Nevada Briefs - August 2006

Nevada Briefs

Real Estate Companies Merge

The principals of Coldwell Banker Village Realty/Incline Village Realty and Tanager Realty recently announced the merger of the two companies. The new firm will be known as Coldwell Banker Incline Village Realty/Tanager. The 2006 sales of the two companies in Incline Village and Crystal Bay total more than all major competitors combined, per MLS statistics. The combined company will comprise 10 offices with 348 real estate agents and more than $1 billion in annual sales. All agents will be retained and will continue to work from their present locations.

Casino Planned for Sparks Marina

The City of Sparks and RED Development, LLC recently announced that Olympia Gaming LLC will build a casino as part of the 100-acre Legends at Sparks Marina shopping and entertainment development. Olympia Gaming’s $500 million casino, resort and spa is planned as an upscale destination for visitors and locals alike. The 12-acre project situated on Helms Lake will feature 1,000 hotel rooms and suites, five restaurants, a lakefront amphitheater and convention and meeting facilities. Phase I, scheduled to break ground in early 2007, will include 500 rooms. RED Development’s design for The Legends at Sparks Marina includes a minimum of 800,000 square feet of retail space and is estimated to cost up to $400 million.

Nevada Counties Get Federal Reimbursement

Counties across Nevada recently received federal checks from the Payment In Lieu of Taxes, (PILT) program. While nearly 85 percent of land in Nevada is owned by the federal government, federal land cannot generate tax revenue. This loss of tax base makes it difficult for counties to meet infrastructure needs and fund necessary services, such as education, emergency care and firefighting. The PILT program was created in the 1970s to help compensate counties that have high federal land ownership. Nevada received more than $14 million this year in PILT funding. While Clark and Washoe counties received just under $2 million each, the amounts distributed to smaller counties represented a larger percentage of their operating budgets. For example, Elko County received $1.8 million and Lyon County received $1.25 million.

Community Bancorp to Acquire Valley Bancorp

Community Bancorp recently announced a definitive agreement to acquire Valley Bancorp for approximately $137 million in stock and cash. Founded in 1998, Valley Bank, the wholly owned commercial bank subsidiary of Valley Bancorp, primarily serves small business customers through its network of five branches in Southern Nevada. As of March 31, 2006, Valley Bancorp reported assets of $408 million. Assuming it clears regulatory hurdles, the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006. Valley Bancorp will then be merged into Community Bancorp and Valley Bank will be merged into Community Bank of Nevada. The combined institution will have approximately $1.4 billion in assets and 14 branches serving Clark and Nye Counties.

Wet ’n Wild Site Sold

The site of the Wet ’n Wild water park in Las Vegas has been sold to a limited liability company that plans to construct a 4,500-room resort on the 27-acre parcel, located just south of the Sahara Hotel with frontage on both the Strip and Paradise Road. Archon Corp. sold the land to LVTI for an announced price of $450 million, or $16.7 million per acre. Construction will begin on the as-yet unnamed $4 billion resort in the third quarter of 2007, with completion scheduled for year-end 2010. An Archon subsidiary that controlled the site since 1995 had announced plans to build a resort on the property, but never proceeded with the project. The water park closed in 2004.