Six decades later, land buy growing up

In a "weak moment," Thomas & Mack Development Group might consider selling off some of its big-box buildings under construction at Northern Beltway Industrial Center in North Las Vegas, firm President Tim Snow said Thursday.

But he doubts it. Not with the price and availability of industrial-zoned land these days.

Land for the 100-acre, 2 million-square-foot industrial center near Interstate 15 and the Las Vegas Beltway has been in the Mack family since 1946. It was probably bought for something less than 25 cents a square foot, Snow said. They've been offered $14 a square foot.

"We look at property here in Las Vegas as a long-term hold," Snow said as concrete walls were being tilted for the second building at the industrial center. "Jerry Mack is up there in the sky looking down on me, saying, 'We don't sell anything.' Maybe the smaller buildings."

The first two buildings are 190,000 square feet and 235,000 square feet, leasing for 42 cents to 50 cents a square foot, broker Kevin Higgins of Voit Commercial said.

Upon completion, the center will have six buildings in the 200,000- to 500,000-square-foot range and eight smaller buildings in the 10,000- to 50,000-square-foot range.

"We're pretty excited as far as pioneering the speedway area for true big-box," Higgins said.

Project cost was estimated at $80 million when it was announced in April 2004, but construction costs have increased significantly since then, probably by 20 percent, Snow said. Martin-Harris Construction is general contractor.

Construction was originally scheduled to start in 2005 with completion of the first building late that year, but Thomas & Mack ran into utility issues with the city and encroachment issues with Nellis Air Force Base that had to be resolved, Snow said.

"We were kind of chicken to start with those things out there as limited risks," he said.

Snow, who is retiring from Thomas & Mack in June, has been complaining for years that the Las Vegas Valley is running out of industrial land, with sizable chunks rezoned as residential. Focus Property Group tried to change zoning to residential on some land near the Thomas & Mack parcel, but the city of North Las Vegas rejected the plan.

Thomas & Mack has one of the last big-box industrial parcels remaining in Las Vegas Valley, he said. There's 114 acres to the east and another 35 acres closer to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and that's about it, Snow said.

North Las Vegas Mayor Mike Montandon said the city is still catching up on infrastructure development in that area, which is home to scrap recycling, cement plants and asphalt plants right now.

"Jerry Mack got started on this in 1946 and got way ahead of us," the mayor said. "We knew it would be developed, but not this year."

Thomas & Mack is also developing the 400-acre Beltway Industrial Park in the southwest valley in a joint venture with Los Angeles-based Majestic Realty. The land was acquired in a 50-year ground lease from Clark County Aviation Department.

Snow said industrial land is going for $28 a foot in the southwest submarket.

"Jerry once said if land gets over $1 a foot, it's pure speculation," he said.