New York company may bring 1,000 jobs to Southern Nevada

An international business process outsourcing and technology management services company is looking to locate in vacant space at the Boulevard Mall and provide up to 1,000 jobs to Southern Nevada within five years.

Rochester, N.Y.-based Sutherland Global Services received unanimous support Thursday from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development with $297,900 in tax abatement incentives.

An executive with the company said Sutherland would make a decision within a month to determine whether it would develop a new U.S. facility in Las Vegas, Houston, Detroit, Phoenix, Oklahoma City or Boise, Idaho.

Joe Magliozzi, senior account manager for Sutherland, told members of the economic development board that it has 30,000 employees worldwide with offices in China, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, Colombia, the United Arab Emirates and Great Britain in addition to 12 in the United States. Its client base includes several Fortune 500 companies and a handful of Fortune 50 companies.

The company, in essence, is a call center and the average hourly pay rate is 30 percent below the state’s average wage at $14.43 an hour. But board members were impressed with the company’s decision to work closely with Nevada Job Connect, Silver State Works and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to provide jobs to UNLV graduates and unemployed Nevadans.

Sutherland also plans special program to work directly with the Department of Defense and Nellis Air Force Base to provide jobs for veterans and to spouses of deployed service men and women.

“I’m very impressed with this application,” said Gov. Brian Sandoval, who chairs the board. “I think it would be a great marriage with our education assets at UNLV and our military assets.”

Sutherland said 100 percent of its market would be outside of Nevada.

Under the proposal presented Thursday, Sutherland would open its facility within five months with 230 employees and would invest $3.3 million in equipment and capital improvements to the former site of the Dillard’s department store in the Boulevard Mall.

The mall on Maryland Parkway is less than a mile from the UNLV campus and is considered a severely distressed property eligible for new markets tax credits within the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act.

Timo Kuusela, vice president and general manager of the Boulevard Mall, called the potential deal with Sutherland “a game changer for the mall.”

“It has the full support of other constituents at the mall,” he said.

Kuusela explained that the retail flavor of the mall would not change with Sutherland’s presence and that the company would occupy top-floor space at the old Dillard’s store away from flow of retail traffic. He said executives with Sears, J.C. Penney and Macy’s have been briefed on Sutherland’s plan and approve of it.

Boulevard, owned by Sansone Cos., announced a year ago that it planned a $23 million upgrade of the property that would include the arrival of several nontraditional mall tenants as well as a series of new restaurants.

The changes are considered a part of an economic development opportunity for Maryland Parkway supported by Southern Nevada Strong, the Maryland Parkway Coalition and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.

“It’s pretty rare that a company would make so much headway on a single building so fast,” Kuusela said.

The tax incentive program offered to Sutherland would include a 2 percent sales tax abatement for a year, $204,200; a 25 percent modified business tax abatement for four years, $70,900; and a 25 percent personal property tax abatement for 10 years, $22,800.

The Office of Economic Development estimated that if Sutherland reaches its goal of hiring 1,000 employees that in 10 years, the company would generate an additional $8.8 million in various state and local tax revenue.

The office calculated an economic impact of $643 per abated tax dollar and new tax revenue of $29.60 per abated tax dollar.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta.