To build or not to build?

North Las Vegas City Council members recently cleared the way for a new food distribution warehouse on Ann Road, signing off on city planning commissioners’ earlier recommendation to approve utility easements and a hazardous materials permit requested by Utah-based food seller Nicholas and Co.

But Nicholas and Co. hasn’t decided it’s ready to move in.

“It’s one of our options,” explained Executive Vice President of Human Resources George Adondakis. “We haven’t made a final decision yet, but it’s a strong option.”

The company, which operates a fleet of more than 100 refrigerated food trucks across a five-state distribution area, was recently handed a $625,000 Governor’s Office of Economic Development grant to help sweeten a possible move to Southern Nevada, one of just seven businesses to receive the award this year.

Despite those overtures, Adondakis said Nicholas and Co. doesn’t plan to settle on a final location until late May at the earliest. Until then, he predicts North Las Vegas will remain among the top contenders for a future company warehouse.

“We have some national account business down there, and the (Governor’s Office of Economic Development) grant looks pretty good,” Adondakis said. “Logistically, it’s a good location, and we’re hearing good things about where the general business climate is going.

“There’s not really anything we don’t like about the area.”

Meanwhile, Terri Sheridan, the city’s economic development coordinator, said her office is doing all it can to help push the food distributor off the fence.

She hopes recent city-approved permits and easements will help add Nicholas and Co. to a growing list of North Las Vegas business newcomers.

“We’ve been working with them constantly,” Sheridan said last month. “I’m hesitant to talk about it too much because I think they’re still getting their ducks in a row, but I think a combination of the availability of land and the close proximity to (Interstate 15) tends to make us look pretty favorable from a distribution and logistics standpoint.”

Recent ribbon cuttings at a ViaWest data storage center, at an undisclosed location in the city, and DaVita Dialysis Center, 2300 N. McDaniel St., have combined to create 50 jobs and fill thousands of square feet of vacant North Las Vegas warehouse space in the past year.

Ohio-based Flexible Foam looks set to bring another 40 jobs to the area in coming months, while sheet-metal fabricator American Roll Form, another Ohio company, plans to add 23 jobs as part of its $251,685 investment in the area.

The move will help American Roll Form save “dramatically” on shipping costs, representatives told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last month. Officials said they also expect to see “rapid growth” over the next five years.

Representatives from Chelten House Products, another food manufacturer that recently invested $15.6 million in a new 86,000-square-foot warehouse at 2970 Coleman St., could not be immediately reached for comment.

That company, like Nicholas and Co., received millions in state-funded tax incentives to move to the area, where it could eventually employ as many as 100 people.

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