Moapa investors tout park’s location, utilities
Development plans for a 330-acre industrial park in Moapa appear to be as distant as the desert trails in this Indian reservation town 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas, but investors see it as a potentially great distribution point for Coyote Springs, Mesquite and Southern Utah.
The industrial-zoned property lies along Union Pacific Railroad tracks where they cross Highway 168, providing easy access to Interstate 15. Utilities are available for each parcel.
"Is it speculation? Yes and no," said Shawn Preston, marketing agent for Encore Commercial, the private investment group that bought the land in 2004. "It's for unique users because they can put stuff on the rail line from there. Rail-served property is so hard to find."
The land is priced at $4 to $9.50 a square foot.
Moapa Industrial Park isn't far from Apex Industrial Park, an area designated for industrial development following the Pacific Engineering & Production Co. of Nevada plant explosion in Henderson in 1988. Apex has been slow to develop primarily because it lacks utilities.
"We've actually got utilities there (in Moapa)," Preston said. "We can tap into power and water. We've got Internet and telephone service. So the only thing we don't have is sewer, but most of our users aren't big sewer users."
Dave Dworkin, research analyst for Grubb & Ellis brokerage in Las Vegas, said he doubts that Moapa Industrial Park will see the light before 2011.
Development activity in the industrial market has lost steam, with vacancy rates hitting 12.9 percent in the second quarter and monthly rental rates declining to 72 cents a square foot, he reported.
With skyrocketing availability of industrial space and decreasing demand, it remains impractical for developers to build, Dworkin said. A number of projects have been placed on hold, put up for auction, gone into default or been canceled.
Grubb & Ellis showed 656,000 square feet of industrial space under construction in the second quarter, the first time it's been below 1 million square feet in nearly a decade.
A 2009 report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers said no other real estate sector faces a larger potential for big adjustments and transformation of its markets than industrial.
"Investors need to monitor how high fuel prices shift shipping patterns and change warehousing priorities," the report said.
Preston said Encore Commercial's principals remain bullish about Moapa Industrial Park and are ready to begin improvements. He said he's been contacted by a number of companies interested in the site, including a plastic-bag manufacturer and a biofuels company that needs rail service away from town.
Randy Aleman, one of Encore's principals, owns a construction company and can provide custom-building for their facilities, Preston said.
Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.
