Lee’s persistence played instrumental role in Faraday deal

Plain-spoken North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee has experience in business, banking and politics, but at heart he's a plumbing contractor.

That's a compliment. Plumbers know the importance of stopping leaks and keeping pipelines flowing. Contractors aren't the esoteric, navel-gazing type: They're focused on moving a project forward and getting things built.

During Thursday's announcement that Faraday Future had agreed to construct a $1 billion electric car plant at the Apex industrial site in North Las Vegas, Gov. Brian Sandoval was generous in his praise for what was described as a team effort. And from the sound of things it certainly was that.

But the deal moved rapidly in large part because it was ramrodded by Lee, his diminutive management staff led by City Manager Qiong Liu, and the understanding that nothing less than the future of North Las Vegas was at stake.

Lee in early 2014 used his business and banking contacts to chat up his friend Paul Workman, who put him in contact with banker Simon Pang. Pang was working with former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who led a group of Southern California mayors on an exploratory business trip to China, Lee recalled in a Friday interview. The mayor scrambled to be part of a group that included mayors from Burbank, Beverly Hills and several beach cities.

While other officials were seeking business partnerships in built-out jurisdictions, Lee's only strength were the wide-open spaces of his careworn community. North Las Vegas isn't often mentioned in the same paragraph as Beverly Hills. If Lee felt a bit like a Beverly Hillbilly, he also realized that he'd worked his way into a group of experienced decision-makers.

"I kind of don't care what people think of me," he said. "If I'm the dumbest person at the table, it gives me an opportunity to learn from the smartest people. ... It was just an attractive group of mayors that I thought I could learn from. It was almost like taking a college course, and it gave me a chance to pitch my town. ... We went to meeting after meeting after meeting, and the whole time I was involved in this hustle to learn as much as I could."

Lee considered the first trip promising but inconclusive. Then Pang contacted him again.

"He called me up and said, 'We'd like you to come back," Lee said. "'There are some other people that possibly you could do better with.'"

The follow-up led to a third trip. From fact-finding to a meeting with Faraday's "father," Jia Yueting, the Chinese multibillionaire who created Leshi International Information and Technology, each time Lee improved the city's position. By Dec. 18, 2014, North Las Vegas was officially in the running. Eventually, the personal courtship and the efforts of the Governor's Office of Economic Development moved the Apex site into first position.

Lee's team also spent months opening doors with the Nevada Department of Transportation, which will play an integral role in the road infrastructure improvements necessary for the project. From water access to railroad lines, there were myriad moving parts.

So far, one of the most impressive displays of coordination has come from the Apex landowners, some of whom have held fallow property for decades. They appear to see the possibility of turning more than a profit. At least, that's Lee's hope.

"In all the people I've talked to, not a single person I've looked at has said, 'Thank you, John, I'm going to make a whole lot of money on this personally,'" he said. "This can make a big difference for every single person. No one person has been manipulating behind the scenes to better their wallet."

At least, not yet.

Lee also admitted Apex landowners who perceive a sudden windfall could slow the current momentum by holding out for ever-higher profits. Informed sources report at least eight and as many as 15 companies, many of them Asian, are prepared to break ground at Apex now that Faraday has made it official.

Thanks in substantial part to an unassuming plumbing contractor, the business pipeline that leads to North Las Vegas is at last becoming a reality.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. He can be reached at 702-383-0295 or jsmith@reviewjournal.com.
Find him on Twitter: @jlnevadasmith