CEO

Happy Holidays! 

Another year has come and gone, and it is exciting to see the progress we’ve made as a team!  As you know, we can’t do this alone.  Our success would not happen without the continued support of our investors and community partners. On behalf of the EDAWN Board of Trustees and the EDAWN staff, I want to personally thank you all for your support of EDAWN and our mission of quality job creation.

New EDAWN Board Members: EDAWN is pleased to announce the appointment of five new members to the Board of Trustees.

New board members include Rob Armstrong, Co-Founder & Senior Vice President of Product and Technology with Bombora, Mike Klaich, Partner-In-Charge, with Eide Bailly, Erin Metscher, Corporate Account Manager with OnTrac, BJ North, Vice President and Retail Banking/Commercial Lending Manager with Plumas Bank and Tony Slonim, President  & CEO of Renown Health. Their terms begin January, 1 2018.  (Click here for the full Board List).

EDAWN’s New & Expanded Companies welcome reception was held last evening. We welcomed 29 companies who chose to relocate or expand in the Greater Reno-Sparks region in 2017!

This special reception was an opportunity to celebrate quality job creation and recognize the new and expanding companies which are helping us diversify our economy.  We would like to thank the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino who hosted the event, our sponsors, the EDAWN staff, and to all of you who attended! Congratulations to all our honorees listed here.

RGJ article – Right place, right time 

Five years ago, people were willing to wait several days for delivery but now they want it overnight.  Before the Apples and the Teslas of the world made their splashy debut in the greater Reno-Sparks area, warehouse and distribution centers were quietly and steadily making their mark on the region. Northern Nevada is now reaping the rewards of that foundation. Our reputation as an ideal place for warehousing and shipping is something that is nearly 75 years in the making. Here is the article in the RGJ.

Reno ranked 18th hippest city in the nation.

Some cities like Portland, Oregon, are known for being hipster havens, but increasingly, more under-the-radar places are becoming hotspots for millennialsMoveHub created a US Hipster Index that ranked cities based on a variety of factors that make them appealing to young people. The index takes into account the density of tattoo parlors, vegan stores, microbreweries, and thrift stores, as well as any increases in rent.

The EPIC Report with actual numbers updated.

Now approaching three years into the five-year projections of over 52,400 new jobs, we are now more than 10,000 jobs ahead of projections as Tesla, Panasonic and Switch continue to ramp up their hiring efforts.  Here are the Actual numbers graphs.

Housing continues to be a concern, but it looks like we are making progress:

The chart below shows the number of permits for new housing units (including apartments and condos) pulled so far this year, compared to last year and compared to what is a goal of 6,000 per year, the number we were at before the recession.  Permits pulled is the only way to track the progress on a monthly basis. At, 6,000 units a year, we will be meeting the expected demand for housing based on current and projected job growth. We have not had more than 4,000 housing starts since 2006!

Here is the latest RGJ article: EDAWN – Stop….We have all the jobs we need!

The growth and transition we are going through has some challenging aspects, many of which we talked about in prior columns, but there is no “On” or “Off” switch that we can use to quickly adjust our growth.  What we are experiencing, is a transformation and diversification of our economy that is the result of many years of aggressive marketing, countless trips, and many initiatives.  The growth switch is “On.” Now what?  Here is the full article.

Prior EDAWN articles, published in the RGJ, are stored on our website.  Here is the link to the library.

Help!!  Taxi-Tops are still available! 

We need your help to clean up our taxi-tops so please consider adding taxi-top advertising to your marketing plan now and in the years ahead. We have 25 taxi-tops available and if we cannot keep the taxi-tops filled with family friendly messages, they will revert to those that are less reflective of the “new” Reno-Sparks. Just $1,000 for the entire year! Contact Tamera Pitts at 775.829.3700 or email pitts@edawn.org.

Business Development

The Business Development team announced that Trademark Global (e-commerce from OH) has relocated to Reno and will be hiring 40 employees.

The team hosted 13 site visits for the month and added 19 leads and projects to the pipeline.

As we approach the close of 2017, there are no signs of activity slow down. Several new company announcements are also expected to be made in the next 30-60 days.

Chris Ault will be attending the Economix Conference, New Orleans in December.

The 2017 New & Expanded Companies event (Dec.7th) honored 29 companies and the addition of more than 2,800 jobs.

More than 400 guests from the business community attended. Go here for the press release and Honoree list.

Partners

Get your new license plate now!

The City of Reno license plates provide dedicated funding for the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services programs. Drivers who buy the Reno plate will also receive two annual Parks and Rec passes valued at $720, and eight swim lessons at Evelyn Mount Northeast Community Center valued at $58.50. “Our outdoor recreational opportunities are what set us apart from other cities, and we need to continue to preserve and improve our parks, trails and programs” said Councilmember David Bobzien. To order a plate, visit your local DMV.

The Stat Pack is a monthly business e-report, co-authored by Mike PeQueen of HighTower Las Vegas and John Restrepo of RCG Economics, with input from Brian Bonnefant of UNR. 

It combines important metrics relevant to business decision makers and financial commentary on current issues facing the Nevada economy. The Stat Pack features data and dialogue about the Southern and Northern Nevada economies.  Here is last Friday’s Fact Pack!

Major Investor of the Week

LandCap Investment Partners, LLC is a boutique real estate investment firm specializing in niche land, mix use and housing investment strategies. LCIP is west coast focused and owns multiple properties and projects with an emphasis on the development of multi-family current communities in California and Nevada.