Nevada Briefs - July 2004

Nevada Briefs

Nevada Population Boom to Continue

The Nevada State Demographer’s Office at the University of Nevada, Reno recently announced that the state’s population will grow by more than 1.3 million, or 59 percent, from 2000 to 2020. "Nevada likely will continue to outpace the national growth rate," said Jeff Hardcastle, state demographer. "The Census Bureau’s interim projections show the United States growing by 19 percent for that same time period." Within Nevada, this population growth is expected to be uneven. Northwestern Nevada (Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Lyon, Storey and Washoe counties) is projected to grow by more than 179,000 people. If the conditions of the last five years continue, rural Nevada counties may lose population. Southern Nevada (Clark and Nye counties) is projected to grow by over 1.1 million people.

Business Bank Plans New Headquarters

Business Bank of Nevada recently announced plans to build a 150,000-square-foot Class A office project in Las Vegas that will house its new corporate headquarters. The bank’s holding company, Business Bank Corporation, formed Charleston Pavilion LLC with investment partners to purchase a $5.6 million, 7.1-acre site from Howard Hughes Corporation at West Charleston and Pavilion Center Drive, one of the main entrances to the Summerlin Center Park being developed by the Howard Hughes Corporation. The developer will construct two three-story office buildings on the site, which will provide room for a new bank branch and headquarters, as well as office space to lease to tenants. The project is scheduled to begin construction in January 2005. The bank also announced plans to build a sixth branch in North Las Vegas and has broken ground in Minden for a 4,100-square-foot facility to replace a bank branch currently operating in leased space.

Ground Broken for Pahrump Hospital

After years of failed attempts, the town of Pahrump is finally on its way to getting a hospital to serve its 30,000 residents. Ground was broken in May for a 25-bed facility to be called Desert View Regional Medical Center. The $19.8 million hospital is scheduled to open next summer on a 25-acre site. Rural Health Management Corp., a non-profit company based in Nephi, Utah, is funding the project. The general contractor is Utah-based Layton Construction. Currently, the closest 24-hour urgent-care medical facility is 60 miles away in Las Vegas.

University System Launches Business Initiative

The University of Nevada, Reno and the Desert Research Institute recently announced the creation of Research Ventures, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that will facilitate the transfer of new technologies developed in Nevada to businesses capable of commercializing them. Together, the university and the institute already hold rights to approximately 70 technologies developed by university and institute faculty, said Richard Bjur, director of the university/DRI Technology Transfer Office. The university and institute currently have technologies in a number of areas, including medicine, agriculture, biotechnology, mining, and the physical and environmental sciences. The nine-member Research Ventures, Inc. board is composed of a group of volunteers from the business community, who will both hold and manage any equity that the University of Nevada and the Desert Research Institute may hold in private companies, as well as serve as an advisory board to the Technology Transfer Office.