EDITORIAL: Building blocks

Nevada needs a whole lot more jobs to cut into that brutal jobless rate. Fortunately, significant hiring is on the horizon.

Last month, the Strip formally welcomed The Cromwell, a 188-room boutique renovation of Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon. By the end of the year, SLS Las Vegas will open a 2,000-room hotel inside what used to be the Sahara. And less than two weeks ago, the Nevada Gaming Commission found Malaysia-based Genting Berhad suitable to do business in the state. That decision should allow the company to begin construction this summer on the 3,000-room first phase of the $4 billion Resorts World Las Vegas at the unfinished Echelon site on the Strip.

Construction on the massive Downtown Summerlin retail and office project will wrap up by October, and MGM Resorts International and AEG have begun building a $350 million, 20,000-seat arena on the Strip.

Using multipliers, these projects will generate thousands upon thousands of jobs — nearly 20,000 between the SLS and Resorts World projects alone, once they’re open.

All those jobs will create demand for housing. Sure enough, the Olympia Cos. announced it will break ground this week on Skye Canyon, a 9,000-home development on 1,700 acres at the U.S. Highway 95 turnoff to Mount Charleston. It will be the first new large-scale, master-planned community in the valley since the housing crash.

Jobs lead to economic growth, which leads to increased tax receipts. Every level of government in Nevada is clamoring for more tax dollars. They’re on the way — without higher tax rates.