Small street reflects namesake’s avoidance of limelight

Robert L. Mendenhall is a big name in the Las Vegas Valley.

Big enough to share his name with everything from a practice facility for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ mens basketball team, to a tiny stretch of asphalt between Losee Road and North Lawrence Street in North Las Vegas.

Mendenhall Drive, the barely 1,000-foot-long run of road that bears his name parallel to Craig Road, was dedicated in 1995.

It has since served as home to some of the city’s most promising new businesses, including Dynojet Research Inc., an engine components manufacturer, and Xtreme Green Products Inc., an eco-vehicle company for “revolutionary, green electric powered vehicles,” which moved into a 33,000-square-foot facility at 2191 Mendenhall Drive in 2008.

Then there’s American Roll Form, which invested $251,685 in a 40,000-square-foot steel fabrication facility at 2020 Mendenhall Drive in March.

In 1995, the road’s name was a near-afterthought — the needed right-of-way for a commercial subdivision of 25 acres co-owned by Mendenhall and NV Energy.

The road went almost completely unnoticed even by the city about to rededicate its use, according to city of North Las Vegas public information officer Juliet Casey.

“There wasn’t really an official dedication ceremony,” Casey said. “In this case, the (subdivision) map itself pretty much served as the dedication form.”

The drive’s christening might be called a fitting tribute to Mendenhall, a member of the Nevada Inventor’s Hall of Fame who has quietly amassed millions at the head of Las Vegas Paving Corporation, a regional mega-contractor consistently ranked among the 50 most profitable construction firms in the country.

The company, recognized as an early adopter of asphalt recycling technology adapted by Mendenhall, hauls in more than $300 million in annual revenue and has laid down more than 30 million tons, or around 40,000 miles, of asphalt since its founding in 1958.

Most of those were poured in the Las Vegas Valley, where Mendenhall’s family trust oversees hundreds of acres and millions of dollars of undeveloped land and commercial real estate.

He and his trust also hold the rights to more than 50 different inventions, ranging from proprietary asphalt mixing technology to a “intra-vehicular mobile device usage detection system” patented last year.

Mendenhall still oversees day-to-day operations at Las Vegas Paving Corp., a busy man who, at 84, “doesn’t do interviews,” according to Mendenhall Family Trust general counsel Jim Barker.

Lori Mendenhall, the family’s second in line for comment, is overseas and could not be reached.

Barker, long the public face of the Mendenhall Family Trust, has been with the trust for nearly two decades. He knew of the road’s existence but couldn’t remember Robert Mendenhall’s involvement in the naming process, if any.

“I’ve been with the company for years,” Barker said. “So I knew that it existed, but I can’t say I remember the circumstances of how it was named.

“(Mendenhall) owns a lot of property. There’s probably a lot in this city named after him.”

Contact Centennial and North Las Vegas View reporter James DeHaven at jdehaven@viewnews.com or 702-477-3839.