxon
Corp., Lucent Technologies, mM, Citigroup, Inc. , America Online, AT&T Corp.,
Merck & Co., SBC Communications,
American International Group, MCI
Worldcom, Oracle Corp., Home Depot,
Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Royal
Dutch Petroleum. Furthermore, these
companies represent only six sectors.
In other words, if you weren't in these
stocks, you were probably among the
"have nots." Investor success in 1999 was
not based on simply being in, or even out
of the market, but specifically whether
one invested in the "right" sectors, or
held one or more of the "high-performance" stocks for 1999.
As the first year of the 21st century
unfolds, it can be expected that the financial news media will continue to have a
"field day" talking about "the market" as
though it was one entity. In reality, they
are referring to the NASDAQ, the S&P and
the DJIA indices, all of which are not the
true market but are representative of only
a handful of stocks, and not necessarily a
broad cross-section of stocks at that.
Based on market activity in the first
months of 2000, investors should be prepared for a continued "have" and "have
not" market. Therefore, to be successful
in such an uncertain environment, it is
important that investors have a solid
game plan in place in order to keep focused on their long-term goals and to
maintain continuity and stability during
periods of market volatility. There is
an old Wall Street maxim: "It's okay to
be wrong but not okay to stay wrong."
We would therefore like to share with
you a strategy that we believe has the
ability to increase one's market staying
power and, while this may not always be
the "right" strategy, it should definitely
help keep you from "staying wrong." As
with any investment, this strategy needs
to be considered in conjunction with each
individual 's specific investment objectives and personal risk levels.
• When buying a stock, always write
down your reason for buying - then
periodically check back to see if your
reasoning still holds true.
• Determine the price potential the stock
has over the next 12 months .
• Sell one-third of your stock position if
the stock rises 30 percent.
• Sell another third of your stock position if the stock rises 50 percent.
• Protect profits in a stock position if the
stock rises 70 percent. This strategy
may include selling covered call options; buying protective put options
and/or the use of stop-loss orders.
• Sell the balance of the stock position if.
the stock price falls back to the point
where the first one-third of the position
was sold.
• Establish a stop-loss point to sell or
hedge a stock if it decreases in price.
Whether you work with a major brokerage house, an independent financial
advisor or manage your own portfolio, we
recommend you develop your long-term
goals and create your game plan for the
future and not worry about what the news
media are saying about "the market." •
Margaret E. Maul, CFP, CIMA, is the managing
director/CEO of Maul Capital Management.
"The ideal OFFICE exists.
So does the ideal TENANT
Our job is to put them together. "
THE OFFICE DIVISION
.......................... .................. .................................................
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of office brokers who, together, total over
20 years of experience. What do you get?
A perfect match.
That's what the Office Division at
Colliers is all about: finding the perfect
match. Because no matter how much
perfect office space is out there, and no
matter how many perfect tenants are out
there, you're nowhere unless you know
how to find them.
If you need office space, we can find it.
If you own office space, we can fill it.
And although it's really not as simple as
it sounds, we like to think we can make it
look t hat way. Call us for our Office
Division brochu re today.
(702) 735-5700
3960 Howard Hughes Parkway, Suite 150
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
www.lvcolliers. com
CALL US FOR OUR OFFICE DIVISION BROCHURE TODAY.
THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA) HAS PLAYED A ROLE,
BUT RICK BELIEVES BUSINESSES WOULD HAVE BECOME MORE
SOLUTIONS
Persistence
Key to Success
Businessman
sees challenges,
not limitations
he Business: Ken 's Construction
T
Control, based in booming Southern
Nevada, serves lenders, construction
companies and individuals involved in
construction projects by inspecting to
make sure the work is done right and
dispersing fund s.
The Players:
Ken Rick, a Nevada
Southern University (now UNLV) business major who became involved in the
construction control business shortly
after arriving in Las Vegas 30 years ago.
The Problem: Rick was born paralyzed
from the neck down, but was determined
from an early age to overcome his disability and stay active. Despite having to
use a wheelchair to get around, he decided to go into business 17 years ago.
The Background: Rick, who grew up
in the Washington, D.C. area, decided to
apply to go to school in Las Vegas after
seeing a government pamphlet praising
Nevada Southern 's progres.sive advantages offered to the handicapped. He was
accepted by the school and shortly after
arriving in Las Vegas, started a tutoring •
business for students of all ages to pay
his university bills and make a living.
Through tutoring, he made contacts
that led to his employment by a local
savings and loan operation to provide
construction control services on projects
funded by the S&L. This involved acting
12 Nevada Business j ournal •
ACCESSIBLE ON THEIR OWN BECAUSE IT MAKES ECONOMIC SENSE.
as a middleman to make sure contractors
and subcontractors did the work right and
were paid for their services.
In 1982, a lender financing a casino in
Laughlin asked him to perform construction control for the project. The S&L got
wind he was considering doing a project
on his own and asked him to leave. Rick
had been putting out feelers in the construction industry to determine if a niche
existed for an independent company to
act as a middleman. "They did me a
favor," he said of the S&L's decision to
terminate his services. Ironically, the
casino project in Laughlin never became
a reality, but Rick was able to use his industry contacts to launch his business. He
discovered banks were unwilling to finance an unproven business, but he was
able to get a start-up loan from a friend.
Rick believed his disability would not
stand in the way of becoming successful ,
but he obviously faced challenges. Construction sites, for instance, posed problems because many are not accessible to
a person in a wheelchair. He could drive
by sites, but could not navigate his chair
through excavated ground and construction materials.
The Solution: Rick approached his
new job the way he has always approached life, with a strong belief in
his ability to succeed. He turned negatives into positives. "I've been in a
wheelchair all my life," he said. "The
chair tends to make people think you
are more trustworthy. I guess people
figure I can' t run as fast as they can."
This trust carried over into his financial dealings, and he was able to persuade a bank to give him a Small Business Administration-backed loan a year
after he opened his business. This enabled him to move from his rented office
to a 900-square-foot house across the
street, which he converted into a facility
suitable for commercial use. He solved
the problem of inspecting construction
sites by contracting with others to accomplish this task.
Rick has gotten a break in life because
his physical condition has improved.
Once paralyzed from the neck down, he
now has sensation throughout his body
and can drive and perform many other activities. He has been married for 18 years
(to Arlene). But to stay active in his job
and personal life has meant hard work on
his part. Although he has a motor for his
wheelchair, he seldom uses it, preferring
to strengthen his muscles by using his
arms for locomotion. He also does intensive workouts to improve his physical
condition. "I had a trainer in Green Valley
who did not see limitations. He saw challenges," Rick observed. His lack of grip
prevented him from lifting weights, so the
trainer had him use special Velcro gloves
that solved the problem.
Rick said he benefited from an awareness in the business community that facilities must become more accessible to
the disabled. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has played a role, but
he believes businesses would have become more accessible on their own because it makes economic sense. As an example, he said cab companies began
using vans with lifts to transport wheelchair-bound customers before ADA was
passed about 10 years ago.
"Persistence and determination," Rick
said when asked how he has succeeded.
His business is profitable, with average
revenue increases as high as 10 percent
a year. He started a second business,
K&E Loan Servicing, seven years ago,
which collects payments and generates
tax statements for second mortgages. He
has a staff of five and plans to build an
11 ,000-square-foot office building at the
same location. Rick believes in being
aggressive and has expanded his scope
to do business in five nearby states. "I
know this sounds hokey, but I just don' t
see the disability," Rick said, summing
up his belief in himself. •
Market Within
a Market
Upscale retail explosion cuts a bright new
facet in the Las ~gas
travel experience
t's no secret that Southern Nevada's
shopping complexes, both standalone and within our resorts, are
doing a booming business . Millions of
square feet of new retail space have or
will open in the Las Vegas area in 1999
and 2000. The trend: decidedly upscale.
The Forum Shops at Caesars, which
has grown to more than 500,000 square
feet of retail space, leads the nation with
annual sales per square foot - in excess
of $ 1,200. Groundbreaking is imminent
on a 250,000-square-foot expansion,
which, by early 2002, will take the
Forum Shops out to the Las Vegas Strip
and add an additional 25 internationallyrecognized specialty retailers. Another
Las Vegas staple, The Fashion Show
Mall, will increase its total size to about
1.8 million square feet this year, according to The Rouse Co. and TrizecHahn
Corp., the mall's owner and developer.
Las Vegas has undergone a market
metamorphosis, and the markets within
our markets - the shopping venues located within the megaresorts - have morphed as well. Going beyond the unexpected, these shopping areas have
surmounted the simple buy-and-sell exchange and have become "experiences."
Witness the Forum Shops' Roman statuary that comes alive hourly at the Festival Fountain. At The Venetian's Grand
Canal Shoppes, 65 retailers cluster
around replicas of Venice's Grand Canal
and St. Mark's Square. Here, shoppers
can take a break to ride in a gondola. In
I
Paris' shopping "district," the Rue de la
Paix, you can browse through 31 ,000
square feet of boutique-like Parisian
shopping, including a boulangerie that
would rival those of the motherland.
As with other Las Vegas shopping experiences, customers are transported to a destination, an experience that is part entertainment, part pure consumerism. It's a
heady, and profitable, way to shop. Even
Via Bellagio, while less overtly theatrical
than the other new megaresorts' shopping
districts, rivals Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive.
Industry insiders are anticipating Desert
Passage, the new Aladdin's $300 million,
500,000-square-foot shopping mega-complex, will nip at the heels of the Forum
Shops' record revenues when it opens this
summer. Desert Passage will travel ancient
trade routes from Spain, across Northern
Africa and to the Arabian Sea. Along the
routes are more than 130 shops - among
the largest collection in Southern Nevada.
Late last year, Desert Passage's developers
reported more than 80 percent of the retail
space had been leased.
Who led the revolution? The majority
of the large retail developments have
been built into the megaresorts, although
outlet malls, such as Belz Factory Outlet
World and Primm's Fashion Outlet Mall,
are also doing very well with local and
visitor traffic. The world's leading retailers have recognized that Las Vegas, with
nearly 34 million annual visitors, is a
very good place to do business.
And for Las Vegas, the changing of the
guard from souvenir and trinket shops to
world-class retail venues means job opportunities for our workers, business opportunities for our entrepreneurs, prospects
for outside investment, diversification for
our economy. For those whose primary
business is the domestic and international
marketing of our destination, what the upscaling of Las Vegas' shopping establishments means is a better, more robust and
interesting product to sell. Our message:
Las Vegas is open for business. •
Manuel J. Cortez is president and CEO of the
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
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PEOPLE ON THE
BANKING
& fiNANCE
8
BankWest of Nevada named Keith F. Jarvis
vice president/ senior loan officer and Jo
Ann McFarland as compliance officer. The
bank also hired Arthur C. DITommasso as
loan officer and Jeanene Duerst as operations manager. All four possess more than
10 years ' experience in the banking and financial services industry.
ment Security Division. Baker most recently worked with the Legislative Counsel Bureau, and has devoted her 20-year
career to Nevada's financial issues.
Robert L. Bolick, Ltd. added Daniel V. Goodsell
to its Las Vegas-based law firm. Goodsell,
who received his juris doctor degree from
the University of Utah College of Law,
was most recently vice president of finance with Schaeffer Industries.
usiness Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas
appointed John Guedry president. Previously, Guedry was senior vice president of
marketing, sales and retail banking for
Community Bank.
Aspen Financial appointed Jen Guinn, formerly president and CEO, to the posts of
CEO and chairman of the board of the company. The Las Vegas lender also promoted
Jennifer Hendricks·Schal to president.
Washington Mutual named Keith Cahill first
vice president and senior regional manager over the Las Vegas/Henderson market.
Cahill was previously a senior regional
manager for Washington Mutual in Salt
Lake City, Utah. The bank also named
Greg Gopal and Ray Lindley assistant vice
president/financial center manager in the
Las Vegas/Henderson markets . Both have
been with Washington Mutual for a number of years, Gopal in Salt Lake City and
Lindley in Boise, Idaho.
Henderson-based Silver State Bank appointed Carol Jeneries vice president and manager of its new Boulder City branch. Jefferies
brings more than 26 years' banking experience to Silver State Bank, all with
FIB/Wells Fargo.
S
GOVERNMENT & lAW
Sierra Health Services appointed Robert
Schaich vice president and chief information officer. Schaich possesses more than
20 years' experience in the managed
healthcare, insurance and information ~
T
he Nevada Department of Employment,
Training and Rehabilitation appointed
Brlglt Baker to head the state's Employ-
HEALTHCARE
&
INSURANCE
ummerlin Hospital named Deborah CoHee,
R.N., M.N., P.N.P. maternal/child services
director. Coffee comes to Summerlin Hospital from the Carondelet Health Care Network of Tucson, Ariz., where she was director of women's and children's services.
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technology sectors, most recentl y as national director of health insurance and
managed care technology solutions at
PricewaterhouseCoopers .
MEDIA&
COMMUNICATIONS
&R Partners promoted Greg Ferraro fro m
senior vice president to president of
government services and public affairs.
He has worked with R&R for 10 years, and
is based at the company's Reno offices.
R&R also appointed Tim Williams president
of advertising. Williams is a 22-year advertising industry veteran .
R
Las Vegas-based Quillin & .co. Advertising
and Public Relations hired Anne Genseal as
media director. Genseal was formerly
with R&R Partners, where she was senior
media planner/buyer.
Bayer Brown Bauserman promoted Steven
Aramini from senior copywriter to associate creative director at the agency 's Reno
office. The f1m1 also hired Mark Padilla to
serve as associate creative director in Las
Vegas. David Taylor joined the Reno office
as a public relations acco unt executi ve.
Sandy Harmon resigned his post as executive director of the Economic Development Authority-Esmeralda/Nye Counties
(EDEN) and returned to managing Tonopah-based Creative Consulting. Harmo n
opened Creati ve Consulting in 199 1 as
central Nevada's onl y public relations
agency, specializing in public and government relations, marketing and political
campaign consulting.
REAL ESTATE &
DEVELOPMENT
nited Title of Nevada in Las Vegas named
Tina D. Taylor commercial escrow officer. United Title also named Kelly Finkley
and Kellye Cook assistant escrow officers.
Prior to joining United Title, all three
worked for the evada Title Company in
the same capacities.
U
Lake Las Vegas Resort in Henderson named
Russ Weyer vice president of resort operations. Weyer's 18 years' experience in real
AB Tube Processing (Sumitomo)
Advanced Retail Management Systems
Bank of America
Beha Electrical Engineering
Ben Kalb Productions
Biscoe Exports
Boss Broadcasting
Ceridian Tax Service
Coast to Coast Safety
Covington Food
Credit Acceptance Corporation
Danka Office Imaging
Dongsung America Company
Education Credit Services
Electronics Boutique
F.I.R.E.
Fairfield Resorts
First Card Services
First Plus Financial (MEGO Manufacturing)
GCS Service, Inc.
Global Source Tech
lmmunolab
JCM
Marianna Imports
Miles Kimbaii Minelab USA
National Airlin es
National Vitamin
NITROx 1, Inc.
NTD
Omni Partners
Pac West Telecomm, Inc.
Regis University
Shuffle Master
Sunterra Corporation
TC Group
Tektube Group LLC
Water Dynamics Enterprises
estate, sales and marketing include service
as president, CEO and vice president of
Caval ear Corp. of Toledo, Ohio, Westinghouse Communities, Inc. and The Communi cations Groups of Boca Raton, Fla.
Richard D. "Rick" Smith was named president
and CEO of Lee & Associates in Las Vegas.
Smith, a 20-year veteran of the commercial
real estate industry, was previously vice
president of commercial development for
Amelican Nevada Corp. Smith is also currently president of the Southern Nevaga
chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP).
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
EXTLINK Nevada promoted three and
hired two in Las Vegas. John Prine was
promoted to order fulfillment supervisor,
while Tracy Dobson was promoted to customer care supervisor. NEXTLINK Nevada
also promoted Bob WaUenbarger from sales
manager to data sales engineer. Susan J.
Knorr joined the company as people services manager, and John DeMarco joined the
firm as a senior account executive.
•
N
•
by Jennifer Rachel Baumer
Economic Development
Authority ol Western Nevada
Officials continue to emphasize
quality·growth over quantity growth
VITAL STATISTICS
.POPULATION
313,754
MAJOR CITIES
Reno
Sparks
Fernley
ECONOMIC ENGINE
To urism
MAJOR COMPANIES
Amazon.com
Hidden Valley Ranch
International Game
Techno logy (IGT)
JC Penney
John Deere
Michelin
Microsoft
Resort/ Casi nos
RR Donnelley
Sierra Pacific Power
Trex Co.
United Parce l Service
NEWER BUSINESSES
Alcon Laborato ries
barnesandno ble.com
Cisco Systems
Overh ead Door
RF Tec hnology
YEAR AUTHORITY EST.
1983
PRESIDENT / CEO
Chuck Alvey
TRANSPORTATION
THOROUGHFARES
1-80; u.s. 395
u.s. 95; u.s. so
AIRPORT
Reno-Ta hoe International
RAILROADS
Union Pacific, Burlington
Northern Express
16 Nevada Bu~iness Journal •
hen EDAWN - the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada was established in 1983 , Reno and
Washoe County were largely dependent on travel
and tourism for the basis of the economy. EDAWN
was established in part to help forward warehousing and look toward diversification. The authority
works primarily in Washoe County but, says president and CEO Chuck Alvey, it overlaps into
Storey and Lyon counties and will talk about anything located within an hour fro m the airport.
EDAWN offers assistance to economic authorities
in neighboring counties, all while working to draw
high quality companies into the area and diversify
the economic base.
Today, while Washoe County still relies on travel
and tourism, areas such as warehousing and business-to-business trade have picked up, manufacturing is a growing segment and transportation, communications and public utilities make up another
increasingly important sector. EDAWN markets the
Reno area to the world, using word-of-mouth referrals from companies already located here, targeting
industries and attending trade shows, contacting
area companies for leads on vendors they need for
their businesses, and by actual marketing in trade
publications and business journals.
But what type of company is EDAWN most interested in? "High wage," says Alvey. "Everybody
'talks about high-tech. Got to get high-tech companies in here. There's all this high-tech business
out there. They look at Silicon Valley and say, ' We
want some of those companies.' The simple fac t is
many companies out there are high-tech right now.
But if we got a call center with 100 high-end brokerage or insurance consultants, and each person
on the phone in this call center was maki ng
$35 ,000 to $60,000 a year, that's worth havi ng."
Some high-tech firms are looking to Washoe
W
County to locate divisio ns within their
organizations, rather than
relocating the whole company.
Cisco Systems is an immense
high-tech company adding as many
as 3,000 new jobs a year. Cisco has three
campus faci lities wi th approximately 20
buildings per campus, and the company located its
treasury department in Reno. "They have 14 people working on South McCarran and Plumas, and
they 're doing all the investment banking for the
company," says Alvey. "Is that hi gh-tech?" Not
necessarily, but it's investment banking, it's good
money, and it's what EDAWN wants for the area.
Other recent moves have brought Barnes &
Noble's Web commerce distribution center to
Reno. That may not mean high wages, but it's a
name-brand company that will draw attention to
the area, and the ancillary draw may bring in other
aspects of Barnes & Noble, as well as other companies to supply them. RF Technology, a small
company that makes RF amplifiers, Overhead
Door, a manufacturer, and Alcon Laboratories '
distribution center all located in the area recently.
All in all, Washoe County is experiencing a
healthy growth rate of 3 percent. "It's not the
percent of growth, it's the quality of what's in that
percentage," Alvey says. "We're happy with 2 to 3
percent. The trick is to have a high percentage of
well-paying jobs in that 2 to 3 percent."
Reno 's numbers are no better or worse than anywhere else for available employees in today 's tight
labor market, says Alvey, but it depends on what
companies are looking for. "If you're looking fo r a
stable work force, a healthy work force, a talented
work force, we do well. If you're looking for a
specific type of worker, that could be a problem.
We don' t have a lot of engineers . We don' t have a
INVESTORS! CALL TO BORROW OR LEND.
~
WHEN ATTRACTING BUSINESSES
PART OF THE DRAW.
lot of accountants. We don't have a lot of
computer programmers." Companies
looking to be cutting edge in such areas
may continue to look toward Silicon Valley. "Everyone says Silicon Valley is so
expensive, so why don' t companies come
here instead? But the synergy is [in Silicon Valley], and if you need that synergy
that's where you need to be. There are
areas we don' t do well in ."
That leads some to speculate that not
enough is being done to promote the area.
"We're doing the things we do well and
matching up with people who like us. But
people have th is all-or-nothing kind of answer- if we can' t do things so everybody
likes us, then we' re not doing it right,"
says Alvey. "We're not going to do that."
When attracti ng companies to the area,
the location itself is part of the draw. Quality of life, friendliness of the people and
businesses, the ability to go from alpine
lake to desert in the same day - no other
location can duplicate what Reno and
Washoe County have. Reno's arts scene from Uptown Downtown ArTown to the
museums, opera, ballet, philharmonic and
university arts - is considered strong. Reno
isn' t perceived as offering arts and culture,
says Alvey, but once people arrive, they're
pleased. "Nobody comes here for the arts,"
he says. "It's more like, 'I want to come
here, how are your arts?' An? once they
get here and ask that question, they're pretty pleased with what we have."
Even the size of the city is a draw for ,
some companies whose principals are
tired of gridl ock, long commutes and the
big city crunch. And while Porsche of
North America moved on because Reno
wasn' t big enough, the Biggest Little City
in the World and its surrounding coun ty
continue to draw companies.
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•
Las Vegas-based MPower Communicat1ons Corp. opened less than ha a decade
ago with 30 employees. Today, nearly 1,ooo work for the firm in seven markets.
ield Montgomery kn ows the
telephone industry. The 50year-old retired father of five
and grandfather of three found
his first job in the business in
1962. Fresh out of hi gh school,
he started at AT&T, took some
time off for a tour with the U.S.
Army, then earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration (with an engineering minor)
in Springfield, Mass. After graduation, he
continued with AT&T, fo llowed by New
England Telephone, moving up through
the engineering ranks.
By 1980, he found himself sick of the
Northeastern cold and the poli tics and
came to Nevada as a Centel recruit. His
background in network design helped him
run outside operations for the company.
Continuing his upward climb through Centel's merger with Sprint, he became general marketing and sales manager for the
company's western region. In 1993, he left
Sprint to start his own company, but it was
too early. "I could see the opportunity," he
says, "but the law and the general market
were not quite right." So he took a consulting job with ICG out of Denver commuting
18 Nevada Business )oumal •
from Las Vegas to perform duties as general manager for switch implementation,
network development and network design.
His decision to remain in Nevada was
fortuitous. In 1995, Nevada law finally
caught up with Montgomery's dreams:
legislation was enacted to open the local
telephone service market to competition, a
year before federal statutes did so. The
summer of 1995 saw him hard at work
perfecting his concept of providing competitive telecommun ications service using
a new technological model enabling better
service and boosted profits. "It's analogous to a fo ur-year-old company that still
uses 486 computers having to compete
with a new firm operating Pentium computers with more power and fewer costs,"
he described. As with computers, the
newest generation of technological advances in the telecommunications industry combines perfmm ance and capability with a significant reduction in price.
"That gave us a un ique opportuni ty in
the market," says Mo ntgo mery. That
same year, 1995, saw the certification of
Montgo mery's baby - NevTEL.
"It's a capital-intensive business," asserts Montgomery, who knocked on a lot
of doors and went down a lot of dead-end
streets. "I realized that every potential lead
is something you've got to pursue, and
every one of them works as a lesson that
you carry back, add to your knowledge
base and do better with next time." Within
about four months of hard pitching, Montgomery fo und the perfect partner in Maury
Gallagher. "I just kept knocking on doors,"
says Montgomery. "You do that enough,
and somebody who knows somebody or
who is ready himself or herself makes it
happen." The two met in 1996, the same
year federal law deregulated the local telephone industry nationally.
Gall agher's background was in fi nance
and the airline industry; he was famili ar
with the deregulation process and what
it could do for a business. Add to that experti se, an interest in technology, as well
as an awareness of its potential additive
value to a company, and Montgomery had
fo und the perfect partner. "Maury brought
that combo of understanding of fi nance
and the importance of automation," says
Montgomery, "and I brought the project
and knowledge of telecommunications. It
was a unique combination of skills and
ability - a true synergistic experience."
With a $4 million investor on board
(between Gallagher and his partners),
the company incorporated and an interconnection agreement was signed with the
Nevada Public Utilities Commission
(NPUC). Montgomery's NevTEL was the
first competitive local exchange carrier to
be licensed by the PUC. Within six
months of the ini tial capital investment,
the company was operational and very
rapidly proved a success. The first customer came online in December 1996; by
July, the company was serving 10,000
customers. December 1996 showed only
30 employees ; by December 1999, there
were 800. Investors were so excited that
Montgomery was able to raise $ 15 million
dollars the second time around, and subsequently changed the firm 's name to
MGC (Montgomery, Gallagher and Company) Communications, Inc; to take the
company national (NevTEL sounded too
parochial for a national market).
MGC became MPower in January 2000
and now services seven U.S . markets. According to Jeff He in, manager of corporate
development, the company plans to enter
20 new markets in 2000, and hire more
than 2,400 employees by year's end. But
the journey has not been without its
potential pitfalls.
Hein says one of the biggest challenges
was building name recognition. Through
news releases and radio shows, the company reached out to Southern Nevadans.
Hein says the firm was lucky to begin operations in Las Vegas, a city where people
are open to change. Nevertheless, there's
always the dilemma of whether people
want,Jhe product, especially if they're used
to receiving service fro m a corporate titan
such as Sprint. "It took a while to get the
word out," says Hein, "but three years
later, people know they have a choice."
Small business owners are usually surprised to learn that MPower sales representatives listen attentively and often implement their suggestions for improving
service or adding products. "One of the
challenges ," Hein continues , "was to
come up with a product set the public
would buy. We are constantly listening to
what people want and putting together
packages to reflect that."
MPower continues to implement technological evolution and is currently
ugrading to combine voice and data transmission through digital subscriber lines
(DSLs), where the customer can get up to
eight voice conversations and unlimited
Internet access off a single phone line. "It
offers small business customers a real
value proposition by combining phone
and super-fast Internet access, both for
about the same price they 're paying for
phone service right now," Hein explains.
All the growth at MPower has led to another challenge - space. The company
started in a small office complex with two
buildings housing 30 to 40 people. "We ran
out of room very quickly," remembers
Hein. Luckily, Gallagher owned some land,
and subsequently constructed a 33,000square-foot operations center. This past
December, another 33,000-square-foo t
building was added. Before the buildings
were ready, however, the company successfully overcame the challenge of moving
100 people to temporary facilities for three
months - without interrupting service.
Moving, fast growth and competing
with the likes of Sprint, Bell South, and
Pac Bell have taught MPower to be efficient. The innovative company has
learned to streamline back-office procedures and continually take advantage of
new technology, but Hein says the true
key to success has been leadership . "I
came from a PR background," he reveals,
"and knew nothing of the phone world.
Nield is a good teacher and an honest, ethical man; we fed off his enthusiasm ."
Montgomery lists finding and retaining
talented employees as one of MPower's
biggest obstacles. His goal is to hire people
who share the company's vision for success. "We put together a combination of
things to attract people," he says. "Obviously, we offered competitive compensation
packages. In particular, we included options
featuring opportunities for a big payday
down the road." And he counted on the excitement of people in the telecommunuications industry who were hungry for a challenge. "We stressed that they weren' t going
to find a book to tell them how to do this,"
he says. "We hired people because they are
capable of making their own decisions."
The concept proved attractive for innovators who felt constrained by all the telephony rules and regulations. Hein says, "It's a
matter of people believing in a business
plan and then working their butts off to
bring it to fruition. It is the ultimate reward
for people who put the time in." And that reward paid off well when the company went
public in March 1998 .
Put together a strong multi-faceted telephone background with a Wall Street
background, add incentives to lure the best
employees and you have a success story.
But that doesn' t mean it didn' t take work.
"I wanted a unique enterprise for people
who work here," says Montgomery, who
retired in November of 1999, "and a success for investors who early on believed in
the concept for the corporation, as well as
a great product for customers." Toward
that end, he spent six months on the business plan alone, writing, rewriting and restructuring it with new projections and updated physical changes in the activities
affecting the industry statewide. The vision was perfected before any money came
into his hands - a vision strong enough to
keep propelling MPower toward higher
levels of success on a national level.
Ask Montgomery for his advice to other
entrepreneurs and the answer is simple persistence. But ask Hein and he will enthuse about the founding vision, drive and
expertise. "Leadership," he says, "is key to
the success of any organization. There are
many people out there with good ideas, but
unfortunately in this world, not a lot of people have the business acumen or follow
through to make it work."
..
•
by Kim Pryor
t's a mistake l2hillifl Leathers sees
all too often, a mistake with different implications for both larger
corporations and small businesses.
An investment representative at
Edward Jones Investments in Carson City, Leathers once observed a small
mom-and-pop cafe in North Carolina.
Confi dent they could eventually sell their
business, the cafe owners failed to fin ancially plan for retirement. Then, a larger
restaurant reviewed the market, built its
coffee shop next to the mom-and-pop establishment and drove the smaller restaurant out of business. Mom and pop were
left without a business - and without even
the hint of an investment portfolio.
"In smaller businesses, owners often
focus more on keeping cash for operations," noted Leathers. "Most of their investment portfolio is the inventory on the
shelves. They often tpink either the children will step in and take over the business at a later date, or they' ll be able to
sell the business and retire."
Think again. An effective investment
portfolio is a crucial component of most
businesses. Even larger corporations are
hurting themselves when they fail to
maintain a successful portfolio. While an
investment portfo lio may not impact a big
corporation to the extent it affects smaller
20 Nevada Business journal •
operati ons, investment analysts say some
corporations are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by making poor investment decisions.
The booming stock market has enticed
many business owners to become more investment savvy. Even so, experts say
many entrepreneurs neglect their money
or make lukewarm investment decisions.
Business owners or chief fi nancial officers
of corporations are frequently too busy
extinguishing internal fi res to nurture
an investment portfolio. "We see a lot of
money out there that just sits, not really
earning what it could," observed Rob
Kasner, co-owner of Henderson-based
Paragon Asset Management. "It j ust isn' t
a priority, even though having an effective
investment portfoli o is an easy way to increase your company's bottom line."
Increasing the bottom line and fundin g
retirement are just two reasons to maintain
a quality investment portfo lio. Another
ad vantage is the ability to self-fi nance
business-related expenditures by borrowing against the portfolio rather than turning to banks. Investments also serve as a
backup plan fo r worst-case scenarios .
"The economy's great now," said
garet Maul, CEO of Maul Capital Management in Las Ve as. "Businesses are doing
wonderfully and it's easy to think it's always going to be good. But building a portfolio can help you continue to operate if the
economy slows. Rates are going up and
bank lending policies change. So it really is
importan t to have a contingency plan."
Those who think they can ' t afford to invest someti mes have valid concerns. ax
that most growing companies pay more to
borrow money than they can make in a
risk-free market. For example, an automobile dealer pays at least 1 percent a month
in fl ooring costs on inventory, 12 percent
a year. That means the business must earn
12 percent to make the endeavor worthwhile. "Car dealers don' t put their money
in the market," Mushkin explained. "Usually, they put their money in their inventory. Most business owners make more
money wi th their inventories than _they do
with their investments."
According to Paragon's Bob Kasner,
casino megaresorts represent another example of inves tment-shy companies. Such
businesses often pour their money into
building projects and are short on excess
cash. Revenue is used to pay off debt
rather than establi sh investments.
Still, as with the mom-and-pop cafe, almost any business can benefit from developing some sort of investment portfolio.
Choosing the right investments is the key.
According to Maul, the best way to accomplish this is to draft a brief investment
policy statement, usually with the help of
an accountant and an investment advisor.
"Most companies don 't even think about
putting down on paper why they' re building a portfolio, what their parameters are,
or how they're going to use the money,"
said Maul. It's vitally important to do so,
however. The accountant can expl ain
what's applicable to your specific industry
and explain tax advantages or disadvantages, while the investment advisor can
help develop an effective plan. The policy
statement should explain the purpose behind the portfoli~ and outline investments
that will accomplish this purpose. The
statement also should offer general investment criteria based on the company's
needs . For example, a statement can declare that business owners want 50 percent
of the portfolio devoted to bonds rated
"A" or higher, or bonds with no more than
five years in maturity.
Investment policy statements are individualized for each company, but there are
some general fac tors to consider when deciding among different investments. First,
Maul recommends choosing liquid investments . In other words, avoid real estate,
because if a company needs cash, property can't be turned around quickly. In addition, financial institutions do not recognize real estate investments as part of a
company's net worth.
Another rule of thumb is to avoid exotic stocks. According to Leathers, business
owners are ri sk takers by nature, and that
frequently carries over into their investment philosophies. Often, when a customer raves about the latest Internet company, business owners jump on the chance
to purchase stock. "Instead of putting together a portfolio," Leathers explained,
"the owner will buy one or two stocks
based on gut reaction instead of research."
The best bet, said Leathers, is to purchase stock in companies. with a proven
track record, companies that provide products you use daily, companies that likely
will continue to grow at the same speed -as
they have in the past. One example is General Electric. Every day, consumers use GE
light bulbs and cook dinner in GE ovens.
General Electric products are more than a
trend - they're necessities with enduring
uses. For the same reason, Microsoft and
Oracle are also safe investments.
"I like to have my clients focus on the
long-term, high-quality investment and not
start chasing the latest dot-com," Leathers
explained. "If you're going to buy a technology stock because your buddy or a
client told you about it, it's important to do
a lot of research and determine the nature
and extent of the role these companies
play. Are they infrastructure providers? Or
do they j ust build bridges? Because there
are only so many bridges you can build."
Maul agreed. She pointed out that when
someone pitches a new idea to a business
owner, it often appeals to hi s or her entrepreneurial spirit. Consequentl y, investing
in that new idea seems natural. What
might be a good inves tment for that business owner individually, however, could
be a poor investment for his corporation.
For example, if an entrepreneur wants to
develop a high-growth portfo lio for himself, he may include publicly-traded startup companies or initial public offerings .
"Thi s might be personally suited to him,
but it's not going to meet the needs of his
corporation's portfolio," Maul said. "The
difficulty arises when business owners see
the company as an extension of themselves, and it's not. It's a legal entity. I think
that's psychologically the biggest stumbling block to the savvy management of
corporate investments."
Consistency is especially important,
Maul said, considering most business investments usually entail shorter term maturities, such as two to fi ve years. Personal investments, on the other hand, may
span two decades.
Even conservative investors shouldn ' t
keep all their eggs in one basket. Concentrating money exclusively in one investment or category of investment, such as
stocks, bonds or certificates of deposit,
may take a bite out of the return. For example, many consider bonds a safe investment. But bonds are interest rate sensitive.
According to Leathers, a "safe" U .S. government-guaranteed Treasury bond with a
30-year maturity has lost as much as 17
percent of its value over the last year. "No
one investment is worthy of all your
money, whether it's certificates of deposit,
your own inventory, the latest dot-com
stock or real estate," Leathers said. "You
need to diversify."
Diversification becomes particularly important in light of a company's short-term
cash needs. If a corporation plans to build
another office building in three years, company executives would want to structure
low-risk investments that they could easily
liquidate in time for ground breaking. According to Maul, in this scenario, bonds
may be the ideal option, because liquidating a bond is frequently a more flexible option than selling stock at the wrong time.
Developing this tirneline for investment
takes careful planning. Many businesses
run scared, keeping so much cash in
short-term investments that their rate of return suffers. According to Kasner, a lot of
corporate money is sitting in six-month or
shorter inves tments. Kas ner estimates
some businesses could boost their annual
interest income by 2 percent if they extended those six-month maturities to 18
months. Ironically, Kasner has observed
even banks making this mistake. According
to Kasner, one bank has kept between $40
million and $70 million invested in
overnight investments for two years. Although banks do need immediately accessible reserves, the fact that this money has remai ned untouched for two years suggests
that an extension of the short-term investment over a longer time frame is feas ible.
This is especially important for C corporations, said Mushkin, which need to
make certain that the investments match
their long-term strategic plan.
"It's a great way to miss some opportunity if you're investing in six-month windows and you actually have a 10-year
business plan," said Mushkin. "Make sure
the time horizons on the investments
match the time horizons on the corporate
needs for the cash."
According to Ted Schlazer Kasner's
partner at Para&£!!, many business owners elect to take the easy way out by keeping their money in sweep accounts . In
sweep accounts, banks keep the amount
needed to cover checks and apply interest
to the excess funds.
"The problem with that is they're paying
you up to 4 percent to do that, whereas if
you went out in the market you'll get 5.5
percent," Schlazer noted. "But it's a very
easy thing to do from the business owner's
standpoint. There's no input involved from
•
Nevada Business j ournal 21
the client at all. The banks are taking advantage of them and charging a tremendous fee to do that. It's very expensive to
,do in terms of the yield you're giving up."
Leathers marvels at the number of business owners who keep their money in noninterest bearing checking or savings accounts simpl y because that particular
institution doesn' t pay interest on business
accounts. Leathers suggests shopping
around for a bank that does offer interest.
"Business owners will do the research to
fi nd out the best price for their inventory
or the best distribution route, but all too
often they forget that they can ask a lot of
questions of their fin ancial institution,"
Leathers said. "They should ask, 'What
services do yo u provide that I'm not
aware of? I don' t know the questions to
ask, so just guide me through."'
For small or family businesses, insurance represents another oft-overlooked
component of an effective inves tment
portfo lio, accordin g to Leathers. A plan
outlining what will happen to the business
once the owner dies may lead to "key
OFFICE SPACE
FOR LEASE
New custom buildouts from
$0.95-$1.65 persquarefoot
SUMMERLIN
man" insurance. This is an industry term
for insurance that prov ides capital to replace the deceased business owner. A succession plan may also be in order to provide insurance for whoever takes over the
business after the owner's death . A succession plan using insurance often infuses
enough cash flow into a business for a junior partner to step up and take over, freeing up other capital for investments.
For C corporations, the proper investments can even offer tax advantages. According to
ill... -
. receive tax-free dividends from investing
in other corporations. If a C corporation,
for instance, owns Jess than 20 percent of
the stock in another corporation, 70 percent of the dividends received from that
stock are non-taxable. This is a simplified
version of a complicated tax rule. To learn
more about tax regulations on investments, visit an accountan t.
Experts emphasize the importance of
seeking the advice of not onl y an accoun-
tant, but also invesunent advi or who
know the territory. By visiting an investment expert, business owner can sift
through the hype to learn the facts. Last
year, when one mutual fund enjoyed returns exceeding 80 percent, the news made
national headlines. Leathers' phone rang
off the hook with people eager to invest in
the fund - until Leathers put the brakes on
their enthusiasm. "What caused that fund
to go up 89 percent?" he asked them. "Was
it a fluke? What if they have one great year
and now they're going to go back down to
a 10 to 15 percent annual return?"
Leathers compares the situation to a
hockey game. When one interviewer
asked a famo us hockey player what made
him so successful, he replied. ·'I just skate
to where the puck is going in tead of
where the puck has been."
"So many ti mes inve tor find themselves skating to where the puck has been
and are disappointed when it doe n't produce results they hoped for:· Leathers
said . "Where's that puck heading? That's
•
what you need to know:·
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Engineering N evada Since 1972
or the past 14 years Nevada has
been the fastest growing state in
the nation. Experiencing a healthy
and robust economy, a number of
start-up firms have subsequently
rru grated toward Nevada's prorruse of
wealth, hoping to take advan tage of the
state's many tax benefits and opportunities.
Naturally, as more firms make their way
into the state, competition for consumer
dollars tightens. With an increase in competition come new and innovative ideas on
how to beat out rival firms. While some
companies have folded or sold out, others
have expanded and formed strategic alliances. Inevitably, as the Nevada marketplace has grown and matured, a number of
mergers and acquisitions have occurred.
The following are 10 of the largest.
f
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
Inc. of White Plains, N.Y. sold Caesars
World Inc. to Las Vegas-based Park Pl ace
Entertainment Corp. for $3 billion cash in
a transaction completed December 3d,
1999. Starwood originall y acquired the
Caesars casinos and Desert Inn as part of
its $ 10.2 billion purchase of ITT Corp. in
1998. Park Place owns Bally's Park Place
Casino Hotel and the Atlantic City Hilton;
Caesars World owned Caesars Atl antic
City Hotel Casino, Caesars Palace in Las
Vegas and properties elsewhere in Nevada
and Indiana. The purchase of Caesars
World, which includes all of the Caesars
casino operations, makes Park Place one
of the world's largest gambling casino operators. Spokespeople fro m Starwood said
the company would use the proceeds to
repay some $2.5 billion in debt and pay
down its bank revolving credit line. The
agreement also call ed for certain adjustments that could have boosted the fin al
price above $3 billion . Starwood officials
said they will continue sell off $500 million in assets.
Nevada Power Company of Las Vegas
and Sierra Pacific Power Company of
Reno, the two larges t utility providers in
the state, merged on Jul y 28, 1999. The
agreement called for a merger of equal
parts creating a company with a total market capitalization of $4 billion ($2.3 billion in equity; $ 1.5 billion in debt; $240
rrullion in preferred stock) . The combined
entity, Sierra Pacific Resources, serves
800,000 electric, 10,000 gas and 65 ,000
water customers across Nevada and Lake
Tahoe. Ultimately, the deal makes Sierra
Pacific Resources the eighth largest utility
provider in the West. Under the merger
agreement, $304.6 million in cash was
paid to Nevada Power stockholders and
$ 151.6 million in cash was prepaid to
Sierra Pacific stockholders. The headquarters of the holding company remains in
Reno, while the utility subsidiaries - Sierra Pacific Power Company and Nevada
Power Company- are in Las Vegas, with
gas and water operations in Reno.
Four months after Sierra Pacific Power
Company and Nevada Power Company
merged to create Sierra Pacific Resources
Inc. , the firm purchased Portland General
Electric (POE) fro m the Enron Corporation
of Houston, Texas for $3. 1 billion. The deal
came amidst ongoing preparations to deregulate Nevada's electric utility industry. POE
serves more than 700,000 customers in
northwest Oregon. The merger made Sierra
Pacific Resources one of the largest utilities
on the West Coast, with more than 1.7 rrullion customers in Reno, Las Vegas, Lake
Tahoe and northwest Oregon. Sierra Pacific
Resources plans to become a wire company
that provides access to its transrrussion and
distribution lines to competitors. It agreed
to sell the utilities' power plants in obtaining merger approval from the Nevada Public Utilities Comrrussion.
Hanah's Entertainment Inc. of Memphis,
Tenn. merged with Rio Hotel & Casino of
Las Vegas. The merger, completed on Jan•
uary 4, 1999, gives Harrah's 19 casinos in
•the U.S . The company acquired the Rio in
a tax-free, one-for-one stock swap valued
at $525 million and assumed Rio's $303
million of debt. In addition to the Harrah 's,
Rio and Showboat brands domestically,
Harrah's operates the Star City Casino in
Sydney, Australia. Following the Rio deal,
Harrah's decided to move its corporate
headquarters to Las Vegas, and signed a
15-year, $50 million lease for 120,000
square feet of office space at McCanan
Center. Harrah 's is expected to move into
its new four-story building when construction is completed by late summer 2000.
MGM Grand Inc. of Las Vegas merged
with Primadonna Resorts Inc. of Las Vegas.
The deal gave MOM Grand control of the
New York-New York HoteVCasino in Las
Vegas plus Whiskey Pete's, Buffalo Bill 's
and the Primm Valley Resort in Primm,
along with two championship golf courses.
Under the agreement, Primadonna's stockholders will receive 0.33 shares of MOM
common stock for each share of Primadonna held, or a total of some 9.5 million
shares of MOM stock. The stock assumption deal is valued at $605 million. MOM
Grand operates the MOM Grand HotelCasino in Las Vegas, a casino in Australia
and is developing a temporary casino in
Detroit. The two companies partnered in
1995 to build New York-New York, across
the Las Vegas Strip from the MOM Grand.
Both had an agreement that either company
had first right of refusal to buy out the
other's 50 percent interest in the resort.
Republic Industries Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. paid $378 million to merge
with Silver State Disposal Services Inc., of
Las Vegas. Republic is North America's
fourth largest waste comp_any, with waste
facilities in 25 states and Canada. The firm
is led by entrepreneur Wayne Huizenga,
one of the founding partners of Waste
Technologies Inc., now the nation 's largest
waste company. Huizenga is also known
for changing Blockbuster Entertainment
from a 19-store company into the nation's
largest video store chain. The Silver State
acquisition, announced on July 29, 1997, is
one of Republic Industries' five largest in
the waste industry and contributes $120
MGM GRAND & MIRAGE
Strip Giants Agree
to Merger
wo of the most admired assets in
the gaming industry managed to
see eye-to-eye following MGM
Grand's second offer to purchase all of
Mirage Resorts' outstanding shares. Mirage Resorts officials spurned MGM
Grand's initial $17 pertshare offer, but
hinted a more lucrative deal would receive greater con~ideration. The outcome is a definitive merger agreement/ I;
under which ilGM Grand will acq,_uire
Mirage Resorts' outstanding shares at
$21 per ($hare in cash. The tran1action
wm have a to~~l equity value of about
$4-~ b111ion; MGM Grand w111 also as:•1 sume Mirage Resorts' ou~tanding debt
(j of approximately $2 b111ion. The companies say they anticipt te completing the
merger during the fourth quarter of this
year. Noted J. Tep:e~ce Lanni, MGM Grand
chair, "As a result of this acquisition,
MGM Grand wm .have achieved a dream
combination of assets and people, a
combination that creates unquestionably the premier company in the gaming industry. This transaction provides
Mirage shareholders with a significant
premium for their shares. We strongly
believe that the revenue enhancements
and cost reduction opportunities arising
out of this acquisition will create a
meaningful increase in the value of
MGM Grand stock."
t
million to the company's $2.4 billion in
yearly revenues. It also solidifies the company's competitive edge in the southwest Republic Industries already has waste companies in California, Arizona and Texas.
Colony Capital, Inc. of Los Angeles,
Calif. completed a $420 million merger
with Harvey's Casino Resorts Inc. of Lake
Tahoe on February 2, 1999. Colony is an
investment fund capitalized with money
from some of the nation's largest pension
and retirement funds . After acquiring Harvey 's, Colony owns 97 percent of both
Harvey's class A voting and class B nonvoting stock. The existing management of
Harvey 's owns the remaining 3 percent of
each class of stock. Harvey's owns casinos in Lake Tahoe; Council Bluffs, Iowa;
and Central City, Colo. Harvey's management will continue running Harvey 's after
the Colony acquisition .
Zions Bancorporation of Salt Lake City,
Utah, owner of Nevada State Bank, purchased Pioneer Bancorporation of Reno,
owner of Pioneer Citizens Bank, in a 1999
stock deal valued at about $340.8 million.
The deal makes Nevada State Bank the
third largest in Nevada behind Bank of
America and Wells Fargo banks. The merger agreement calls for each share of Pioneer
to be converted into a fraction of a share of
Zions at a price of$35 .70 per Pioneer share,
based upon Zions' average stock price over
a period near closing in the third quarter.
Vencor Inc. of Louisville, Kentucky purchased Las Vegas-based Transitional Hospitals Corporation for 640.2 million in
August 1997. Both Vencor and Transitional operate long-term care facilities for former hospital patients. Tran itional has 16
hospitals in 13 states and owns a 6 1 percent interest in Behavioral Heal thcare
Corporation of Nashville, Tenn. Combined, Vencor and Transitional hold 57
hospitals, 314 nursing center , 4 000 institutional customers for contract rehabilitation services, 80,000 employees and annual revenue of about $3.3 billion.
International Game Technology (lOT) of
Reno acquired Sodak Gaming, Inc., of
Rapid City, S.D. on September 1, 1999.
IGT acquired Sodak, a distributor of casino gaming products and software systems,
for $10 per share in cash, totaling approximately $230 million. The purchase was
financed using a portion of the proceeds
received from the earlier sale by lOT of $1
billion of senior notes. Sodak is expected
to sell its Miss Marquette Iowa riverboat
casino and associated real property and
assets to Lady Luck Gaming Corporation.
Sodak will operate as an independent subsidiary of lOT and remain headquartered
in Rapid City. Following the merger,
Roland Gentner will serve as president
and CEO of Sodak for at least one year. In
early 1997, Gentner instituted a major restructuring of Sodak, shifting its focus to
the profitable Indian distribution business
and trimming corporate overhead.
•
Nevada's largest cab business
ADVERTORIAL
brings "clean" living to Southern Nevada
Yellow-Cbecker-star
Transportation, the
largest taxi business
in Nevada, understands
the meaning of clean:
Clean cars, clean-burning
no wonder that the wellestablished business has
received awards from the
U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program and is con-
Since 1979, the taxi business has used
alternative fuel for its fleets, which now
totals more than 550 taxis. In addition,
Yellow-Checker-Star's "Star Trans" service uses liquefied petroleum gas for its
fleet of 50 buses and vans for airport
shuttle service, tours and other transportation needs. In further efforts, the
business plans to convert all the vehicles in its new "Star-Limousine" service
to alternative fuel, according to StarLimousine and Star-Trans General
Manager Mike Adams. Star-Limousine,
which began late last year following
requests from customers and others,
currently comprises seven limousines
and 10 Lincoln Town cars.
The company's implementation of the
clean-burning fuel, propane, has created
a healthy impact in the Las Vegas Valley.
The propane fleet of the taxi business
alone annually saves the valley from
800 tons of carbon monoxide and 800
tons of particulate matter, such as smog
and other hazardous materials affecting
tinually recognized for its outstanding
the air quality.
environmental efforts. And the secret,
The efforts are significant in terms of
ne1pmg uarK county to meet tederal
standards for carbon monoxide, particulate matter and ozone levels. In 1998
and 1999, Clark County failed to meet
these standards, which means it could
face losing federal highway funds.
"It's a very serious issue for Clark
County, and we are taking all the steps
a~o;~o;ora'mg
'w
'fe'flow-\:nec'Ker-~tar
dents anci tru Lrjq~
fuel and a cleaner and
healthier environment.
ven-
era! Manager Jack Owens, is propane
and a promise by the company to improve the air quality and overall living
condition in Southern Nevada.
"We are doing our part to improve
Southern Nevada's air quality and hope
other transportation companies follow
in our footsteps for the benefit of resi.:tlik"-~' flwAn~
wei...
"Our fleets have logged more than one
billion miles, which means we have
saved the Las Vegas Valley from an
enormous amount of carbon monoxide
and particulate matter."
we
_
~iJn tP JJ~Jp ~)8!b ~PU!Jty })c Yl)t!J)!J
+h~.A. fAA,nr,"\1 •.-J-.:\.n rl:vrlr~',' ~v"""' r~-.Al rt..
Yellow-Checker-Star Transportation's equal
owners (above, clockwise from left): Maritha
Burton, Howard Dudley, Pete £/iades, Dave
Willden, Milton Swartz and Harry £/lades.
Yellow-Checker-Star Transportation General Manager Jack Owens (right) and Star-Trans and Star-Limousine General Manager Mike
Adams stand in front of some of the companies' vehicles, including a taxi, Lincoln town car, limousine and bus. Yellow-Checker-Star
Transportation, the largest taxi business in Nevada, uses clean-burning fuel for all its fleets.
In the latest governmental endeavors, U.S. Senators are writing
and sponsoring a bill that would
give incentives to people who convert to alternative fuel. "The more
people we can encourage to convert, the healthier it will be for
everyone," Owens said. "People
want to escape Los Angeles because of the terrible smog problem,
but when they come to Las Vegas
they experience the same thing.
Encouraging other fleets to convert and help improve the air quality will enhance the economy of Las
Vegas with tourism and gaming."
Locally, the State Taxicab Authority regulates Clark County,
placing the taxi services throughout the county in a very controlled
environment. The state's regulations allow for additional protection for the public, as well as
better drivers and safer vehicles
on the road. Yellow-Checker-Star
has always exceeded the requirements by instituting additional
safety regulations.
The taxi fleets are comprised of
Ford Motor vehicles, a company
that has taken a comprehensive
approach in incorporating alternative fuels into the transportation
industry nationwide. Not only does
Ford sell a broader range of alternative fuel vehicles than any other
auto maker in the world, but it also
has developed incentive programs
to assist in the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles by both the general public and fleets.
The three corporations that comprise Yellow-Checker-Star have a
lengthy history in Las Vegas. Five
of the taxi business' six equal owners purchased Yellow Cab in 1979.
The sixth owner, Milton Schwartz,
bought interest in Checker Cab
during the same year, and eventually the two largest taxi companies
in Las Vegas were merged.
To continue on its growth spurt
and to meet demands in the booming Las Vegas Valley, the owners
then acquired Star Cab in 1986. The
three companies still operate separately, although they are under the
umbrella name of Yellow-CheckerADVERTOR IAL
Star. The equal owners - Schwartz,
Dave Willden, Pete Eliades, Harry
Eliades, Maritha Burton and Howard
Dudley - also own "Star Trans," the
shuttle and charter bus service,
which was started in 1998. And they
also own the newest company, StarLimousine, which offers hourly
costs of $30 for a sedan, $45 for a
stretch limousine and $75 for a
super-stretch limousine.
"Our transportat ion business has
grown considerably over the years,
and we plan to continue meeting
the demands as the city and visitor
volume continues to flourish,"
Owens said.
Yellow-Checker-Star's main headquarters are at 3950 W. Tompkins
Ave. in Las Vegas. The company can
be reached at (702) 873·8012.
Star-Trans and Star-Limousine are
based at 3860 W. Tompkins Ave. and
can be reached at (702) 871·1112.
For more information on the companies and their services, people
may also access the Yellow-Checker-Star Transportation Web site at:
ycstrans.com.
Buildin~Nevada
Inside This Issue
29 OFFICE DESIGN AND
PRODUCTIVITY
Keeping employees happy.
33 INTERIOR DESIGN
MISTAKES
Avoiding the most common
pitfalls
35 BUILDING NEVADA
BRIEFS
• Southern Nevada communities recognized
• Jackson-Shaw begins work
on Northport
• Turnberry acquires more Las
Vegas property
• CB Richard Ellis has biggest
year in Southern Nevada
• Laurich to add two milliion
square feet of space
• Colliers International opens
Valley Freeway Centre
• RMI establishes single-family
home division
• The Zachman Group formed
in Las Vegas
•Southwest Engineering wins
Elkhorn Meadows contract
On the Cover and Page 29:
AIISteel office systems photos
courtesy The Salix Group
SUPPLEMENT
Publisher
E. BRENNAN
LYLE
Editor
CoNNIE BRENNAN
Vice President Marketing
CLAIRE SMITH
REPRINTS AVAILABL E
Nevada Business Journal
2127 Paradise Rd.
Las Vegas, NV 89104
702-735-7003
© 2000 All rights reserved
Photos courtesy The Salix Group
oday's office space is changing
faster than ever. There are new
demands placed on both existing and new space, technology
is changing at the speed of
light, and light itself is being
recognized as a key ingredient in the
health, safety and welfare of the most valuable asset of every company: employees.
"One of a company's largest investments
not ergonomic are uncomfortable. Their
production level goes down, they're not
able to concentrate and sit at their work
station for long periods of time without becoming restless, they're staring at the same
panel in front of them and they need to be
able to get up and move around."
"Employees are an expensive asset,"
agrees rue Goff, a principal in Domus
esi@ "Having them on disability or suing
you is an expensive way to find out you've
got a problem."
Health, safety, welfare. Productivity, employee retention, hiring. Bringing in new
technology and equipment. Remodeling.
Reorganizing. There are hundreds of demands employers place on office space,
and hundreds of ways to answer them.
Today's employee is not content to be
stuck in a dreary office balancing a board
on some bricks with a laptop catching the
glare of overhead lighting. "It means a lot to
an employee to like coming into work every
day, and throwing someone in a comer of a
dark office with a pencil and a metal folding
chair is not going to do it," says Anderson.
Today's office is changing, meeting the
needs of today's labor force, telecommunications and demand for speed. There are
generally more open areas to facilitate
communication and fluid work flow, casual meeting areas, conferencing ends to
Keeping
mployees Happy
b y
JENNIFER
R A C H E L
work stations, semi-shared work stations,
fluid or mobile tables. When designing
workspace, the nature of the company has
to be taken into account.
How to Build an Office
he first step in the process of building
a facility is to talk to the people who
will be utilizing it. Analyze the flow of
communication, information or materials
through the building, says Goff, and understand the flow and build a system to support
it. "When you have a factory, in one door
comes the raw material and out another
goes a completed product. If you have an assembly line you'd know that you have to do
this first, this second and this third. But
t
BAUMER
people who will be using the space, find
out what their tasks are, the equipment
they use and whether the technology exists to make it all work together. After the
basic design questions are answered,
Smith says, it's time to make sure the
space looks wonderful by working with
color and design. "It doesn't cost any more
to use nice colors and nice fabrics, or to introduce and coordinate design and continuity after all the technological [needs are
met] ," says Smith, who works with companies to find the needs of individual employees and work within the space provided to meet these needs .
•
OFFICE
"Somebody's got a goal," says Goff.
"What are you trying to achieve? Lower
cost, faster productivity, less overtime,
less change in employees, more retention.
There are a million and one things you
might possibly want to achieve. Our job is
to ferret it out, dig it out, and that's why we
have a progranmling process, we sit clients
down and force them to talk. We don't
want them to tell us what their goals are as
much as we want them to explain what
they do and how they do it."
Goff uses his own office as an example,
where many projects are done as teams
and employees need to collaborate. Offices where workers form teams have different configurations from offices where
everybody is heads-down, working solo.
Step two, says Goff, is budgets. What fits,
how big or small does the client's space
need to be, what are the growth patterns?
And then there are reality checks - what
can the budget afford? After determining a
budget comes advocacy - assisting the
DESIGN
client in finding the best contractor for the
job, from wallpaper to furniture dealers,
assisting with contracting and bidding and
finding the best vendors for cost. Finally,
there's the project management phase of
the project, seeing that plans are being followed and the budget is online.
"We manage that process so when
clients show up the day they're intending
to get into the office, everything is in the
right place, the data system works, the
telephone system works, and they didn't
spend more money than they wanted to,"
says Goff. It's not a one-size-fits-all propo. sition, but there are a lot of tricks of the
trade to get from plans to production.
Tricks of the Trade
t
oday's office encompasses more
technology than ever, and more
workers are functioning as teams, necessitating the flow of information and the
creation of new and innovative office de-
sign components. High among the demands are functionality and flexibility,
leading to mobile workstations mobile furniture, adjustable height d ks that allow
workers to move around and even stand
while still working and indhiduallighting.
Lighting, everyone agrees, is of major
importance. Linda Hopton. general manager and principle of Facilitec, finds lighting
essential for a product:h-e work environment. Ambient lighting is often favored, as
it has the effect of mimicking daylight, can
improve people's moods and is easy to
work by. Ambient light requires higher
ceilings for light reflection, however, and
may not be workable for existing spaces,
so many companies are looking into individual work station lighting, making lighting flexible to avoid glare off computer
screens and reduce light pockets.
Office furniture is becoming individual as
well. Systems furniture allows companies
to create office spaces that are mobile and
fluid. From conferencing areas et up at the
OFFICE
end of workstations to work stations on
wheels that allow people to collaborate
anyplace, anytime, workers are no longer
required to stay in one place. "I see a trend
of panel heights being lowered and creating
more wide open spaces, more user-friendly
spaces," says Ian Anderson. "I think you always have to talk about technology and
today's furniture systems have the capacity
for more voice and data cabling."
Systems furniture, says Linda Hopton,
creates movable privacy panels complete
with voice and data ports, actual junction
boxes on the stations themselves and termination points boxes that are part of the
furniture rather than hard termination
boxes in the wall. These panels easily reconfigure so facilities can change without
extensive remodeling. In addition, says
Hopton, some companies are encouraged
to only construct a soft-shell structure
when building, with the HVAC in place and
lighting in the ceiling and the floor finished. They can then come in with flexible
DESIGN
furnishings and systems furniture to create
a fluid work environment that can change
with the demands of the company with
minimal remodeling.
Cabling may not be an issue for much
longer, however, as the wireless office of
the future draws ever nearer. In addition to
the movable panels, prewired with cabling
and data ports, telecommunications companies are looking into cellular phones that
tie into the building's PBX system, allowing
workers to have one portable phone.
Rather than depending on voice mail, or
missing calls while away from the desk,
. employees can now wheel their desk, laptop, and phone to conferencing areas and
continue working in a team environment
without missing a beat. There are even
printers that work off infrared connectivity,
and LAN PC cards that allow for wireless Internet connection for laptops.
One last trick designers have up their
sleeves when creating office work spaces
is Feng Shui. Integrating the Chinese art of
placement into office design seems natural
for some companies and for others feels
like a combination of practical issues and
superstition. "Practical aspects include
how to lay out a room to be comfortable
and soothing vs. being very aggressive,"
says Goff, whose company has incorporated the art into their work. "And there's the
superstitious angle, like you have a money
corner. But there's a reality to it. One of the
biggest banks in the world, the Hong Kong
Bank, was laid out on its plot of land differently from the architect's original plan
because a Feng Shui master said the snake
that guards Hong Kong can't get through
the building. So they actually rotated how
it was going to sit on the land, and it's been
a very successful bank."
Productivity or People?
roductivity isn't the only thing employers are looking for when they
take office design into account. The
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32 Nevach Business journal •
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E-Mai I: mjones ®sw-engi neeri ng.com
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Retaining employees is
just as difficult as fmding them in the flrst
place ... loyalties have
changed and worker
turnover is high.
labor force is very tight, and employees
don't have to stay where they're not happy.
Hiring employees, says Goff, is difficult
and expensive, and with so few available,
companies need to differentiate themselves from the competition. When they're
offering the same pay, same stock options,
and same benefits, what sets them apart is
the facility and its design.
That, he says, may mean that having a
slide in the office is important. But will
that make employees more productive?
"Sometimes [it] isn't productivity. The
key issue could be hiring," says Goff.
"Each company is different, each goal is
different and each setting is different. It's
our job to understand each of the various
elements and come back with a plan that
makes sense for the individual."
Retaining employees is just as difficult
for employers as finding them in the first
place. Whereas in the past workers might
spend their career at only one or two companies, loyalties have changed and worker
turnover is high. Especially for industries
such as telemarketing, retaining employees is a necessity. For example, says And rson, workers can go make $7 or $8 an
hour at any call center in town. An attractive and fun environment may be an incel)tive to stay, so these employers are making
an effort to become bright facilities, more
kinetic and happy places with higher lighting levels, brighter colors, more open
space and fun furniture, becoming a dynamic work environment.
"People are interested in how to make
you work better, faster, cheaper, longer,"
says Goff. "Think of the Internet companies, the ones that put slides in their offices
and lunchrooms, and offer other forms of
entertainment. The point is, 'We're not paying you a lot and we're going to keep you
here a long day [so] we're going to entertain you and keep you happy."'
•
Avoiding the 111ost
co111111on pitfalls
BY
CINDIE
GEDDES
ho hasn't been there? You buy a new home,
choosing it for that amazing 20-foot ceiling, only to find your new furniture looks like Barbie Dream House accessories once inside. Or you
begin moving in that custom-built cabinet only to..
fmd it won't fit through the door. What about that
dark corner you didn't notice? Or the carpet that
looked so great in the showroom, but now makes
your furniture look like it came from the Brady
Bunch? No, wait, the worst? The paint that matches
everything, gives your home that decorator feel, but
makes you look like you've contracted malaria.
" We save the client money on mistakes," says Judith
Fermoile, ASID, owner and designer for F'ermoile
Design Ltd. in Reno and a Governor-appointed member of
the Nevada State Board of Architecture, Interior Design, and
Residential Design (state.nv.uslnsbaidrt!), which regulates
the industry. "In the long run, homeowners really don't save
money doing it themselves." Katie Jesse, an interior designer
with Domus Design Group in Reno, says a lot of talented people out there can perform some of the work themselves, but
they often go beyond their limits and do things they should
hire out. Then when they do retain a professional, that person
ends up having to redo some things or spend time fixing mistakes, which costs more than if they had been hired for the
job from the beginning.
A common mistake that comes up again and again when
speaking with designers is a lack of experience in working
with scale. "A lot of people have big problems with proportions," Fermoile says, "and don't know how to scale things
for a room. " Barbara Woolf, vice president of Soleil Design
International, Inc. in Las Vegas, says this is because they are
not used to seeing a room as a whole. "People tend to pick
what they like on the showroom floor," she says, "but an experienced designer can visualize the completed room while
still in the planning stage. Though they may purchase items
one at a time, over time, they have done a complete study of
design and scale and will choose items to fit in each setting."
Planning is the key to design. Jesse, who has 10 years of experience in interior design, insists it is important .to have an
overall design concept even for the smallest projects (though
she sees people with huge projects skipping this important
step). Each room needs to be seen as an independent design
element. Even if it's going to be done over time, in stages, it
•
In the long run, a designer can save you money. She or he can
find you quality you won't be replacing in a year, style that
stands the test of time. A designer can also go to sources you
could never find for products you wouldn't want to live without.
still needs to be thought of as one piece.
"People can make an awful mish-mash of
things," says Fermoile. "They don't look at
the big picture. They just say, 'I want a sofa,'
without seeing how it relates to the walls,
the windows, the coverings. They don't
quite know how to put it all together."
With planning comes budget. Yes, budget.
You can't just buy a couch and call the room
decorated. Well, you could, but no one
would believe you. When you see the room
as its own design element, you have to budget for all the pieces of the element. "By not
knowing what they have and what they are
willing to spend," says Jesse, "important elements aren't incorporated into the initial
budget and the design is compromised."
Some pieces of the element that get overlooked? Finishing touches such as lighting,
window treatments and accessories (which
can cost as much as the furniture).
"Lighting is one of those important
things people make a lot of mistakes with,"
says Woolf, who has worked all over the
world in her 30 years as a designer. "When
I light a room," she says, "I individualize
lighting, like spotlighting each table setting
in a dining room. Someone else might just
stick one big light over the table." She also
emphasizes that lighting should fit the
style and use of the room. For example,
you would want sconces for a traditional
room rather than recessed lighting. And
never put fluorescent lighting around the
mirror in the bathroom unless you really
like to see yourself with ~at washed-out
department store look. Consider what the
lighting is for - mood, emphasizing accessory pieces or sheer utility.
Accessorizing can be tricky for the nonprofessional as well. "A lot of time people
don't have the experience to focus on or
bring together the details," says Jesse.
From architecture to interior elements, details can make a room. "Simple things like
molding and trim are the details you don't
notice until they are actually there. Then
you appreciate them."
Woolf suggests you begin the design
process before the house is even built, so
you can know where to put windows and
the fireplace and the like. It's better to do
it all in the planning stages, rather than
dealing with time-consuming and costly
change orders. Or if you are buying a home
from walking through a model, remember
all you know about design and try to see
the space and how the rooms will function,
rather than being wowed by the decor.
On a smaller scale, Woolf says interior
plants are very important - they warm a
room instantly. She also advises people to
look for a few important accessories,
rather than a lot of little stuff. "People tend
to accessorize too small," she says, which
brings back the issue of scale. A big room
needs big accessories. A lot of small items
will just look like clutter.
Interior design also involves a fear element. "People aren't brave enough to use
color," says Fermoile, who after 20 years of
experience in Reno, SjlYS, "Don't be afraid
of color. That's my mantra Too many people stay on the quiet side, the dull side,
choosing what they see in furniture stores
only." Woolf agrees, adding that wall color
and plants can do a lot for a room and for
the people occupying the room. "I do a lot
of color analysis for clients," she says. "A
lot of people disappear against certain colors. Color can make you look tired or sick."
A designer offers expertise, but not just in
design. They also have the skinny on stateof-the-art appliances, quality merchandise,
where to find particular styles and new
products and their applications. They know
what's a fad and what is style, and they can
save you from having an outdated look before the carpet even wears out.
"Even someone on a tiny budget would
be wise to go to an interior designer and
pay for some time," says Fermoile. "Even
an hour can really help someone immensely. " She suggests you take notes and be organized when you go in. Settle on one
room and have a lot of pertinent questions
ready. Blueprints are a plus, but the designer should come to your home. Know
your budget - a designer will run from
about $75 to $150 per hour- and what existing pieces you want to use. Clip pictures
from magazines so the designer can ee
what styles you like and implement "hat
will actually work in you home. Kno" how
much you want to do yourself. In an hour,
she says, a designer can give you a concept
you can work with or that you can "ork
out through a designer through their \-ast
network of sources.
When choosing a designer, first call a
few and talk to them. See if they have a demeanor with which you would er\ioy "orking. "Look for a sense of humor," sa Fermoile. "This can be fun; it's not a trip to the
dentist." Ask if they have time to devote to
the project and whether or not they haYe
residential experience. You don't need a license for residential design, but the designer should have experience. Ask for references, and then call them; ask for a portfolio
and a resume. Make sure they have liability
insurance. Ask if they are registered. "There
are capable designers who never get registered," says Fermoile. But she adds that for
her, she feels anything she can do to step up
and take tests and prove herself a professional helps her and the client. Registration
proves a designer has passed the ational
Council of Interior Design Qualifications
test (which requires a good two days to
take), as well as a evada-specific test on
construction codes and health safety issues,
and has at least two to three years of e~e
rience. "They should at least have a business
license," she points out, "and it's nice if they
belong to a professional organization." You
can also contact the World Wide Interior Design Referral Service (800/775-ASID, or interiors.org), which is run by the American Society of Interior Designers.
In the long run, a designer can save you
money. She or he can find you quality you
won't be replacing in a year, style that
stands the test of time. She can go to
sources you could never find for products
you wouldn't want to live without. She can
turn your home into your castle. Hopefully,
she can make you laugh along the way. •
BUILDING
NEWS
Southern Nevada communities
earn national recognition
wo master-planned communities and
one new home neighborhood in
Southern Nevada recently garnered national recognition. The Howard Hughes
Corp.'s Summerlin master-pian ranked as
the nation's top-selling community for the
seventh time in eight years, according to
an independent survey by Robert Charles
Lesser & Co. of Southern California. In
1999, Summerlin's new home sales totaled
3,233, which translates into more than 15
percent of the new housing market in Las
Vegas. Summerlin outsold the secondranked community, Highlands Ranch of
Denver, Colo. , by 950 homes. New home
sales in Summerlin during 1999 increased
by more than 12 percent over 1998 levels.
Also capturing national attention is Lake
Las Vegas Resort. The National Association of Home Builders' Sales & Marketing
Committee recently included the $4 billion
residential, golf and resort destination on
its list of the five best master-planned communities in the country. In addition to
granting the resort several marketing and
advertising awards, the committee gave
Sherri O'Boyle, the resort's vice president
of marketing, a personal honor and recognized her as one of the country's top professionals in her field.
Finally, Christopher Homes' Vineyards
neighborhood in Summerlin won the Gold
Award for Best Community in the Nation
at the 56th Annual National Association of
Home Builders Convention/Exhibition in
Dallas, Texas. The NAHB considered nearly
1,000 entries for the honor. Vineyards also'
garnered a Silver Award for Best Single
Family Detached Home, $300,000 to
$600,000 for the community's Cambria
model. The awards are granted based on
consideration of such elements as architecture, interior design, landscaping, merchandising and marketing and advertising.
T
Christopher Homes' award-winning Cambria model is f eatured in the builder's Vineyards neighborhood.
Jackson-Shaw begins
construction on Northport
CB Richard Ellis has biggest
year in Southern Nevada
eveloper Jackson-Shaw Co. began construction of Phase I of Northport Business Center, a 24-acre, $30 million masterplanned business park in North Las Vegas.
Phase I is scheduled for completion in June,
and will consist of six buildings offering a
total of 126,052 square feet of office, showroom, warehouse and retail space. At buildout, Northport Business Center will feature
10 multi-tenant office, showroom, warehouse and retail buildings totaling 350,000
square feet. The park is situated adjacent to
the North Las Vegas Airport.
B Richard Ellis posted its best year
ever in Southern Nevada, with $389
million in total production for 1999. According to John Knott, managing director,
several substantial deals helped the company achieve its 1999 production levels.
Most notably, the brokerage oversaw the
$10 million sale of the 300,000-square-foot
Big 0 Tires building in Henderson to Continental P.E.T. Technologies. Also in 1999,
office brokers Randy Broadhead and Brad
Peterson represented Harrah's Entertainment, which moved its headquarters from
Memphis, Tenn. to Las Vegas, where it
leased 120,000 square feet of space from
Thomas & Mack's McCarran Center. That
transaction was valued at $34 million.
D
Thrnberry acquires additional Las Vegas property
umberry Associates, a Florida-based
developer, acquired additional land
near the site of its existing Thmberry Place
development currently under construction
on Paradise Road at Riviera Boulevard in
Las Vegas. Thmberry Associates purchased
the parcel for $13.5 million from Stark Properties, which had revealed plans for a luxury condominium development of its own for
the site. Thmberry Associates has not announced specific plans for development of
the 10-acre property, located at Karen and
Paradise roads. But the success of Thmberry Place may be an indication the market is
ready for another similar development.
Overall sales to date total more than $140
million, and 160 of the first tower's 183 units
have been sold. Sales for the second tower
began ahead of schedule in December; more
than 40 units have been sold.
T
C
Laurich to add two million
square feet of space
aurich Properties, a Las Vegas-based
shopping center developer, announced
that it expects to complete or have under
construction 2,235,000 square feet of retail
space during 2000, with a combined value
of more than $300 million. Laurich's new developments will include eight Albertson's
grocery stores and eight Sav-On stores. Laurich is also developing three large shopping
centers, including a Home Depot-anchored
center at Fort Apache and Flamingo roads,
and a Big Kmart-anchored center at Washington Boulevard and Buffalo Road. Laurich also entered into escrow on a 40-acre
parcel at Sunset Road and Marks Street,
and announced plans to build a power cen-
L
•
BUILDING NEVADA BRIEFS
ter on the site. Station Casinos, which
bought the property from Santa Fe Gaming
last fall, is selling the parcel to Laurich.
Colliers International opens
Valley Freeway Centre
olliers International announced the
near completion of Phase I of the Valley Freeway Centre, a 7.5-acre, 113,414square-foot industrial project that will
offer office/showroom and warehouse
space for lease. Phase II of the $7.3 million
project will consist of 130,000 square feet
of space. Henderson-based Conde Del Mar
Properties is the developer of the project,
which is situated in the Black Mountain Industrial Park on Commercial Way in Henderson, across from the Valley Auto Mall.
C
RMI Management establishes
single-family home division
MI Management, LLC, a Las Vegasbased homeowners association man-
R
agement company, launched its single family home division. David Krantz was appointed director of property management for the
division. "It's a natural fit for our business,"
noted Kevin Wallace, president of RMI Management, LLC. "We already successfully
manage many apartments and homeowners
associations in the Las Vegas Valley. We
formed the new division as we received an
increase of requests, and also because a
clear need in the marketplace exists for a
professional property management service
for investors and single family homes."
The Zachman Group formed
in Las Vegas
M
ark T. Zachman formed The Zachman
Group, a professional consulting firm
providing project management, planning,
design and development services to the real
estate industry in Las Vegas. The Zachman
Group directs all issues related to commercial building design and development, from
concept planning to zoning and entitlements
Communications
Technology
I
I
I
processing. The firm also offers architectural, interior, site layout and landscaping design consulting, as well as pro forma financial analysis for both single building projects
and master-planned, mixed-use de\·elopments. The firm also teams with other real
estate professionals such as leasing brokers
appraisers, market research analysts architects and civil engineers. Prior to establishing the firm, Zachman served as vice president of Las Vegas planning and design for
The Howard Hughes Corp.
Southwe t ngineering gets
Elkhorn ad
contract
as Vegas-ba<>ed was awarded
for Elkhorn Meado.
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Ron Jackson is the ma.Jll3gl~
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oped by Richmond Ameli
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Watcll
St. James's
Village
Home in the
•
ptnes
BY
Jennifer Rachel Baumer
short drive up Mt. Rose Highway
out of Reno and the valley floor
falls away. The air grows cooler
and the tree line comes closer. At Galena
Creek the tree line meets the valley, bringing in the best of both worlds. It's like living at Lake Tahoe, without all the snow.
Nestled in this area is St. James's Village, a
master-planned community set into the
lower reaches of the Sierra foothills. This is
a natural area, full of creeks and wild flow ers, pines and open sky, vistas that move on
forever. Not exactly a place where you'd
want to see a huge housing development.
Unless maybe the developers felt the
same way about the property.
"This land has been owned by National
Land Corporation since the early '70s," says
Rick Haygood, director of sales and marketing at St. James's Village. "It was purchased
from the Audubon Society, which kind of
leads to part of their philosophy with keeping the land natural and pristine. It also led
to the 20 percent coverage rule."
The development spans 1,600 acres in
the Galena Forest, with elevations ranging
from 5,220 feet to 5,960 feet and views of'
Pleasant Valley and the valley stretching
toward Carson City, as well as sunny
meadows and mountain vistas . There are
522 lots, starting at one acre and running
to over four acres, with prices fro m just
below $100,000 to over $500,000. Communities include the Bennington Collec-
A
tion, an area of meadows, and the Ridge
Crest, built in the forest. Timberlake rests
at the entrance to Joy Lake, and the Edgewood extends across the chaparral. Existing homes in the custom community run
from more than $500,000 to almost $2
· million. But once the lot is chosen and
bought, the buyer does n' t have free rein.
The natural beauty of the area is protected by codes, covenants and restrictions
(CC&Rs) and the ALC, the Architectural and
Landscape Committee, formed to approve
all plans for the homes to be built in the
communities. And even if a lot is the minimum size, running only one acre, the landscaping requirements state only 20 percent
of the building envelope can be developed.
"You 're limited to 4 ,000 square feet of
grass," says Haygood. "The purpose of this
landscaping requirement is to keep the area
as natural as possible." The philosophy of
the developers, the determination of leaving the area as natural as possible, adds to
the strength of the community. " [The developers] thought, 'There was this gorgeous piece of property,' and they wanted
to keep it that way. We think it's the best
selling feature because visitors don ' t see
home after home, and it's not all been
grassed, with trees removed and natural
vegetation moved. It doesn't just look like
any other subdivision," Haygood observed.
Instead, although the community offers
common areas of walkways, hiking and
biking trails, meadows and roads, there are
more than 800 acres of open space at the
village. The care taken in the development
of this land has lead Washoe County to use
St. James's Village's development handbook as a model for its own. In addition,
the local fire department uses the village as
a model subdivision for working with the
land and cleari ng open spaces.
Not that working with the land has always been easy. In fact, the location has
been one of the biggest challenges. The
project started in 1993 with property be-
ginning to sell in early 1994. But being in
the trees and on a mountain presented developers with some unique challenges.
"We're not on the beaten path," says Haygood . "We're [two-and-a-half] miles off
Mt. Rose Highway, and to reach us you
have to go through another subdivision, so
access has been one of the major challenges we've faced in trying to direct people into the community." The developers
started with the residential end of the project, building in the trees. In an effort to
put the community on the map, they entered into a cooperative venture with the
subdivision next door, paying for entry
monuments to Galena Forest Estates to
allow St. James's Village to have its name
on the monuments as well, in addition to
directional signage.
Further challenges presented themselves
in terms of amenities. The Galena area was
on propane and septic systems, but growth
in Reno is pushing natural gas and dry
sewer lines to the edges of the project. Developers are waiting for the chance to
bring the services the last couple miles to
the village. Roads and bridges had to be
put in , and last but not least, in Nevada
there's always a question of water. The developers dug wells and gave them to
Washoe County and are now provided
with municipal water. However, additional
water rights had to be secured for the next
phase of the St. James project - the 18hole golf course, 350-room resort/hotel,
and the equestrian center going in at the
southern end of the development.
Regardless of what the next phase of
development brings, homebuyers at St.
James's Village can rely on the developers' mission: bringing the best of both
worlds to residents, who want a pri stine,
peaceful and natural living environment,
and taking care of the land. St James 's
Village offers proof that residential development doesn' t have to lay waste to
Nevada's natural surroundings.
•
•
Nevada Business j ournal 37
Adding Lite
to Years
The Sanford
Center for Aging
' 'J
BY
Cindie Geddes
ust because you get older," says
Dr. Lawrence Weiss, director of
the Sanford Center for Aging,
"doesn't mean you become sick, sexless,
decrepit or unable to function. We want to
dispel those stereotypes and myths."
The center was originally established in
1984 as the Geriatric and Gerontology
Center, co-sponsored by the School of
Medicine and the College of Human and
Community Sciences at the University of
Nevada, Reno. In 1993, it was renamed in
honor of Jean Sanford, who left 80 percent of her estate as an endowment to
serve as the foundation for the center's
agi ng programs. Operations are financed
now through endowment, grants, university and private support.
The center is dedicated to programs that
benefit all older persons through a commitment to education, research and community outreach and service. Faculty, staff
and volunteers explore innovative ideas
and aggressively seek new opportunities to
enhance successful aging ,in the 21st century. In short, adding life to years.
Quality of life is the foc us of the center
and at the heart of Weiss' enthusiasm. "We
have 80- and 90-year-olds lifting weights
with students; we have downhill skiers,"
he says. "There's a lot of research indicating that people have a lot of responsibili ty
and control in dictating how they age; it is
not just our genes." The center is out to
help people gain that control in the state
with the fastest growing population of
older adults in the nation. To achieve such
goals, the center has entered into partnerships with leaders from agencies and organizations serving the aging community in
order to become a resource to provide the
means for a richer and more fulfilling life .
Research and Schol
Through an appli
. re-
Education and Training
In order to add life to years, you have to
have the years, so the center works diligently at educating geriatric and gerontology professionals in the state, including
offerings in primary and continuing education. Serving as the administrative body
for the university 's interdisciplinary studies in aging, the center's committee of faculty fro m various disciplines reviews
gerontology offerings and develops new
courses. Currently the center offers a 24credit Gerontology Certificate Program, as
well as an 18-credit Gerontology Minor
Program and continuing education workshops throughout the state. In Las Vegas,
the center and the School of Medicine cosponsor the Nevada Geriatric Education
Center, which also offers programs for
Nevada professionals.
Interdisci plinary trai ning is the key, says
Weiss, who lists medical, nursing, social
work, psychiatry and the therapies (speech,
hearing and occupational) as some of the
areas represented by the center's programs.
"Our whole focus," he says, "is to have a
direct impact on the community of this
for trainers and seniors
Waves," which has been
center and adopted intemarionall_.
Research has also helped the center
work with state agencie . all ing them to
provide information and data as well as
various types of alternative approaches to
cari ng fo r elders. "One of our goal is to
have the center be evada · primary resource for education on economic and cul tural impacts of senior i ue :· Research is
critical to identify the important economic
markers that will enable evada to develop a better plan to meet the needs of its
older adults.
Community Outreach and Service
The center is working to increase public
awareness and understanding of the aging
process. A community advisory board,
Continued on page 40
Vital Signs
older adults, plays a significant role in
guiding this effort. The major outreach
programs of the center include the Retired
Senior Volunteer Program of Washoe
County, the Sanford Salute to Seniors Educational Radio Program (on KSRN), the
Sanford Senior Star Award (awarded to
those living life to the fullest and giving to
the community), the Lake Tahoe Wellness
Conference for Seniors (every September),
the Reno-Sparks Rainbow of Resources
(variety of information on issues important
to seniors, available on their Web site), Senior Sunshi ne Fund (to provide recreational and entertainment opportunities to
Nevada's seniors), and the Sanford Center
Web site (unr.edu/Sanfo rd).
The center's newest foc us is on business . "Elder care, like child care, is a
tremendous drain on middle-aged and
older people," says Weiss, "so we are developing a program around that issue." Another area he is working with is dealing
with an older workforce. As the baby
boomers grow toward retirement, the issue
of age in the workforce becomes more and
more important. "One of the myths," he
says, "is that people become stale, don't
know the current methods of doing work,
and it's really the opposite. Older workers
prove to be more dependable, more reliable, more productive workers." The only
exception, he says, might be in high-tech
industries, but even in those areas seniors
are catching up, having become the fastest
growing consumer age group for computers and Internet use.
The center is currently recruiting business people to participate in a community
advisory board to help identify the programs, projects and opportunities that can
reinforce the economic influence of seniors in the state. The board meets monthly and gives the community a direct voice '
in the mission of the Center. Call 775/7844774 for more information.
The Sanford Center for Aging is doing
all it can to ensure seniors can control the
quality of the aging process. From education to health care to community service,
the center is truly adding life to years . •
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BY
Kim Pryor
Business
Bank ol
Nevada
Growing smart
t's a little like David versus Goliath.
Small community banks up against
the big banks . If that's the case, Las
Vegas-based Business Bank of Nevada,
one of the first community banks established in a wave of openings that began in
the mid-' 90s, may have slung the first shot
with an aim that's right on target. By January 19, Business Bank of Nevada held
$135 million in assets ; John Guedry, president and CEO, predicts $180 million in assets by the end of 2000 .
Such asset growth has enabled Business
Bank of Nevada to make its first foray into
other markets. In December, the bank expanded its operations to Northern Nevada
with the opening of a branch in Carson
City, adding to the three it maintains in
Southern Nevada. The bank also hopes to
open a Reno branch by year's end. In Las
Vegas, the bank is looking into expansion
in the Green Valley area along with smaller, prototype branches catering to industrial businesses in other areas of town .
"We try to grow smartly," sitld Guedry. "If
we wanted to be $300 million in size today
we could have been. But our fonnula does
not call for growth for the sake of growtlr.
Our formula calls for profit."
In 1998, the shareholders paved the way
for the bank's expansion to Northern
Nevada when they approved the name
change from the parochial Las Vegas
Business Bank to the more encompassing Business Bank of Nevada. The bank
I
had opened in 1995, and two years later,
issued an initial public offering, partially
to ease future capital-raising efforts .
Currently, Business Bank of Nevada is
leasing temporary space for its new Carson
City branch. Bank officials expect to break
ground soon for a 5,000-square-foot permanent branch, with a grand opening tentatively scheduled for August 15 .
Even with more community banks entering Northern Nevada, it's a relatively
virgin market compared to Las Vegas. And
Carson City 's less urbanized environment
makes it easier to create a local bank,
Guedry said. In fact, Busi ness Bank of
Nevada chose its employees with that in
mind, including long-time Northern Nevada resident Jerry Gregory as senior vice
president and regional manager.
Northern Nevada mergers disrupting the
banking industry will also work in Business Bank of Nevada's favor, according to
Guedry. He expects Business Bank to appeal to customers affected more by longterm banking relationships than pricing,
customers who feel comfortable that the
bank will "hang" with them in low times
or high. For example, an account holder at
Pioneer Citizens walked into Guedry's office after the Nevada State Bank merger
and announced, "I'm ready to change because I just can't stand the uncertainty of
what's going on."
"That proved to me," Guedry said, "that
we're on the right track."
Merger
Makover
Customer still
comes first
hey say honesty is the best policy.
Bill Martin, chairman of the board
of Nevada State Bank, certainly
agrees. He admits that the merger between
Pioneer Citizens and Nevada State Bank,
T
finalized January 14, will ca
for customers. But he compare,ping at a new grocery tore. on the wrong darn aisle:· • 1
over there."
Martin pointed out thai
has hit many types of busmerger involves a bank. hn..... 0£"00.,.
closer to home. "People
more sensitive to change
their money," said Martin.
Still, Nevada State B
Pioneer Citizens, u h
ing and computer home
dition , Pioneer Citize
ATMs; Nevada State B
tomers 60 additional IWrl~~
out a statewide netv.
George Hofmann.
actio ns due to a more
statewide network.
Nevada State Bank CU.:>Wl:Delrs
advantages from the m
cording to Hofmann . 'e.
now has a total of 5
and a greater presence in .-_.•.,..uvorn
da. "We've had d ifficul~ finding great
sites and great people:· Hofmann aid.
"With the merger in onhem 'evada we
pick up both of tho e:·
Hofmann remain confident that any
disruption the bank · customers feel will
be minor. Nevada State Bank and Pioneer
Citizens are keeping 99 percent of their
employees, so consumers will see essentially the same faces. Even Martin, previously president and CEO of Pioneer Citizens, has remained with
evada State
Bank. In fact, the majority of the merger's
700 layoffs happened in Utah and Idaho.
The bank's officials are making the transition as easy as possible for customers .
Pioneer Citizens account holders keep
their same account number and continue to
Banking On II
·anship
Building
It's our specialty at
Sun West Bank.
"Wi th the merger in Nor thern
Nevada, we pick up both [great
Imagine an entire team of banking professionals
dedicated to one goal: helping your business
reach its goals. At SunWest Bank, you are
assured 100%customer satisfaction because we
put your needsRrst.
sites and great people]. "
- GEORGE HOFMANN
use their Pioneer checks. At the same
time, they 've also been issued a Nevada
State Bank account number; when their
Pioneer Checks run out they can switch
over to the Nevada State system.
"You receive complaints because people say, 'Now I have two account numbers,'" Martin said. "People are so sensitive when it comes to their money that any
change is not really welcomed. You've really got to win them over agai n."
Customers aren' t the only ones feeling
the merger's impact. E mployees have
been pulled from Nevada State Bank and
placed in the old Pioneer Citizens branches to assist Pioneer Citizens employees in
worki ng through some of the systems and
form changes. Employee foc us groups
also meet to discuss the merger's impacts .
As far as the Nevada State Bank branch
signs, anyone who blinks may miss them.
If the Zion-First Security merger is completed in mid-March, as expected, Nevada
State Bank soon will become First Securi ty. But that transition should di srupt customers even less, said Hofmann . "We will
not have to put the customers through one
more change," Hofmann said. "The account numbers stay the same. Ultimately
the only thing that will change is the name
on their checks."
Meanwhile, according to Hofmann and
Martin, the Nevada State-Pioneer Citizens
merger is a marriage made in financial institution heaven. The goals of each bank taking care of small and medium size businesses - parallel each other. Both institu- '
tions also follow the two community bank
commandments: know your customer, and
care about your customer service.
"Pioneer was famous for that," Hofmann said. "We believe we' ve done well
at it also. That's something that is very
important to continue."
•
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•
evada Business journal 41
BY
Jennifer Baumer
World in Motion
From portable phones to portable offices
AT &T WIRELESS: Keeping
up with demand
ell phones are for people in motion, designed to go everywhere
the user goes. Normally, when in
motion the system works so that the user
moves from one frequ ency site into another with the system sensing the change and
performing a handoff to the next freq uency. But sometimes the system gets congested. The handoff doesn' t occur, and the
call is dropped or the degradation of quality makes the call impossible.
Or sometimes there are so many calls
corning from one concentrated area - say
the corridor aro und he Las Vegas Convention Center duri ng COMDEX - that the
frequ encies are j ust plain overloaded . Either the quality of the calls suffers , or cellular customers experience blocked call s,
automatic busy signals or dropped calls.
There are, after all, only so many frequencies available. And with areas such as the
convention center experiencing tremendous demands on cellul ar activity during
events such as COMDEX, there 's an evergreater need to expand.
Which is why in 1999, AT&T Wireless
invested $2 million in infrastructure in the
state and antic ipates increasing that
amou nt in 2000. "We won' t stop there,"
says Neal VanCitters, vice president ancl'
general manager of operations in th e
Nevada district. "We' ll continue to make
investments. We have aggressive plans to
stay ahead of growth and stay ahead of visitor traffic and ... innovative solutions that
will allow us to increase capacity as well."
AT&T Wireless has beefed up systems
C
at many sites by 40 percent and added new
fac ilities at the Sands and Las Vegas convention centers, improvements that were
in place by last November 's COMDEX
show and carried on into the Millennium
celebration. In the convention corridor,
the company installed additional voice
paths above and beyond what's needed on
a day-to-day basis and increased paths to
handle the peak dem and those areas receive during events.
Increasing available voice paths happens by adding fac ilities, says VanCitters,
either in the form of stand-alone towers or
antennas installed onto the outside of
buildings. The antennas can be masked in
a variety of ways and most of the time
people don ' t even know they 're there.
"We increase service level and capacity
by expanding existing facilities [in a market] ," VanCitters notes. "We add additional capacity and equipment to max imize
the number of voice paths in that particular fac ility, and do th at before we go to the
community to ask for another new fac ility." Existing fac ilities are maxed out before the company goes looking for new
ones, because the FCC limits the number
of available frequencies. The onl y way to
expand capaci ty is to add fac ilities and
reuse frequencies, although multiple facilities can use the same frequency as long as
they 're spread far enough apart.
Currentl y, AT&T Wireless is concentrating on Las Vegas . In Reno, says VanCitters, cellular traffic patterns don' t warrant the sam e sort of changes, although
new facilities have been installed in Carson City and in Washoe Valley. In addition, the company will continue to work
on those areas in the coming year and in-
traduce a variety of additional ite an d
frequencies. AT&T Wirele
has introduced a multiple network handse that op-
utilize both, and al o offerin=
multi-faceted wirele tool.
to
a
GOING WIRELESS: De anding the oHice keep
ot too many ears _
buzz
around busine
of the paperle offi... .
most businesses it i n' t here_ e
trend is the wireless office. As many bu inesses turn toward fluid_ fle'ti le offices
where commu ni cation be
en team
members is as crucial as an. other element, w ireless office component are
moving into play. Produ
range fro m
cellular phones that tie into the building's
PBX system, leaving the emplo. ee free to
have one phone that tra\e
ith him to
any work station, to woc -tation that
travel as well. Also emergm,:, are privacy
walls with voice and data ports. actual
junction boxes on the tation i elf and
termination point boxe that orne within
the furniture system itself instead of a
hard termination box in th wall. A nd
while there's the fact that mo t bu inesse§
are more connected to \\ire than before,
with faxes, phone . extensions. computers
and the like, solutions are orning along such as printers th at work on infrared connectivity rather than wire. There are even
companies working on wireless LAN PC
cards that will allow laptop u ers to go online, utilize email and contact their networks, al l without wire .
While it looks unlikely the paperless
office is corning anytime oon - there
are still unexpected power failures and
most workers want a hard copy back up there 's a possibility the wireless office
many soon be a reality.
•
N
Taxes Slated to Be Hot Button
Issue in State Elections
BY
Michael Sullivan
axes - a word that can strike fear in
even the most liberal elected official. Most politicians would rather
sit in a room full of angry homeowners
than even discuss the topic of raising taxes.
But alas, as the 200 1 Legislature gets
closer, the topi c of taxes will be on everyone's mind. Before he left his position as
chi ef of staff for Governor Kenny Guinn,
Pete Ernaut sounded a rather dour pi cture
of the state's economic future. Without
some kind of increased revenue stream,
cuts will have to be made.
Nevada has enjoyed a long stretch of
prosperity. By and large, the tax burden
our residents face is rather low. Legislative
session after legislative session, Republicans and Democrats have prided themselves on not raising taxes in any fo rm. In
1999, Guinn even threatened, and then
carried through on his pro mise not to approve any fee increases.
The message of no new taxes has been
great campaign fodder. Many incumbents
have returned to offic e by touting their
anti-tax stance and re-committing to keep
ing taxes low or non-existent. That may
not be possible in the future, however. At
least two groups are planning petition
drives to qualify initiatives for the 2000
ballot dealing directl y with raising taxes.
The Nevada State Education Association, which in 1992 was dissuaded from
going ahead with its plan to pass a corporate tax initiative, is back. The group is'
worki ng on the specifics of an initiative to
place a 5 percent tax on all non-gaming
business profits. The idea is to raise $250
milli on fo r education.
State Senator Joe Neal plans to put the
burden of raising new revenues solely on
the gaming industry. His plan, which was
T
defeated soundly during the 1999 legislative session, would be to bump the gaming
tax from 6.25 percent to 11.25 percent on
casinos that make more than $ 1 million a
month in gross revenues .
The bulk of this addi tional money
would go toward education , with the
remainder split between reducing motor
vehicle taxes, raising pay fo r Nevada
Highway Patrolmen, and supplementing
gambling addiction program s.
You won' t fi nd many supporters for this
plan among elected officials, who count on
gaming for a large share of their campaign
contributions. In addition, there is concern
about overburdening the industry that already funds over half the state budget.
"People don' t always realize it, but gaming is a frag ile industry," one gaming insider said. "Counting on gaming revenues
to fund the state is just not smart fi scally.
What happens when those revenues are
down? Are we going to close schools?"
The business income tax initi ative isn' t
going to fi nd much more support. Businesses are already lining up in opposition,
claiming that any tax on businesses will
just be passed on to the general public in
the form of raised prices and fees.
In add ition, the initiati ve mi ght put Democrats in a tough spot. Education has
been one of their cornerstone issues over
the years, and the State Educati on Association has been a stro ng supporter of Democratic candidates. In order to be successful and keep control of the Assembly,
however, Democrats will need fund-raising help from the business community.
Both parties are tryi ng to work out a
compromise that will sati sfy the teachers'
union and business leaders, thereby avoiding the need for an initiative. That would
circumvent what could be a very nasty
campaign for everyone involved.
Most observers agree it's likely taxes
wo n' t be raised unless both parties work
together. Neither side wants to get caught
on the wrong side of this potentially di sastrous issue.
What is going to be interesting to watch
is how this year's candidates answer the
tax questi on. Wi th two initi atives on the
ballot, the issue will defini tely arise in debates and public functions. How each side
answers thi s tricky subject might just determine how successful they will be in the
first election of the new millennium.
s thi s column is being written, the
races fo r Clark Cou nty Commission seats are looki ng like nonevents. Two incumbents - Bruce Woodbury and Mary Kincaid - have no tough
opponents emerging, and probably won' t
draw any high-cali ber competition.
Commissioner Lance Malone's only opponent, former FBI super-agent George
Tagliotti , is ready to drop his campaign in
the wake of being out-raised by the incumbent by a couple hundred thousand dollars.
The only seat where a race is likely is
in Yvo nne Atkinson-Gates ' district. North
Las Vegas coun ci lman John Rhodes is
contemplating a primary chal lenge and
is try ing to raise the necessary cash. The
commission district is smaller than most,
so Rhodes doesn' t have to raise as much
money to be competitive.
Still , Gates has a good record and has
chalked up many accomplishments for her
constituents. She's beaten back several recall attempts, and polls show people aren ' t
really swayed by the problems she's had
with the Nevada Ethics Commi ssion . •
A
Michael Sullivan is president of Knight
Consulting, a Las Vegas government affa irs firm .
•
AHornev
Getting More
Bang for Your
Counsel's Buck
BY
Paul C. Ray
ega! matters require knowledge
and skill . Legal fees are among the
costs of doing business. As with
other costs, the challenge is to get the
most out of each dollar spent.
Businesses can save money both in how
they handle lawsuits and in how they
avoid them. They can also lose money
separate and apart from the way their
counsel performs the legal work. For example, an uncollectible judgment may not
be worth the paper it is written on, and is
even less likely to be worth the fees it
takes to obtain it.
This month 's column discusses four
basic business settings for legal fees and
how to save money. The four settings are:
1) collections; 2) defense of tort claims; 3)
unusual transactions or events; and 4)
planning ahead to avoid or lessen the risk
of litigation.
When a laws uit gets filed it is often too
late to do much to avoid legal fees. Fees
can be kept down, however, if the business
does its homework. First, invoices should
be correct and in order to collect an account receivable, for example.
The standard fmm contract for the business ' most common income-producing
transactions should include a clause that
awards legal fees to the party who prevails
if a lawsuit becomes necessary. If the facts
and law of a case are clearly in favor of
the business, this clause improves the
chances for a net recovery on the clai m.
Including this clause in the company's
basic form contracts for its everyday work
is the first "must" for saving legal fees.
The second "must" for savi ng legal fees
L
44 Nevada Business Joumal •
is maintaining a policy of general commercial liability insurance. This can save a
business from loss of money fro m a tort
claim and can also save valuable time and
resources when the insurer pays for defense counsel fees . When buying or renewing this insurance, the business should provide the insurance agent with a written
statement of needs based on known risks. It
is worth asking and learning what coverage
can be bought because the agent can explain common risks some businesses have
not even thought about. This can prompt
questions about details for which the business can then add needed coverage.
The point to watch fo r here is that insurance companies exclude many actions
businesses might want covered. It will be
harder for the insurer to deny a claim if
the business sends a letter stating any
known risks sought to be covered before
paying any premiums.
Nevada has some of the strongest laws
in the country against bad faith by insurers. The costs are high for a business to
enforce those laws, however, and the insurers strongly resist bad fai th claims.
When an insurance dispute does arise,
counsel can advise what to do to get the
insurer to pay covered legal fees.
When the business is a defendant in a
lawsuit, sometimes the insurer cannot, or
for some reason does not, promptly determine whether it will cover the loss if the
business loses the lawsuit. In such a case
the insurer sometimes pays for the business ' defense of the suit, but the insurer
can also reserve its right to deny coverage
at the end of the case. This happens when
the insurer suspects that an exclu ion may
apply in the policy, so that the in urer may
not have to cover the claim, if the fac ts are
not clear at the start of the ca e.
Because the insurer that re erve its
rights may have an incentive to deny coverage, counsel may have a conflict of interest representing both the insurer and the
business if they disagree on coverage.
Trusted business counsel can advi e how
to require the insurer to pay for the business to receive independent litigation
coun sel free of any bi as toward the insurer. This helps with settlement negotiations, and it helps the bu iness to have
greater confidence in its own counsel, to
best devise its strategy and to pursue its
own business goals.
Third, unusual claims can have unusual
business effects. For example, a breach of
contract claim on a special project or on a
special deal can be very unlike a case for
a more common type of job that a company does every day. Such unusual clai.m._s
or defenses do not fit a preset mold and
may require special budget plans. It is, of
course, best if the risk of such claims is
fac tored in from the start of the unusual
business event.
Knowing the risk involved on the claim
at issue is vital to choosing what resources
to use for the claim. If the claim involves
an unusual type of event for the business,
legal advice about the risk should be sought
as early as possible. The business can then
plan as needed to choose the steps to take
to avoid or lessen the risk.
While assessing the risk oflitigation and
planning how much can be spent to ad-
ON ACLEAR DAY, YOU CAN SEE
THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
dress it, counsel can help plan to meet the
business goals for the claim. Rarely is it
j ust a matter of moral principle to pursue
or defend a claim. Litigation is usually too
expensive for game playing, such as proving who has the better business ethics.
(Exceptions can include issues of public
relations, employee relations and business
survival.) If a principle is at stake, the price
tag for the legal fees is no less than the
price for legal fees on a claim for money
alone. Sooner or later the pursuit or defense of all claims should have a business
purpose, which requires teamwork with
counsel to achieve.
Fourth, planning ahead with legal counsel can help save tremendous legal fees by
avoiding litigation altogether. Any business
transfer involving a transfer of land, for example, merits legal counsel's review. Often,
of course, businesses must be willing to decline opportunities if the risks are too great.
Most high legal bills stem from poor
legal planning by the business or, more
often, no legal planning at all. The business that uses preventive maintenance in
hiring legal counsel for unusual transactions or events saves legal fees in the long
run . That business also has a better plan to
handle surpri ses that can come up in the
form of a lawsuit. Most importantl y, it is
legally well advised.
Because business goals vary, no single
plan will fit each business' needs. Legal
counsel can help address those needs.
Corporate directors should review with
counsel their basic contract forms and
their special ventures on an annual basis
or more often as their business patterns
vary. Businesses should also train their
employees to appropri ately meet their
legal responsibilities.
Too many are willing to pay legal fees
only after their legal problem:; have grown
large. Businesses should promptly seek
counsel for their legal questions to avoid
incurring larger bills later.
• '
Paul C. Ray is an attorney with the Las
Vegas -based law fi rm of John Peter Lee,
Ltd., which practices business law and
civil litigation. Ray practices real estate
and construction law and is the head of
the firm's appeals division.
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THE CENTER FOR BUSINESS
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THE SOUTHERN N EVADA
BUSINESS DIRECTORY, 1999
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THE CENTER FOR BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH, UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS
4505 MARYlAND PKWY, Box 6002 • LAs VEGAS, NV 89154-6002 • (702) 895-3191 • FAX (702) 895-3606
•
At the Top
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Changing the way
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PUTTING
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your money where
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to rely in money managers to monitor their financial investments.
Some fear they'll have to pay exorbitant fees. Others worry they
won't know what is happening with
their money, or that they might actually lose money in the transaction.
n such situations people are willing to
rely on a bank they have used for years
because it is convenient and comfortable
- even though it might not be as profitable.
According to Ted Schlazer and Bob
Kasner, principals of Henderson-based
Paragon Asset Management Company, a
business or individual could actually be
spending more money with a bank or brokerage firm than with a private consulting
firm . "It's a lot less expensive to hire us to
outsource [the work of investi ng and
money managing]," said Bob. Kasner, vice
president and portfolio manager for
Paragon. "The concept of receivi ng the
best expertise without paying for a full-'
time employee is really gaining in popularity. The least a bank might charge a
client to manage their money is about double or triple what we charge our clients."
"Many people assume that if their money
is in a money market account with a bank,
they are receiving the services for free,"
I
. said Ted Schlazer, president and portfolio
manager for Paragon. "Nothing is free.
Those who think they're getting a bargain
by investing with a bank may not be coming out ahead. Banks make money by taking your money and investing it at a higher
rate and giving you a percentage. Clients
can invest in the same stocks themselves in
which their bank is investing, without having to give up a large percentage to a bank."
Paragon Asset Management Company is a
fee-based registered investment advisory
company, meaning clients pay a specified
fee to have Paragon manage their funds.
"Our number-one objective is not to
push products on our clients. We have no
inventory," noted Schlazer. "We receive no
kickbacks [from investing in certain products or stocks]. We are strictly fee- based."
Paragon Asset Management has been in
the Las Vegas area since 1996, when
Schlazer and Kasner put together the idea
of a private investment company that would
provide services for private individuals,
corporations and public entities.
Both Schlazer and Kasner bring varied
experiences to their company. Schlazer
worked on Wall Street for firms such as Salomon Brothers Inc. and Kidder Peabody
& Co., handling the government bond department and carrying out risk management duties . Corning to Las Vegas in 1991,
Schlazer worked with different brokerage
firms before joining First Interstate Bank
as an investment officer. Kasner is a CPA
and a Certified Financial Pl anner (CFP)
who started his career with Peat, Marwick,
Mitchell & Co. He has spent 12 years with
local government, holding such posts as finance director for the city of Henderson
and director of accounting for the Clark
County School District. Before starting
Paragon, Kasner performed fmancial planning services for members of the Clark
County Classroom Teachers As ociation.
Eventually, Kasner and Schlazer joined
forces and decided to tap a niche they knew
wasn' t being serviced: local government.
"Less than four years ago I didn ' t know
of anyone in Clark County, the local city
governments and the school district who
was using an outside source to handle investing. For bonds and debt obligations
they all used an outside consultant, but for
inves ting it was a different story," recalled
Kasner. "It's difficult to find Wall Street
expertise in this area, let alone pay someone with that kind of experience to remain
on staff full-ti me. We also recognized that
investments constituted the fourth largest
source of income for local public entities,
and no one was helping them manage their
funds. Basicall y what we're doing for
local government is helping to put more
money into public coffers by helping them
invest properly."
Paragon's client base is comprised of approximately 80 percent individual investors,
usually retired persons looking to help their
money grow throughout their retirement.
The remaining 20 percent are made up of
corporate accounts, including the cities of
Henderson, Mesquite and North Las Vegas,
as well as the Las Vegas Housing Authority,
the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District
and some small local banks.
"People think that becau e they watch
CNBC they can interpret the market,"
noted Schlazer. "It takes a lot more than
just watching the market to be an expert.
It takes the tec hnological equipment and
the experience in the market to interpret
the data to really understand what's going
on with the market."
Paragon pri des itself in having the experience, as well as the tools, to analyze the
market and provide accurate information
fo r its clients. Besides nearly 40 years of
combined experience, Paragon's principals
have the technology, experience and links
to Wall Street that help them stay on top of
what is happening with the market.
•
Business Valuations:
Know Your Business's True Worth
hether your business is large or
small, located in a city or suburb, service or product dependent, there's at least one thing you should
know for sure: how much the business is
worth. Your business 's value can change
over time, and that means you can be
caught unaware if you suddenly must sell
the business. To prevent this, the Nevada
Society of CPAs recommends that you obtain a business valuation.
W
Since a business is often an
individual's most valuable
asset, it is important that
the valuation be conducted
by a qualified professional.
of the business, the services it provides,
and how the valuation will be used.
What is a business valuation?
he reason for obtaining a business valuation, or business appraisal as it is
also called, is to get an impartial opinion as
to the value of the business. Valuations typically determine the "fair market value" of
a company. Keep in mind that this may be
different than the "value" that you had in
mind. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
has defined "fair market value" as the price
at which property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller,
when the seller is not under any compulsion to sell, and both parties have reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts .
T
What is value?
he value of a business is also dependent
on the facts and circumstances specific
to the individual situation. Valuations take
into consideration a business's past financial
performance, its present financial condition
and performance and, most importantly, itS
future prospects. Economic factors, industry
trends, and management issues impacting
the business also are assessed.
Be aware, too, that there are different
methods for valuing a business. These vary
depending on such things as the relative
size of ownership being valued, the nature
T
How can business valuations
help you?
ere are some reasons why you may
need a business valuatiofl :
• Buying a business. You should get the
prospective business professionally valued
so you understand the full worth of your
investment.
• Selling a business. The IRS requires a
full valuation to support the allocation of
the total purchase price and its components for tax purposes .
• Developing an estate plan. If you are
planning to pass on the business to your
heirs, it's critical to understand its worth.
This will help to ensure that you distribute
your estate equitably.
• Determining stockholder/partnership
buyout terms. When considering buying
out an individual or partner, the last thing
you want to do is shell out more money
than necessary. A business valuation will
assure you that your offer is on target.
• Obtaining additional financing. A valuation may disclose additional information
that a business 's financial statement may
not provide. This can affect the amount
that a lender is willing to make available.
• Planning a merger or acquisition. Valu-
H
ations are required of one and generally
both businesses in a merger or acquisition.
• Dissolving or selling your business. For
tax and financial reporting purposes, valuations are generally necessary. Besides,
you may find that the business is even
worth more than you thought.
• Offering employee stock and ownership
plans (ESOP). An ESOP can provide certain
tax and additional advantages for private
companies, as well as offer significant employee incentives. To offer such plans, a
valuation of the employer's securities must
be performed at the onset and thereafter at
least annually.
• Planning your divorce. In the case of divorce, equitable distribution rules may require that a spouse's ownership interest in
a closely held business generally be valued
as of the date of the complaint.
What to look lor in a business
valuation specialist
ince a business is often an individual's
most valuable asset, it is important that
the valuation be conducted by a qualified
professional. The individual should have
experience in performing valuations and
possess tax and business know-how. For example, CPAs are experienced business advisors, accustomed to working with management on numerous strategic, operational
and financial matters. They are also adept at
dealing with the IRS on behalf of their
clients. Some CPAs also possess an accreditation in business valuation (ABV) from the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). For more information,
contact the AICPA at (212) 596-6069. •
S
Prepared by the Nevada Society of Certified Public Accountants
•
Top Rank
Nevada
STATEWIDE BOOK OF LISTS
BOOK~LISTS
Featured Lists
Homebuilding, manufacturing sectors inconsistent;
pool contractors, securities brokers surge
t's difficult to imagine the state's homebuilding industry could grow more
briskly than it already has. Indeed, this
year's TopRank survey of homebuilders
shows slight instability in number of
homes closed from 1998 to 1999. Many
smaller builders, perhaps succumbing to
competition levels that have suppressed
profit margins for several years now, have
either disappeared or scaled back. Some
larger builders have enhanced their ability
to compete and boosted numbers of closed
homes via mergers - Kaufman & Broad
and Lewis Homes, for example, or Real
Homes and Centex.
Where homes are built, pools will follow.
Virtually every pool contractor saw increased numbers of pools contracted from
1998 to 1999. A tightening of regulations
surrounding the pool contracting industry,
combined with extensive real estate activity,
is likely to ensure a healthy pool contracting
industry in Nevada for years to come.
I
The manufacturing sector experienced
more mixed results in 1999. Equal numbers
of manufacturers added and dropped employees. Some manufacturers seemed to
thrive in 1999 - for example, gaming industry manufacturers taking advantage of expanding gaming markets, and building-related manufacturers, such as window makers,
drywall companies, roofing and plumbing
manufacturers and even joist makers. Performance among the remaining manufacturers
in the state is less consistent, which may present problems for regions of the state that are
increasingly manufacturing-intensive.
Indicators are up for securities brokerages statewide, the vast majority of which
increased numbers of brokers from 1998 to
1999. As long as stock markets continue
their mostly strong performance of the past
few years, the securities brokerage industry
is likely to remain in high demand among
consumers seeking both instant riches and
long-term investment objectives.
•
MANUFACTUR ING COMPANIES .. ...
49
POOL CONTRACTORS .................
51
GRAPHIC DESIGN FI RMS .............
52
SECUR ITIES BROK ERAGES .... ..... ..
53
RESIDENTIAL BUILDERS ..............
54
Upcoming Lists
ADVERTISING AGENCIES
BANKS
lANDSCAPE ARCHITEO'S
LANDSCAPE CONTRACTORS
loCAL PHONE SERVICE PRoviDERS
lilpRankiNevada
STATEWID E BOOK O F LI ST S
Manufacturing Con1panies
Ranked by Total Nevada Employees
No.
<MINIMUM 2D>
'99Go.
EMPLOYS.
REVENUE
YEAR EST.
IN NV
% EXPORTED
775-448-7777
igtonline.com
2,000
1952
$929.7
DND
Spinning Reel Slot Mach., Video Gaming Mach.,
MegaJackpot Progressive Sys. , IGT Gaming Sys.
N. America, S. America, Europe,
Australia, S. Africa, Japan
NV EXEC
Charles
Mathewson
2 Bently Nevada Corp.
1617 Water St. , Minden 89423
775-782 -3611
bently.com
903
1961
$197.0
54 %
Machinery Protection, Mgmt. Instrumentation,
Software, Engineering Svcs.
Power Gen., Hydrocarbon Proc. , Chemicals,
Mining, Wastewater Trtmt. , Pulp/Paper
Donald E.
Bently
3 Cashman Equipment Co.
3101 E. Craig Rd ., N. LV 89030
702 -649-8777
cashmanequipment.com
610
1931
DND
DND
DND
Construction, Mining, Paving, Utilities,
Truck Engine, Power Gen ., Logging
Mary Kaye
Cashman
4 R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co.
14100 Lear Blvd., Reno 89506
775-677-3891
rrd.com
500
1986
DND
DND
Printed Materials
Commercial Printing
Paul
Erickson
5 Anchor Gaming
815 Pilot Rd., Ste. G, LV 89119
702-896-7568
anchorgaming.com
450
DND
$250.0
15%
Slot Mach., Lottery Sys., Parimutuel Sys., Gaming/Casino Operations
U.S. , Canada, Far East, Caribbean ,
Europe, Australia
Mike
Rumbolz
6 Casino Data Systems
3300 Birtcher Dr., LV 89118
702-269-5000
csds.com
412
1990
DND
DND
Slot Games, Casino Management Systems, Casino
Signage, Progressive Meters
Gaming/Casinos
Steven
Weiss
7 Wyman Gordon
2727 Lockheed Wy., Carson City 89706
775-883-3800
wyman .com
255
1975
$25.0
5%
Investment Castings
Aerospace, Power Gen.
Pete
Patriquin
8 Capital Cabinet Corp.
3645 Losee Rd ., N. LV 89030
702-649-8733
capitalcabinet.com
250
1983
DND
N/ A
Kitchen Cabinets, Laminate Countertops
Nev., Calif., Ariz.
Richard
Anderson
250
1992
DND
15 %
Stainless Steel Hoses, Washing Mach. Outlet Boxes,
Roof Drains, Bathwaste Assem., Plumbing Specialties
Plumbing Wholesalers, Retail Plumbing,
OEM, Roofing Wholesalers
Claude
Cognian
"
~
MANUFACTURING COMPANY
ADDRESS
PHONE
W EBSITE / E- MAIL
International Game Technology
9295 Prototype Dr., Reno 89511
775-884-4242
8 LSP Products Group, Inc.
3689 Arrowhead Dr., Carson City 89706 Jspproducts.com
($MILLION)
SENIOR
MARKETS SERVED
TYPES OF PRODUCTS
10 Winnemucca Farms, Inc.
1 Potato Pl., Winnemucca 89445
775-623-2900
usfds.com
200
1970
DND
10%
Mashed Potatoes/ Hash Browns, Potato Flour/ Flakes/
Snack lngred., Fresh Potatoes, Wheat, Alfalfa, Barley
Retail Consumer, Food Service, Industrial,
U.S./Europe, Far East/Japan, S. America
J.J . O'Brien
11 Berlin Industries Inc.
7350 Prairie Falcon Rd., LV B9128
702-255-1211
180
1999
DND
N/A
Sheetfed/Web Commercial Printing
Nat'l, Western Region
Thomas
Wheeler
12 Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.
1301 American Pacific Dr., Hdn 89014
702-566-7111
175
1993
DND
Juice Drinks
Western U.S., Canada
Doug
Reifsteck
13 Sweetheart Cup Co.
4425 Mitchell, N. LV 89031
702-644-0980
160
1977
DND
3%
Disposable Food Svc. Prod ., Cups, Plates, Straws,
Lids
Convenience Stores, Distributors, Club
Stores, Nat'l Acct. Fast Food Chains
Marcia Rose
13 The Antioch Co.
200 Vista Blvd., Ste. 105, Sparks 87484
800-932-9291
antioch.com
160
1996
$20.0
10%
Scrapbook Pages
15 Western States, Australia, Taiwan ,
New Zealand , Alaska, Hawaii
John Zern
15 U.S. Gypsum Co.
PO Box 130, Empire 89405
775-557-2208
usg.com
152
1948
$35.0
Wallboard, Plaster, Cement Rock, Agricult. Prod.
Calif. , Nev., Wash., Utah, Ore., Idaho
Ken
Samuelson
16 Valley Joist
255 Logan Rd ., Fernley 89408
775-575-7337
valleyjoist.com
150
1997
DND
N/ A
Steel Joists/Girders, Steel Deck
Nev., Ore. , Wash., Ariz., Calif., Utah
DND
17 High Sierra Industries
5301-81 Longley Ln ., Reno 89511
775-829-7400
mkatzhsi@aol.com
140
1977
$3 .0
N/A
Electronics, Cables/Harness, Electromechanical,
Wood Pallets, Wood Shipping Crates
U.S., Gaming, Computer, Medical,
General
MichaelS.
Katz
17 Milgard Windows
40 N. Mojave Rd., LV 89101
702-453-1234
milgard.com
140
1991
$20.0
N/A
Aluminum/Vinyl Windows and Doors
Las Vegas, S. Utah, N. Ariz.
Bill Spencer
19 Tripp Plastics
250 Greg St., Sparks 89431
775-355-7552
trippplastics.com
130
1950
DND
5%
Vacuum Formed Prod. , Machined Parts, Fabricated
Pt. of Porch., Lighted Sign Assem., Int. Signage Pkgs.
Gaming Casinos/Manu!., Retail Mkts. ,
Whls./Dist. , lndust. Mfr., Medical Mfr.
WarrenW.
Tripp
20 Aervoe-Pacific Co., Inc.
1198 Mark Cir., Gardnerville 89410
775-782-0100
aervoe.com
125
1988
$30.0
25 %
Cleaners/Degreasers, Paints/ Coatings, Lubricants,
Inverted Marking/ Striping Paint, Ind. Main!. Chern.
lndustr./OEM, Contractors Sup., STAFDA,
Rental, Forestry, Survey Supply/Trade
David A.
Williams
21 Geon Engineered Films Group
270 Hwy 95A N., Yerington 89447
775-463-2374
geon .com
120
1985
$18.0
45%
Calendar Film/Sheet PVC, Print Film/Sheet, Laminate Film/Sheet
Loose Leaf, Marine, Home Furnishings,
Auto Accessory, Med ., Pool
David W.
Smith
22 Kloehn Co. Ltd .
10000 Ban burry Cross Dr., LV 89144
702-243-7727
kloehn .com
110
1993
$15.0
10%
Micro Syringes, Miniature Shear/Solehold/ Ceramic
Valves, Syringe Pumps, Needles/ Probes/Fittngs
Analytical/Clinical OEM Instruments,
Medical, Industrial
Mike Kloehn
23 JCH Technologies
4527 Losee Rd., N. LV 89031
702-639-4137
jchtech.com
106
1988
$10.0
1%
Custom Cables/ Harnesses, RF Cables,
Data/Power/Molded Cables
Aerospace, Military, Computers, Electronics, Industrial, Med .
James C.
Hinshaw
24 Universal Urethane/Universal Metals
702-643-3626
4201 E. Lone Mountain Rd., NLV 8903 1
92
1993
$9.3
2.3 %
Auto. Dashes, Fitness Padding, Spa/Bath Pillows,
Gaming/ Med. Seating-Pads, Precision Sheet Metal
Automotive, Med., Spa-Bath , Fitness,
Gaming, Aerospace, Amusement
Scott Evans
Structural Steel, Towers, Poles, Antenna Supports
Telecommunications, Cons!., Ski, Utilities,
Altern. Energy, Mining
Steven
Hopkins
Ready Mixed Concrete
Reno/Sparks, Carson City, Lake Tahoe,
Minden/Gardnerville, Fernley, Dayton
Martin R.
Giudici
Ball Point Pens/Refills, Pressurized Refills
Dept. Stores, Gift Shops, Whlsalers, Jewelers, Leather/Luggage Stores, Mail-Order
Cary Fisher
6%
90%
25 Tower Structures
2567 Business Pkwy., Minden 89423
775-267-1308
towerstructures.com
85
1993
DND
10%
26 American Ready Mix
1725 E. Commercial Row, Reno 89512
775-786-4773
americanreadymix.com
+80
1975
+$15.0
N/ A
27 Fisher Space Pen Co.
711 Yucca St. , Boulder City 89005
702-293-3100
spacepen.com
80
1976
$10.0
25 %
27 United Metal Technologies
3221 Polaris Ave. , LV 89102
702-252-8496
umt.net
80
1986
DND
10%
Precision Metal , Elec. Assembly, Chrome Plating,
Powder Coating
Gaming, Electronics, Med ., Gov1.
David J.
Frohn en
29 Marathon Equipment
130 Hwy. 339, Yerington 89447
775-463-4030
75
1985
DND
DND
Solid Waste Compactors/Containers, Balers for
Recycling
West Coast, Hawaii, Mexico/Canada
DND
29 Reno Iron Works
290 Keystone Ave., Reno 89503
775-329-1000
renoironworks@efortress.com
75
1991
$5.0
N/A
Structural Steel, Misc. Steel , Bridges, Reinforcing
Bar, Ornamental
Western States
Andrea G.
Pelter
Custom Micro-Electronics, Laser Diode Drivers, Thermo-Electric Cooler Controllers, Digital Delay Lines
Military, Aerospace, Communications,
Industrial
Chuck Byrne
Custom Compounded Engineering Thermoplastics
West Coast, Asian Rim
Wayne D.
Pedlar
31
Hytek Microsystems, Inc.
775-883-0820
400 Hot Springs Rd., Carson City 89706 hytek.com
70
1979
$5.2
5%
31
RTP Co.
23 Airpark Vista Blvd., Dayton 89403
775-246-7446
rtpcompany.com
70
1993
$145.0
40 %
33 7UP Bottling Co. of Reno
1000 Terminal Way, Reno 89502
775-322-3456
60
DND
DND
N/A
Soft Drinks
Northern Nev., Calif., Idaho
Edward R.
Frazer
33 Sliger Designs
150 E. Greg St., Ste. 105, Sparks 89431
775-356-5595
sliger.com
60
1991
$5.0
15 %
Rack Mount PC Enclosures for Industrial
Computer Mkt. , Related Accessories
U.S., Canada, Europe
Dale E.
Sliger
35 Pan-Oston Co.
4580 Walnut Rd. , Ste. A, NLV 89031
702-643-6707
panoston .com
50
1997
DND
DND
Checkout Lns., Custom Metal Cabinetry
U.S., Canada
Rex
Reichenbach
CONTINUED
•
TopRankiNevada
S TAT E WID E
BOOK O F LISTS
Manufacturing Companies
~
MANUFACTURING (OMPANY
ADDRESS
~
PHONE
W EBSITI
I
E-MAIL
No.
'99G R.
EMPLOYS.
YEAR EST.
IN NV
($MILLION)
% EXPORTED
<MINIMUM 2D>
REVENUE
SENIOR
M ARKETS SERVE D
TYPES OF PRODUm
NV Exec
Chips, Dice, Cards, Layouts (Wool/Synth.), Gaming
Eqpt./Tables, Furn ., Roulette Wheels, Big 6 Wheels
Casino
Eric P. Endy
$6.0
N/ A
Hotel/Casino Int. , Archit. Millwork, Bars/Restaur.,
Shops/Stores, Ole. Interiors-Banks, Premium Res.
U.S., Overseas If Requested
Roger
Powell
47
1990
DND
DND
Precision Rollers, Rubber Molding/Extrud., Die Cut
Gaskets, Foam Fabricatn, Sub Component Assem.
Plotter, Printer, Med. Eqpt., Camp. Eqpt.,
Electronics, Paper Handling Eqpt.
Mitchell
Watts
35 Paul-Son Gaming Supplies, Inc.
1700 Industrial Rd., LV 89102
702-384-2425
paulsongaming.com
50
1963
$24.0
5%
37 Powell Cabinet & Fixture Co.
1300 Freeport Blvd., Sparks 89431
775-359-4700
powellcabinet.com
+50
1952
38 Redco
775-882-3100
3000 Arrowhead Dr., Carson City 89706 redco1 .com
(continued)
39 Innovative Gaming
4725 Aircenter Cir., Reno 89502
775-823-3000
igca-gaming.com
46
1996
$8.0
10%
Slot Mach ., Multi-Station/Player, Electronic Table
Games, Stand-Alone Video
All Legal Gaming Venues
Edward
Stevenson
40 Fradella Iron Works, Inc.
707 Yucca St. , Boulder City 89005
702-293-5300
fradellaironworks .com
45
1987
DND
N/A
Ornamental iron, Steel Stairs
Commercial
Pete Aguilar
41
702-565-7500
armandmfg.com
44
DND
4%
Plastic Bags/Covers, Static Control Prod.
1996
Electronics, Med ., Packaging, Gen . Industrial, Military, Material Handling
Rich de
Heras
Armand Manufacturing, Inc.
2399 Silver Wolf Dr., 89015
42 Quality Plastics, Inc.
1685 Industrial Way, Sparks 89431
775-331-3500
42
1976
$5.5
5%
Vac Form Plastics, Fabricated Plastics, Sub Assemblies, Custom Automated Eqpt.
Gaming, Food Svc., Canst., Automotive,
Computer, Security
Guy
Gardner
43
702-474-1112
rtplastics@aol.com
40
1995
DND
25
Poker Chips, Plastic Parts for Weed Whackers/
Lawnmowers
Casinos, Distributors, Retail Stores
Joe Fabrizio
44 Quality Bearing Service
1415 Greg St. , Ste. 103, Sparks 89431
775-331 -3633
brenwqbs.com
36
1995
$150.0
5%
Roller Bearings
Railroad Industry
DND
45 DIS, Inc.
2080 Brierly Wy., Ste. 101 , Sparks 89434
775-359-3333
dis-inc.com
35
1995
DND
60 %
Seismic Isolation Bearings, Steel Fabrication
U.S., Japan, Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand ,
Europe
Konrad
Erksen
45 Dolisos America/ Piantes & Medecines
3014 Rigel Ave., LV 89102
702-871-7153
dolisosam@aol.com
35
DND
DND
DND
OTC/Proprietary Pharmaceut., Rx/Ethical Pharms.,
Pharm . Gr. Homeopath. Remed. , Supplmts., Vet. Prod.
Professionals, Pharmacies, Mass Mkt.,
Retail, Whlesale/ Dist. , Health Food
Luc Clouatre
45 Precision Engine Parts
7240 Placid St. , LV 89119
702 -263-6300
precisionengineparts.com
35
1994
$6.2
15 %
Valve Guides/Spring Retainers/Train Components
Worldwide
Ron
Bernstein
45 Rotonics Manufacturing Inc.-Nevada
4700 Mitchell St. , N. LV 89031
702-643-2644
rotonics.com
35
1989
$50.0
N/A
Plastic Planters, Plastic Laundry/Linen Carts, Plastic
Lighting Globes/Acorns, Custom Molded Plastic
Landscape Prof., Hospitality/ Restaur.,
M uni./Govt. , Custom Req . fr. Any Mkt.
Jay Grau
49 Ath ena International, Inc.
1100 Mark Cir., Gardnervill e 89410
775-783 -3100
athenainternational.com
30
1988
$5.0
N/ A
Plastic lnjctn. Molded Parts, Custom M achining/Fabrication , Mold Making, Portable Gas/ 12V Appliances
lndustrl., M RO/ OEM, Gourmet/ Restaur.,
O utdoor/ Sporting Goods, Truck Stop
David A.
Williams
49 Sun-Gould Steel inc.
5241 Schirlls St. , LV 89118
702 -367 -4242
30
1987
$3.1
N/A
Structural/Misc. Steel Fabrication/ Erection
DND
Joseph
Goulding
49 Tappa Manufacturing Corp.
1650 Marietta Way, Sparks 89431
775-331-0183
toppo.com
30
1981
DND
10%
Restaurant Equipment
Food Service
Melinda
Carucci
52 Model Die Casting, Inc.
5070 Sigstrom Wy., Carson City 89706
775-884-4388
mdcroundhouse.com
28
1994
DND
15 %
Model Locomotives/ Railroad Cars/Buildings,
Kits/Ready-to-Run
Hobby, Leisure, Historical, Collectibles,
Scale Builder, Toy
C. H.
Menteer
53
Bradley Window Corp.
699 E. Tropicana Ave., 89119
702-739-7466
27
1971
$13 .9
Aluminum, Vinyl, Wood, Mirror Doors,
Western U.S., Mexico, Pac. Rim
Tom
Bradley, Sr.
lnkware
1944 Pama Ln ., LV 89119
702-871-4466
lnkware.com
27
1995
DND
DND
Ink for Grand Format, Printers, Aqua Shield, Clear
Coat
Worldwide
H. Rockow
55 American Pacific Corp.
3770 Howard Hughes Pkwy.,
Ste. 300, LV 89109
702 -735-2200
25
1955
$72.0
Aerospace Chem., Specialty Chem., Environmental
N. America, S. America, Asia, Middle
East, Europe
John R.
Gibson
55 Fallline Corp.
775-827-6400
fallline.com
25
1987
DND
Cast Polyurethane Prod .
Ski Industry, Agriculture, Canst. , Sports
Rec., Snow Removal
Randall York
55 Medallic Art Co.
80 Airpark Vista Blvd., Dayton 89403
775-246-6000
25
1997
$5.0
Coins, M edals, Awards
Fundraising, Universities, Corporations,
Gift Stores, Collectibles
Robert Hoff
55 MSM Sheet Metal & Steel Fabrication
1105 Freeport Blvd ., Sparks 89431
775-356-5542
msmsheetmetal.cDm
25
1983
DND
N/ A
Pull Boxes, Louvers, Spiral Pipe, Enclosures, Roof
Flashing/Curbs
Const., Ind., Mining, Arch ., HVAC, Elec.,
Dust Coli., Struc. Steel, Ventilation
Steven W.
Field
55 Sputtering Materials, Inc.
7950 Sugar Pine Ct. , Reno 89523
775-787-6700
smibonding.com
25
1997
DND
30 %
Sputtering Target Bonding Materials/ Svcs.
Semiconductor, Optical Coating, Aero space, Auto., Arch . Glass, Disk Drives
Clifford C.
Purdy II
60 Perma-Cal Industries, Inc.
1742 Orbit Way, Minden 89423
775-782-1026
perma-cal.com
24
1995
$2.0
N/A
Pressure Gauges/Regulators
Pet roleum, Chem., Power, Aeronautical
Robert E.
Honer
61
775-355-2000
23
1976
DND
N/ A
Safety Equipment/Clothing/ Signs, Fire
Extinguishers, Gloves, Respirators
Nev., N. Ariz., Calif.
Robert D.
Mulhall
62 Metalast International, Inc.
2241 Park Pl., Minden 89423
775-782-8324
metalast.com
22
1995
DND
N/A
Anodizing Tech., R&D Svcs., Tech. Support, Process
Control Sys., Wld.'s Only Anodizing Tech. Ctr.
Metal Finishing Ind ., OEMs, First Tier
Suppliers, Domestic/ lnt'l
David
Semas
62
702 -649-5002
unique-enterprises.com
22
1977
DND
10%
Coin Wrap Paper, Token Racks, Coin Cans, Canvas
Bags, Currency Wallets, Change Aprons
Casino Ind., Banking, U.S., lnt'l
Michele
Curran
64 HVA, LLC
655 Spice lslnds Dr., Ste. 104 Sparks 89431
775-359-4442
highvac.com
21
1996
$3 .2
25%
Vacuum Valves
Semiconductor, Flat Panel , High Tech
Steve
Traynor
64 Triad Plastic Technologies
8800 Terabyte Ct., Reno 89511
775-853-6653
tri ad-plastics.com
21
1988
DND
N/ A
Custom Injection Molded Parts
Med ., Automotive, Gaming, Electronics,
Comp., Household Items
Greg
Latimer
66 Betra Manufacturing Co.
45 Affonso Dr., Carson City 89706
775-246-9078
20
1995
$1.5
N/A
Aluminum Sand Castings
Original Eqpt. Manufacturers of All Types
MarkJ .
Thomas
66 FCI Environmental, Inc.
1181 Grier Dr., Bldg. B, LV 89119
702-361-7921
fcifiberchem@sprintmail.com
20
1989
$2 .0
15 %
Hydrocarbon Analyzers, Continuous Monitoring
Sys., Sensor-On -A-Chip
Environmt., Petrol. Ind ., Retail Gas., Remediation , Power Producers, Gr.water Monitor.
Geoffrey F.
Hewitt
66 KieTek International , Inc.
775-827-1660
kietek.net
20
1992
$4.0
20 %
Ball Transfers, Cuba Roller Transfer, Planking,
Locks/Stops, Ball Mat, Pallets, Roller Bed Systems
Air Cargo Ind., Logistic Cos., Factories,
Warehouses
Patricia
Brierton
66 Nelson Pacific Corp. dba Delta Ind.
9550 Gateway Dr., Reno 89511
DND = Did not disclose
775-853-5335
deltaindustries. com
20
1995
$5.0
Drawer Slides, Contract Mfg., Powder Coating,
lnt'l, OEMs, Distributors
Gary W.
Nelson
53
RT Plastics, Inc.
901 S. First St., LV 89101
Interstate Safety Supply, Inc.
901 Meredith Way, Sparks 89431
Unique Enterprises, Inc.
PO Box 30005 , N. LV 89036
5% Millwork/Trim, Steel Doors
5% Equipment, Real Estate
5%
5%
5% Metal Stamping, Fabrication, Prod . Dev.
I!'!)l]LISTS ~ Note : The above information was supplied by representatives of the listed companies in response to faJCed survey forms. Companies not appearing did not respond. To the best of our knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time.
BOOK OF
~ While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, errors and omissions do occur. Send corrections or additions on company letterhead to TopRank Nevada Statewide Book of lists, Research Dept.. 2127 Paradise Rd ., LV, NV 89104.
SO Nevada Business Journal •
TopRankiNevada
Pool Contractors
Ranked by Pools Contracted in 1999
"'z
~
2
3
4
5
6
7
B
9
9
11
12
13
14
15
16
16
1B
N/A
POOL CONTRACTOR
ADDRESS
Anthony & Sylvan Pools and Tango Pools
2B90 E. Tropicana Ave., Las Vegas B9121
Desert S win~ Pools & Spas
2115 S. ain ow Blvd. , Las Vegas B9102
Blue Haven Pools
1126 S. Rainbow Blvd ., Las Vegas B9146
Smart Pools Inc.
3015 E. Sunset Rd ., Las Vegas B9120
Renaissance Pools
1245 N. Boulder Hwy., Henderson B9015
Pool s by Grube
5075 S. Cameron, Ste. B. Las Vegas B911B
Exteriors Inc.
3125 Ali Saba Ln., Ste. 712, Las Vegas B911B
California Pools & Spas
9037 W. Sahara Ave. , Las Vegas B9117
Mission West Pools
1750 S. Rainbow Blvd ., Ste. 11 , Las Vegas B9146
Tropic Isle Pools, Inc.
2545 E. Chandler Ave ., Ste. 1, Las Vegas B9120
Aqua Pools & Design
1920 Rock Springs Dr., Las Vegas B912B
Water Creations, Ltd .
2450 Chandler Ave., Ste. 7, Las Vegas B9120
Certified Pool & Spa Inc.
10300 S. Virginia St., Reno B9511
lntegri~ Pools, Inc.
101 S. ainbow Blvd ., Ste. 9, Las Vegas B9145
Christiansen Pools
2310 Llewellyn Dr., Las Vegas B91 02
Artistic Pool & Spa Inc.
6150 Transverse Dr., Las Vegas B9146
Ozzie Kraft Ente;J>rises, Inc.
200 S. Jones Blv ., Las Vegas B9107
Water FX Custom Pools, Spas & Fountains
2200 E. Patrick Ln ., Ste. 26, Las Vegas B9119
Sierra Nevada Spas
3270 S. Carson St., Carson City B9701
PHONE
W EBSITE
I E-MAIL
1999
No.
CONTRACTS
EMPLYS .
EsT.
YEAR
702-736-1327
anthony-sylvan.com
902
125
19B5
702 -243 -7665
DND
640
2B
1993
702-795-9500
donedeal7@hotmail .com
622
40
19B1
702-269-1777
smart-pools.com
247
21
1995
702-566-5536
DND
233
35
1991
702-364-B66B
poolsbygrube.com
205
15
1965
702-739-7799
exteriorspool.com
+200
+50
19B9
702 -254-2654
californiapools.com
172
4B
19B7
702-259-7746
poolmall.com/missionwest
B2
6
19BO
702-736-1994
DND
B2
5
1994
702 -247-9911
DND
70
N/A
1990
702-739-3093
DND
63
4
1997
775-B52-B405
DND
49
10
197B
702-655-7946
DND
45
4
1995
702-735-1511
DND
40
6
1970
702-B70-6760
DND
3B
3
1976
702-B7B-4206
DND
3B
24
1942
30
6
1997
DND
DND
197B
702-233-3200
waterfx .net
775-BB2-3513
doug@sierranevadaspas.com
• • • • •
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lin Wippel
•
•
Doug Green
•
David L. Klohr
• •
Thomas J. Alexander
• • •
• •
• • •
• • •
•
•
• •
• • •
• • •
• • •
• • •
• • •
• • •
•
•
• •
•
•
•
•
•
Carmine C. Uvino
•
Jeff Pearson
•
Foster A. Cannon
•
Doug Wilson
Dennis Hayward
•
Margaret E. Salazar
•
Denice Caouette
•
Joe Trombley
•
Larry Scherr
Ralph Christiansen
•
•
•
•
Ron Foglia
Kevin Kraft
•
Tim Pangborn
Douglas F. Johnson
~ Note: The above information was supplied by representatives of the listed companies in response to faxed survey forms. Companies not appearing did not respond. To the best of our knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time.
BDDK ~LISTS
OF
~ While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, error> and omissions do occur. Send corrections or additions on company letterhead to TopRank Nevada Statewide Book of Lists, Research Dept., 2127 Paradise Rd., LV, NV 89104 .
•
TopRankiNevada
STATEWI D E BOOK OF L I STS
Graphic Design Firn1s
.."
z
"'
GRAPHIC D ES IGN fiRM
A DDRESS
W EBSITE
I
PHONE
SENIOR
No.
EMPLYS.
E -MAIL
SPECIALTIES
C LIENTS
NV
EXEC
YEAR E ST. IN
NV
Nova 2001
4020 Pecos Mcleod, Las Vegas B9121
nova2001 .com
702-263-B777
22
Brochures, Logo Design, Illustrations, Web
Site Development/Banner Design, Corporate Identity
LV Motor Speedway, Mirage, Golden
Nugget, Consorzio USA, H&R Block
DND
199B
edurus, Inc.
755 N. Roop St., Ste. 110, Carson City B9701
edurus.com
775·BB5-B333
20
Web Site Design/Development, Online Advertising Media
BigGuys.com, Wishplace.com, AttorneyGuide.com, NV Commission on Economic Development, Nevada Magazine
Jeff Obst
1996
Desert Media Group/ Desert Color Labs
4440 S. Arville, Ste. 12, Las Vegas B9103
desertmediagroup.com
702-221-50BO
15
Graphic Design, Typesetting, Magazine Layout, Electronic Prepress, High Resolution
Scans, Film Output and Proofs
Critters, Nevada Woman, Powerboat,
Tourguide, Las Vegas Today
DND
DND
KSR Advertising
3753 Howard Hughes Pkwy., Ste. 310, Las Vegas B9109
ksradvertising.com
702 ·734-0444
12
Graphic Design, Advertising, Interactive
Services, Public Relations
Southwest Gas, Bechtel, Hope Foundation,
Bio-Green , Marriott Suite Hotels, Clark Co.
Comprehensive Planning
Ed Rivera
1996
4
Choice One Graphics, LLC
455B W. Hacienda Ave., Las Vegas 8911B
choiceone@powernet.net
702-89B-9460
10
Design, Production , Installation, Complete
Apt. Signage Packages, Dust Control Signs,
Neon Signage
Howard Hughes Corp., Del Webb Corp.,
Kaufman & Broad, Sprint, St. Rose Dominican Hosp., Oasis-A Camden Co.
Scott Bomstad
1997
4
Rembrandt Graphics Inc.
1601 E. Flamingo Rd ., Las Vegas B9119
rembrandtgraphics.com
B00-747-6602
10
3M Scotchprint Graphics, Cloth Printing,
Banners, Wall Murals, Vehicle Wraps
(Buses/Shuttles)
Boyd Group, MGM, Trans Ad, SFX
Paul Havig
1995
6 Canyon Creative
4375 S. Polaris Ave. , Ste. 4, Las Vegas 89103
candezign@aol.com
702-262-9901
B
Advertising, Marketing Communications,
Brand Dev., Lvgo Dev., Merchandise Des.,
Graphic Des.
MGM Grand Hotel/Casino, Park Place Ent. ,
Caesars World, Inc., Coveredge, M&M's
World
Dale Sprague
1996
6 Graphics 2000
6290 Harrison, Ste. 16, Las Vegas B9120
gr2000@sprynet.com
702-79B-61B1
B
Design, Comp. Graphics, Full Svc. Printing
Entertainment Industry
DND
1979
6 Greg Mason Advertising Arts (GMAA)
2BO Brinkley Ave., Ste. 204, Reno B9509
gmaa.com
775-B25-6555
B
Logo Des., Annual Reports, Sale Sheets/
Brochures, TV/ Radio Creative, Web Site
Construction
Harveys Lake Tahoe, Sierra Pacific Power
Co., EDAWN , Chinook Winds Casino,
Harrah's Reno, Aristocrat
Greg Mason
1988
6 Skyline Display & Design, Inc.
6720 Placid St. , Ste. A, Las Vegas B9119
skylinedisplays.com
702-361-3440
B
Booth/Graphic Des., Art Prod ., Manuf.,
Total Show Mgmt., Worldwide Dedicated
Distributor Network.
Cox Communications, The Mirage, Treasure
Island, LVCVA, City of Las Vegas, City of
Henderson
Logan Terry
1990
10 Creative Dynamics Inc.
3160 S. Valley View Blvd., Ste. 102, Las Vegas B9102
cdilv.com
702-B76-3316
7
Print/Advertising/Web Site Des., Interactive
Media/CO ROM Des., Branding ID, CD
ROM Authoring
Westwood Studios, VCM Inc., Cirque Du
Soleil, Shell, MGM Grand, PostNet lnt'l
Eddie Roberts
1994
10
Frontier Group
225 Crummer Ln ., Reno B9502
thefrontiergroup.com
775-B24·4040
7
Multimedia/Web/ Print Design , E-Commerce, Strategic Marketing, Video Walls
Dura Pharmaceuticals, Pillsbury, Merck &
Co., Ecloser.com, nothingtoit.com , State
of Nevada
DND
1996
10
Nevada Instant Type, Inc.
50 E. Greg St. , Ste. 10B, Sparks B9432
nit@powernet.net
775-359·4B35
7
High Speed Dup. , Laser Color Copies,
Legal/ Litigation Support, Printing/Full
Service Bindery, Typesetting/Graphic
Design, Laminating
DND
Ann T. Sutton
1977
13
Visual Identity
6250 Mountain Vista St., Henderson B9014
visualid .net
702-454·7773
5
Ad/Web Site Design, Gaming Spec.,
3-D Animation, Multimedia/ CD/VHS,
Consulting
Sam's Town Hotel/ Gambling Hall, AI
Phillips, Westward Ho Hotel/Casino, The
Cleaner, The Sports Club/ Las Vegas, LV
Helicopters, National Reservation Bureau
DND
19B7
14
Cricket Graphics
107 E. Charleston Blvd. , Ste. 203 , Las Vegas B9104
cricketstudio.com
702-366·9077
2
Graphic Design, Illustration, Web Site Design, Fine Art
Direct Sales & Marketing Concepts,
Arcadia, Inc., Wilson Partitions, Studio
West Photography, V2 Creative, Advertising
Edge, Inc.
Brian Swanson
1994
14
DreamMerchant Graphics
437 Engel Ave., Henderson B9015
dbdonovan .com
702-564·359B
2
Illustration, Graphic Des., Flash Animation,
Web Site Des. , Package Des., Cartooning
City of LV, Citylife Mag., Alban Farms
Coffee Plantations, Bank of America, Las
Vegas Fruits & Nuts, Ninja Trading Co.
DB Donovan
19B5
16
Connie & Associates
2127 Paradise Rd ., Las Vegas B9104
conniebrennan@usa.net
702-369·3393
1.5
Strategic Marketing, Graphic Design, Copywriting, Consultation, Advertising, Public
Relations, Corporate Identity
Nevada Development Authority, Las Vegas
Perspective, Lear Productions, Interstate
Plumbing
Connie Brennan
16
Production Art
9065 Mohawk St., Las Vegas B9139
production-art.com
702·263-6413
Graphic Design , Print Brokering, Direct Mail
Coordination, Custom Computer. Programming, Marketing Services, Copywriting
LV Chamber of Commerce, CCSN Continuing Education , Health Print, InSight Mtn.
Diagnostic, Alan Waxier Group, Komen
Breast Cancer Foundation
Kyle Ann
Crawford
1995
17
BusiGraphics
3940 Spring Dr., Ste. 11, Reno B9502
busigraphics@earthlink.net
775-B29-9235
Graphic Design, Printing, Show Cards
DND
DND
19BB
17
M Productions
32B California Ave., Ste. 3, Reno B9509
mproductions@softcom.net
775-324-2B22
Conceptual/Design, Art Production, Logos,
Newsletters, Stationery Packages, Newspaper/ Magazine Advertising, Brochures, Outdoor Signage
AlA Northern NV, Resort at Squaw Creek,
Employers Ins. Co., Champion Chevrolet,
Tripp Plastics, Verner Homes NV
Monica Limon
1996
N/A Serenity Graphic & Gifts, Inc.
4300 N. Pecos Rd., Ste. 16, Las Vegas 89115
DND
702-547-4521
Graphics Des., Bus. Cards/Forms, Personalized Gifts, A.A. Chips/ Jewelry, Wholesale
Pricing, Print On Almost Anything
DND
Duane Nekola
199B
1.5
DND
1996
DND ; Did not disclose
BOOK ~LISTS DEJiii] Note: The above Information was supplied by representatives of the listed companies in response to faxed survey forms. Companies not appearing did not respond. To the best of our knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time.
OF
While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, errors and omissions do occur. Send corrections or additions on company letterhead to TopRank Nevada Statewide Book of lists, Research Dept., 2127 Paradise Rd., LV, NV 89104 .
ilpRankiNevada
STATEWID E BOOK OF LI S TS
Securities Brokerages
Ranked by Total Nevada Brokers
~
5ECURm ES BROKERAGE
ADDRESS
WEBSITE
PHONE
O FFICES
702-737-7275
140
~·
i I I
•
•
69
•
702-360-0400
•
63
•
YEAR EST. IN
OTH ER
•
•
•
•
•
Fin . Seminars
•
Corporate Cash Management, ESOs,
Collateralized Lending
2
Online Accts./Svcs., RetiremenU
Estate Planning, Research , Global
Asset Mgmt.
Trust Services, RetiremenUEstate
Planning, Research, Online Services
6
702-794-4444
•
56
3
702-227-7090
•
45
3
775-323 -1641
40
• •
•
3
702-893-8700
30
•
•
•
•
•
Consulting
•
•
Trust Services, Business Checking/
Savings, Customer Loans, Mortgages
2
702-732-4222
30
•
2
775-883-1444
28
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
2
• • • •
702-791 -6101
702-733-9030
702-650-1000
702-631-3333
13
2
702 -869-9966
9
1
•
•
702-732-4571
9
1
•
•
• •
702 -734-8721
7
1
•
•
•
702-456-5588
5
•
•
2
•
Plane Leasing, Active Managed
Gaming Stocks
• • • • •
775-588-6116
5
1
•
•
•
•
•
702-878-4050
5
3
•
•
•
•
•
702-451-8099
5
1
•
•
•
•
•
702-798-5544
4
1
•••••
702-734-1818
4
•
•
•
2
775-332-7000
2
1
•
•
•
775-882-7455
2
1
•
•
•
702-547-1430
2
•
•
•
•
1
702-367-7211
2
1
•
•
• • •
702-838-0033
702-862 -8724
DND
DND
775-324-7332
DND
DND
•
•
Touch-Tone Trading, Internet Trading
•
• • • • • • •
NV Exec(s)
H EADQUARTERS
•
8
702 -796-0135
SENIOR
~.#f.t
BROKRS
I E-MAIL
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
3800 Howard Hughes Pkwy., Las Vegas 89109
msdw.com
Prudential Securities, Inc.
3763 Howard Hughes Pkwy., Ste. 330, LV 89109
kevi n_thomas_kitchin@prusec.com
American Express Financial Advisors
1160 Town Center Dr., Las Vegas 89144
aexp.com
4 Tri-Star Management, Inc.
3900 Paradise Rd ., Ste. 155, Las Vegas 89109
DND
5 Merrill Lynch
2300 W. Sahara Ave., Ste. 1200, Las Vegas 89102
mi. com
6 PaineWebber
350 S. Center St., Reno 89501
DND
7 Dain Rauscher
dainrauscher.com
7 First Union Securities
3800 Howard Hughes Pkwy. , Ste. 1500, LV 89109
firstunion1 .com
9 Edward Jones Investments
412 E. Musser St. , Carson City 89701
edwardjones.com
10 Wells Fargo Securities
DND
11 A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.
DND
11 Sutro & Co.
3773 Howard Hughes Pkwy., Ste. 190S, LV 89109
sutro.com
13 Securities America/ America's Financial, Inc.
333 N. Rancho Dr., Ste. 570, Las Vegas 89106
americasfinancial.com
14 Parker Financiai / Linsco Private Ledger
9320 Sun City Blvd ., Ste. 104, Las Vegas 89134
DND
14 Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc.
DND
16 American Fronteer Financial
4484 S. Pecos Rd ., Las Vegas 89121
afe.com
17 American Investment Services
4 Sunset Way, Ste. A-2, Henderson 89014
DND
17 First Allied Securities
PO Box 10148, Zephyr Cove 89448
jerryk@nanosecond.com
17 Round Hill Securities, Inc.
6867-A W. Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas 89117
DND
17 Wall Street Financial Services
3431 E. Sunset Rd., Ste. C-302, Las Vegas 89120
DND
21 Financial Planning & Management Corp.
1455 E. Tropicana Ave., Ste. 275, Las Vegas 89119
fpmcgatt@aol.com
21 Scottsdale Securities
4045 Spencer St. , Ste. A53 , Las Vegas 89119
scottrade.com
23 American Retirement Planners
570 Hammill Ln., Reno 8951 1
Pat@financialhealth.com
23 JOBEL Financial, Inc.
71 1 E. Washington St., Carson City 89702
jobelfin@worldnet.att.net
23 Paragon Asset Management Co.
54 N. Pecos Rd., Ste. A, Henderson 89014
bkasner@aol.com
23 Paulson Investment Co. Inc.
2616 Lourdes Ave. , Las Vegas 89102
DND
27 Sherry Bruce's State Discount Brokers
7550 W. Lake Mead 8lvd. , Las Vegas 89128
sbruce@state-discount.com
N/ A Quick & Reilly Inc.
4000 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. 100, Las Vegas 89119
quick-reilly.com
N/ A Raymond James Financial Services
295 Holcomb Ave., Ste. 2, Reno 89503
DND
~
~
.f
NEVADA:
•
NV
Gary Abraham/Gary Elrod
New York. NY
1970
Jim Laughton/Kevin T. Kitchin
New York, NY
1973
Craig S. Landers
New York, NY
1983
Scott Karosa
DND
1986
Joseph J. Mcl aughlin
New York, NY
1970
Bill Hendricks
New York, NY
1967
Richard Hollander
Minneapolis, MN
1980
Mark Mushkin
Richmond/Charlotte. VA
1983
Phillip Leathers
St. Louis. MO
1984
DND
DND
DND
DND
St. Louis, MO
1995
Lawrence R. Marina, Jr.
San Francisco, CA
1996
Patrick J. Wilde II
Omaha, NE
1996
Kenneth A. Parker
Las Vegas
1994
Wayne E. Bieniasz
Los Angeles, CA
1966
David Berkowitz
Denver, CO
1997
Tricia Robinson
Peoria, IL
1989
Jerry Klesterboer
San Diego, CA
1984
James R. Hodge
Alamo, CA
1997
Keven Picardo
Las Vegas
1996
Joseph M . Galt
DND
1979
Debra Bieniek
St. Louis, MO
1996
Patricia Meidell
Los Angeles, CA
1998
Belmont M . Reid
Carson City
1980
Ted Schlazer
Henderson
1995
Robert W. Brooks
Portland, OR
1989
Joe Garcia
Cleveland, OH
1998
Collin Corcoran
New York, NY
1992
Toby Isler
St. Petersburg, FL
1980
I!mLISTS ~ Note : The above information was supplied by representatives of the listed companies in response to faxed survey forms. Companies not appearing did not respond. To the best of our knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time.
BOOK OF
~ While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, errors and omissions do occur. Send corrections or additions oo company letterhead to TopRank Nevada Statewide Book of lists, Research Dept., 2127 Paradise Rd., LV, NV 89104 .
•
TopRankiNevada
STATE WID E
B O OK O F LISTS
Residential Builders
Ranked by Total Homes Closed in 1999
"z
~
RESIDENTIAL BUILDER
ADDRESS(ES)
PHONE
1999:
(LOSINGS
VOLUME
(5 MILLION)
AVERAGE
SALES PRICE
I
<c:
;;;
§1
;
...~
~
.::- ~ §
ACTIVELY SELLING NEVADA RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS
./ 4- ~
SENIOR NV EXECUTIVE
YEAR ESTABLISHED
Kaufman & Broad of Nevada
750 Pilot Rd ., Ste. F, Las Vegas 89119
kbhomes.com
702-614-2500
2,852
$495.37
$173,690
•
Monaco, Paradise Hills, Rainbow Springs, Brookfield, Silverado
Springs, Fallbrook
Leah Bryant
1961
Del Webb Corporation
11500 S. Eastern Ave., Henderson 89052
delwebb.com
702-914-4800
1,960
DND
$275,000
•
Sun City Anthem, Anthem Country Club, Sun City MacDonald
Ranch , Coventry Homes at Anthem, The Huntington (Coventry
Homes), Serena (Coventry Homes)
Frank Pankratz
1946
Pulte Homes
1635 Village Center Cir., Ste. 250, Las Vegas 89134
DND
702-862-4800
886
$145.00
$163,474
• •
Cottonwood Terr., Stallion Mtn ., Cypress Pt./Arbor View, Crown
Ridge, Eagle Creek/ Eagle Creek Heights, Stone Ridge, Eden Ridge,
Brentwood
Steven C. Petruska
1992
4 Pardee Homes of Nevada
7220 Bermuda Rd ., Las Vegas 89119
pardeehomes.com
702-914-6078
834
DND
$213,700
•
Bandera, Valencia, Cielo, Bermuda Greens, Serenade, Palacio,
Ashton Pl., Summit Pl., Rosedale, Renaissance, Presidio, Crescendo,
Riviera
Ray Landry/Kiif Andrews
1952
5 American West Homes
2700 E. Sunset Rd., Ste. 5, Las Vegas 89120
americanwesthomes.com
702-736-6434
706
DND
$173,700
•
Silverado Terr., Silverado Crossing, Silverado Canyons, American
West Windbrooke, American West Estates, American West
Timberlake
Lawrence Canarelli
1984
6 The Developers of Nevada, LLC
7448 W. Sahara Ave., Las Vegas 89117
DND
702-222-1410
519
$86.00
$150,000
• •
Arapahoe Hills, Candlelight Estates, Carmel Hills, Castle Ridge,
Castle Ridge Estates, Chenango, Chestnut Run, Cheyenne Hills,
Coronado, Plum Creek, Rainbow Villas, Shenandoah
Marl< Tomlinson
7 Greystone Homes
3765 E. Sunset Rd ., Ste. 9, Las Vegas 89120
greystonehomes.com
702-736-9100
446
$54.39
$121,942
•
Westbrook, Victory, Hometown , Spring Mtn. Ranch, Romano
Ridge, Granite Hills
Tim Kent
DND
8 Centex Homes dba Real Homes
3600 N. Rancho Dr., Las Vegas 89130
bburns@centexhomes.com
702-647-2660
442
$60.00
$125,000
•
Whispering Meadows, Tropical Breeze, Granite Creek, Genevieve
Court
Brad Burns
1993
9 Astoria Homes
9555 Del Webb Blvd ., Las Vegas 89134
astoriahomes.com
702-257-1188
421
$77.00
$183,000
•
DND
Thomas McCormick
1995
418
$54.00
$130,000
• • •
Sonoma, Silver Pines, Summer Ridge, Heritage, Canyon Lodge
Richard H Plaster
1978
10 Plaster Development Co., Inc.
dba Signature Homes
801 S. Rancho Dr., Ste. E-4, Las Vegas 89106
signaturehomes.com
702.385-5031
•
1993
11
Presley Homes/ William Lyon Homes
500 Pilot Rd. , Ste. G, Las Vegas 89119
presleyhomes.com
702-263-8200
397
$63.50
$160,000
•
Belvedere, Cambridge Court, Bella Veranda, Deer Springs Ranch,
Monte Nero, Royal Woods
Maiy Connelly
1995
12
Beazer Homes
770 E. Warm Springs Rd., Ste. 240, Las Vegas 89134
beazer.com
702-837-2 100
378
DND
$170,000
• •
La Entrada, Cedar Grove, Meridian Park, Hillside View, Hidden
Springs, Montagne Marron
Kent A Lay
1993
13
Woodside Homes of Nevada, Inc.
3855 S. Jones Blvd ., Ste. 102, Las Vegas 89109
woodsidegroupinc.com
702-889-7806
374
$67.00
$179,000
•
Silver Creek, Foothills Ranch South, Quail Ridge, Sahara Sunrise,
Sahara Summit
Gene C. Morrison
1988
14 Kimball Hill Homes
3091 Paseo Mountain, Henderson 89052
DND
702-897-0213
343
$6.00
$150,000
•
Capistrano, Naples, Palermo West, Black Mountain, Lynbrook Cot!ages, Kimball Homes at Lynbrook
Lee Venable
1995
15
775-971-2000
290
$34.60
$120,000
•
Woodland Village
Vernon W. Hotz
1989
16 US Home
3016 W. Charleston Blvd ., Las Vegas 89102
ushome.com
702-877-9600
278
$58.1 9
$209,316
•
Carriage Ln ., Copperfield, Heritage Highlands, Palm Hills, Rancho
Arroyo Grande, Wellington Estates
Steve Hackney
1976
17
702 -365-8588
255
$35.05
$137,450
•
Montesol, Windemere II, Sedona Creek
Don White
1994
18 Champion Homes
444 E. Warm Springs Rd., Ste. 120, Las Vegas 89119
DND
702-896-1988
218
$47.1 7
$178,000
•
Champion Village Hillside, Champion Village American Classics
Terry Manley
1993
19 AmLand Development
1253 S. Arville St., Las Vegas 89102
amlandlv.com
702-870-5772
206
$27.15
$135,000
• •
Villa Trieste, Central Park Estates, Villa Di Lago at Lake Las Vegas
Resort
Wayne Krygier
1991
20 Toll Brothers/Coleman Homes
1635 Village Center Cir., Ste. 100, Las V~gas 89134
DND
702-243-9800
202
$43 .00
$215,000
•
Buckingham, Heritage Glen , Wood Glen, Stonehaven , Woodlands,
Willow Glen
Gary Mayo
186
$31.27
$168,100
•
Vista Grande, Spring Mtn. Ranch , Apaloosa Estates, Vista Ridge,
The Summit, Rhodes Ranch
Stephen B. Aizenberg
1993
21
Lifestyle Homes
80 Calistoga Ct., Cold Spri ngs 89506
lifestylehomesnevada.com
Pageantry Communities, Inc.
2001 S. Jones Blvd., Ste. D, Las Vegas 89146
pageantryco.com
Royal Construction Company/
Spinnaker Homes
3320 N. Buffalo Dr., Ste. 208, Las Vegas 89129
DND
702-873-7773
1985
22
Distinctive Homes
2500 W. Sahara Ave., Ste. 111 , Las Vegas 89102
DND
702-871-9000
135
$17.80
$132 ,000
•
High Vista
Anthony J. Musso
1980
23
Christopher Homes
9500 Hillwood Dr., Ste. 200, Las Vegas 89134
christopherhomes.com
702-360-3200
124
DND
$518,268
• •
Palisades, Vineyards, San Michelle, Bellacere, Country Rose Estates,
Terraces
J. Christopher Stuhmer
1987
24
Neuffer Homes & Development
990 Caughlin Crossing, Reno 89509
neuffer.com
775-747-8300
122
$21 .20
$174,000
•
Terraces South at Sky Vista, Country Wood at Sky Vista, Autumn
Wood, Huntfield at Wingfield Springs
Mike Neuffer
1988
CONTINUED
•
TopRankiNevada
Residential Builders
Ranked by Total Homes Closed in ·1999
1999:
I
(LOSINGS
.
VOLUME
($MILLION)
AVERAGE
SALES PRICE
702-650-2923
87
DND
$252,000
26 Environment for Living, Inc.
6402 Mcleod Dr., Ste. 2, Las Vegas 89120
DND
702 -458-0600
58
$6.50
DND
27
Desert Wind Homes
4535 W. Russell, Ste. 10, Las Vegas 89118
desertwindhomes.com
702-260-4380
51
$9.50
28
Bright Homes
1755 E. Plumb Ln., Ste. 160, Reno 89502
renoffic@pacbell.net
775-323-8999
29
Desert Oak Homes
6075 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. 12, las Vegas 89119
desertoak.com
29
R/ S Development Co.
12A Sunset Way, Ste. 116, Henderson 89014
rsdev.com
~
~
RESIDENTIAl BUILDER
ADDRESS(ES)
PHONE
;
((
;;
~
~
::,
~ §
~
•
. ~.
~
SENIOR NV EXECIITIVE
YEAR ESTABLISHED
ACTIVELY SELLING NEVADA RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS
~
•
Prairie Rose, Vida Bella, Mira Monte
David R. McEntire
1989
• •
Serenity, Topaz Spring, Lake Las Vegas
J.W. Jones
1991
$183,000
•
Desert Cove, Desert Cove Estates, Millstream at Lynbrook
Michael Galatio
1995
50
$8.75
$175,000
•
Mallard Glen
Lou Orrantia
1996
702-798-2024
49
$12.02
$245,000
•
Sterling at The Masters, Summerchase at Rhodes Ranch, Sundance,
Tahoe II East
Frank L. Kocvara
1991
702-458-6820
49
$8.82
$180,000
•
Sierra Woods
Randall T. Schaefer
1981
702-876-6544
3
$2 .10
$700,000
•
N/ A
Alan G. Jeskey
1989
702-363-8060
3
$5.00
$980,000
•
Canyon Vista Estates
DND
1989
N/A H&H Development Ltd.
1212 Briarstone Dr., Boulder City 89005
DND
702-293-9095
DND
DND
DND
• • •
The Grove at Woodbury
Greg Hyde
1998
N/A Martin Homes, Inc.
1000 N. Green Valley Pkwy., Ste. 440-319,
Henderson 89014
jmmartin24@aol .com
702-260-1221
DND
DND
$1 ,600,000
•
Seven Hills, Lake Las Vegas
James M. Martin
1996
25
Amstar Homes Inc.
4570 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. 28, Las Vegas 89119
amstarhomes.com
31 Alan Jeskey Builders, Inc.
35 W. Mayflower Ave., N. Las Vegas 89030
ajbuilders.com
31
Sun West Custom Homes
2575 S. Cimarron Rd. , Ste. 200, las Vegas 89117
DND
mm
BOOK m]LISTS
OF
Note: The above information was supplied by representatives of the listed companies in response to faxed _survey forms. Companies not appearing did not respond. To the best of our knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time.
While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, erroo and omissions do occur. Send corrections or additions on company letterhead to TopRank Nevada Statewide Book of lists, Research Dept., 2127 Paradise Rd., LV, NV 89104.
NEVADA CONTRACTURS
ASSOCIATION
"Building America"
Call today and become a part of the Nevada Contractors Association, a non-profit organization for construction, development and business professionals. Accept no substitutes. Our members are "Building America."
•labor Negotiations
• Group Health Insurance
•labor Grevience Adminis-
•legislative lobbying
tration
• No Volume Dues
• Grevience Representation
• Meeting Room
• Safety Programs
• Dodge Reports
Nevada Contractors Association
2881 S. Valley View, Ste. 1
Las Vegas, NV 89102
www.nevadacontractors.org
(702) 222-0320 I Fax: (702) 222-0480
•
NEVADA
BRIEFS
Reno earns kudos from
national magazine
nc. Magazine rated Reno one of the top
small metropolitan areas in the country
in which to start and grow businesses and
new companies. Reno won a spot as the
seventh best out of 50 cities for attributes
such as availability of resources and venture capital, a skilleq workforce, inexpensive real estate and a strong infras tructure,
according to the magazi ne. Reno placed
ahead of such other cities as Thcson, Ariz.,
Boise, Idaho and West Palm Beach, Fla.
The accolades constitute the most recent
published praise of the Reno area; Expansion Management Magazine and Business
Development Outlook also placed the
Reno area in the top ranks of cities offering an excellent quality of life .
I
Sunrise Hospital tops out
emergency facility
unrise Hospital and Medical Center in
Las Vegas recently held a topping out
ceremony to celebrate completion of its
new emergency department's steel shell.
Upon its completion in October, the $17
million expansion will add about 80,000
square feet of working space, including a
pediatric emergency department unit, an
adult emergency unit and a heliport for
critical patients flown in from remote locations. "We're pleased to mark the progress
of the new emergency department," noted
Allan Stipe, president and CEO of Sunrise.
"The expansion will help us to better serve
the community's emergency needs."
S
RTC establishes commuter service
he Clark County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) launched CAT
Commuter Express Routes, a commuter '
express service designed to make getting to
and from work a more hassle-free experience for Las Vegans. The four routes run
during peak morning and evening travel
times on weekdays, and are located on
Rancho Drive, Las Vegas Boulevard North,
East Tropicana Avenue and West Tropicana
T
The Clark County Regional Transportation Commission recently introduced CAT
.Commuter Exp ress Route service.
Avenue. Each itinerary is identified by an
express route number and color, and consists of a large loop with minimal stops,
easy access and one layover. "Our goal is
to encourage different commute strategies,
thereby reducing the number of cars using
local roads," said Bruce Woodbury, RTC
chair. "This reduction in turn helps to improve traffic flow, business accessibility
and air quality." For schedules and routes,
call 702-228-7433 .
meet the cooling energy needs of the businesses from one central plant via the distribution of energy in the form of chilled
water through underground piping. The
plant will eliminate the need for businesses
to invest in, operate and maintain physical
plant equipment themselves. The businesses will pay a monthly bill based on actual
consumption and contract capacities. The
plant will have the ability to serve additional businesses in downtown Las Vegas.
Silver State Bank expands
to new markets
New transportation company
debuts in Las Vegas
enderson-based Silver State Bank
continues to add to its operations in
Nevada and across the West. The bank
opened a 3,500-square-foot facility in
Boulder City, fillin g a vacancy left by Norwest Bank. Silver State Bank spokespeople also announced the opening of a loan
production office in Salt Lake City, Utah,
adding to loan production offices it possesses in Reno and Boise, Idaho.
F
H
Nevada Power Services to build
downtown Las Vegas plant
evada Power Services began construction on a new district energy
plant to meet the needs of several downtown Las Vegas businesses. The company
signed contracts with Fitzgeralds Casino
and Holiday Inn, the Fremont Street Experience and the Four Queens Hotel and
Casino to build a City Centre Chiller Plant
in the valet parking lot at Fitzgeralds at
Casino and Fourth streets. The facility will
N
ox Limousine, a Phoenix-based firm,
became the most recent company to
receive a full-service limousine authority in
Southern Nevada. Via its regulatory authority, Fox Limousine accommodates airport
transfers, large-scale convention/event
transportation, local excursions and out-ofstate road tours. The company offers latemodel Lincoln Towncars, Mega, Super and .
Presidential stretch limousines, 14 executive vans, 24 executive minibuses and 25
luxury minibuses. It also features the 2000
Grand Excursion, a 14-passenger, 30-footlong vehicle with fiber-optic neon lighting,
a TV, VCR and bar and an 80,000 BTU air
conditioning system designed for a bus.
IGT, Truckee Meadows partner
to offer degree program
Truckee Meadows Community College
(TMCC) in Reno and International Game
Technology (IGT ) established a program
enabling TGT employees to earn their asso-
Nevada Briefs
ciate degrees on-site at IGT offices. TMCC
brings the registration process to its students at IGT, hand-walks them through the
paperwork and offers academic advisement. The college also delivers the requisite textbooks and course materials. IGT is
offering tuition and book reimbursement
to its employees. The gaming industry
manufacturer is also encouraging employees of other companies located in the
South Meadows Industrial Park to attend
TMCC classes at IGT's fac ilities.
Station Casinos funds Problem
Gambling Center in Las Vegas
Station Casinos, Inc. donated $50,000 to
provide the initial fundin g for Las Vegas'
Problem Gambling Center, which will
offer a treatment program for problem
gamblers who cannot afford to pay for
treatment. The new center charges $5 per
session for an intensive four-night per
week program for six weeks. It also offers
one year of follow-up care to patients, all
of whom participate in group therapy with
a maximum of 12 participants. Dr. Robert
Hunter, a clinical psychologist and expert
in the field of gambling addiction, directs
the not-for-profit center. Station Casinos'
donation represents the first of its kind in
the gaming industry, and will provide
working capital for about six months.
First Independent Bank of Nevada
posts strong growth
N
orthem Nevada's newest community
bank enjoyed brisk growth in its first
quarter of operations, ending December
3 1. First Independent Bank of Nevada
opened its doors last October with $10
million; by quarter's end, the bank had
tripled its asset base to more than $30 million. According to Grant Markham, president and CEO of First Independent Bank
of Nevada, the institution expected deposits to grow by $23 million after one
year of operation, so bank officials say
they're thrilled with the $2 1 million expansion in deposits taking place in its first
quarter alone. "We are . . . extremely
pleased with the community support and
confidence that is demonstrated by thi s
growth," Markham stated.
John Peter Lee, Ltd. announces
new personal injury services
ohn Peter Lee, Ltd., a Las Vegas-based
law firm, is now offering personal inj ury legal services. The law firm introduced
the service in response to an increase of requests from clients, according to Lori
Grove Kivatisky, legal administrator for the
firm. The new services j oin the company's
existing roster of services, which include
civil and state litigation in all state and federal in the areas of banking, corporate,
business, real property, bankruptcy, construction defects, divorce, probate, wills
•
and trusts and employee law.
J
CAT~ new Commuter Express gets them to work faster. CAT
can now get employees from home to work and back, quickly and
hassle-free. Very few stops . . .easy access . . .convenient AM and
PM commute times. Either from East Tropicana, West Tropicana,
t:PMilAv
Rancho or up North Las Vegas Boulevard, it's a straight shot
~~
across the Valley. For schedules and details, cal!
~
1 .7J
CAT·RIDE (228·7433).
.
-
~
~.tPR"-~
Speed your commute.
•
BUSINESS INDICATORS
ANALYSIS ········
DATE
LATEST
PERIOD
PREVIOUS
PERIOD
YEAR
AGO
UNEMPLOYMENT
Nevada %
12/99
3·5
3·9
2.8
25.00
Las Vegas MSA
12/99
3·6
4-1
2.8
28.57
Reno MSA
12/99
2.5
2.8
2.6
-3.85
01/00
4·0
4-1
4-3
- 6.98
conomic expansion continues. With the
national economy on a strong expansion path , the urban regions of the Silver State experienced robust growth during
the ending months of 1999. Furthermore,
-economic indicators point to continued expansion during 2000. Only Nevada's rural regions, which are dependent on min ing of precious minerals, face economic asperities.
Nevada's unemployment rate reached 3·5
perce nt as of January 2000, a clear sign of
th e strength and breadt h of the current expansion . At the end ·of January, the U.S. unemployment rate also hit 4.0 percent. As
such, workers find numerous employme nt
opportunities, though, as always, skills and
training remain the critical factors for those
workers who are able to gain the most during
th e current expansion.
With labor markets tight, concern for inflation remains. The Federal Reserve (Fed), having supported financial markets during the
Asian crisis, has turned its attention to domestic issues. As such , tight labor markets,
often a leading indicator of future general
price escalation, are a concern . Still, inflation
rates remain low.
Increased productivity, that is, increased
output per worker, continues to confound
regulators. Indeed, there is increasing debate
as to the possibility of further productivity
gains associated with the widespread application of computer technology. As such ,
some question the correctness of the Fed to
push up interest rates in anticipation of future inflation. The best guess at this time is
that the Fed prefers to err on the side of slower growth. Thus, higher interest rates, at least
for the first half of the year, are anticipated.
Interest-rate sensitive sectors, such as housing, are most likely to be adversely affected.
Sustained U.S. growth bodes well for travel and tourism in Nevada. State taxable sales
climbed 6.59 percent for November 1999,
over a year ago. And, Nevada's gaming revenue grew at a 9-97 percent. rate, up 10.93
percent in Las Vegas and 5.52 percent in
Reno. Though information is available only
after a lag, visitor volume, as reflected fn
passenger counts, is up in Las Vegas (15.72
percent) and down in Reno (- 5.18 percent) .
All in all, hotel occupancy rates remain favorable, especially given the recent large increase in Las Vegas ' room inventory.
SOURCES: Nevada Dept. of Taxation; Nevada Employment Security Deptartment.; UNLV, Center for Business and
R. KEITH SCHWER , UNLV Center for Business
and Economic Research
COMPILED BY: UNLV, Center for Business and Economic Research
E
YEARLY
%CHG
U.S.% (SEASONALLY ADJUSTED)
RETAIL ACTIVITY
Nevada Taxa ble Sales ($THousAND) 11/99
2,326,015
2,382,105
2,182,144
6.5 9
1,672.440
1,696.324
1,559,037
7-2 7
11/99
380,991
389,072
362,018
5-24
11/99
259.645
256.442
236.609
9-74
683,200,834
9·97
Clark Cou nty
11/99 .
Washoe County
U.S. Retai l Sales ($MILLION)
GROSS GAMING REVENUE
Nevada($)
Cla rk County
Washoe County
551, 309.591
12/99
82,013,281
86,718,171
New Residences
4Q99
4.395
5,122
4.718
- 6.8 5
New Commercia l
4Q99
216
245
290
-25-52
4Q99
853
907
842
1.31
Housing Starts (THOUSAND)
12/99
1,71 2
1,598
1,750
-2.17
Total Construction ($ MILLION)
12/99
730,257
716,042
690,462
5-76
12/99
900
861
McCarran Int. Airport, LV
3Q99
8.713.041
8.433 .790
Reno / Taho e Int. Airpo rt
3Q99
1,613.988
State Taxable Gasoline Sales (GALS) 11/ 99
79.823,615
5-52
CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY
Las Vegas Area Permits
Reno Area Permits
New Re sidences
u.s.
HOUSING SALES
U.S. Home Sales (THousAND)
-6. 05
TRANSPORTATION
Total Passengers bl
7.529,705
15 -72
1,550,2 52
1,702,192
- 5-18
80,563, 622
70.444.440
13-31
POPULATION ESTIMATES
Nevada
1,855.790
07/99
Clark County
07/99
1,343. 540
1,255,200
Washoe County
07/99
323,670
311.350
NATIONAL ECONOMY
Consumer Price Index V.l
12/99
168.3
168.3
163·9
Money Supply- M1 ($ BILLION)
12/ 99
1,125-3
1,110.2
1,097-4
2- 54
Prime Rate %
01/oo
8.50
8.5 0
7-7 5
9.68
Three-Month U.S. T-Bill %
01/ oo
5-34
5-23
4-34
23.04
Gross Domestic Produ ct ($ BILLION) 4Q99
9. 477-1
9.297·8
8.947·6
5- 92
NOTES: (3) enplaned/deplaned passengers;
(4)
all urban consumers;
1982·84=100
Economic Research; UNR, Bureau of Business and Economic Research; US Dept. of Commerce; USFederal Reserve.
2.68
•
1n
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and the Company - Nevada Business Magazine

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