Nevada Week S4 Ep33 | Tourism in Henderson
With coronavirus cases dropping, it feels like we may be making our way out of the pandemic. Where Southern Nevada's economy stands at this point in time. Plus, Henderson as a tourist destination? How the city is making a play for more visitors and business.
♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt and additional supporting sponsors. Welcome to Nevada Week; I'm Amber Renee Dixon. With Nevada's mask mandate gone and the continued removal of coronavirus restrictions around the world, it seems we're nearing a possible end to the pandemic. This should benefit Southern Nevada's economy, and joining us to talk about where it currently stands is Bryan Horwath, business editor for the Las Vegas Sun. Bryan, thank you for coming in.
We had you on about a year ago, and the situation felt similar. Cases were dropping, the economy was improving, but then delta and omicron variants came along. Where do we stand now? (Bryan Horwath) Well, I think there's some positive signs that we've been seeing. Certainly a lot of those visitors that Las Vegas lost because of the pandemic have come back-- not all of them.
When you look at 2019, there's about 42 million visitors here. Cut that about in half for 2020, and then in 2021, about half of those came back so, you know, close to 30 million. So there's a lot of bright spots.
Conventions are still lagging. The international travel piece, that's still lagging a little bit. Certainly the drive in, certainly people coming in from Southern California, that's robust, that's strong. You know, if you go down to the Strip on a weekend, it's busy.
There's a lot of uncertainty there. We never know these days when another variant could pop up. I know people so, you know, every time it seems like we get maybe in the clear, you start to wonder. But I think we're in a pretty good place right now as far as the Las Vegas economy goes.
You know, fingers crossed as we move into the future. -And we talked about the convention aspect off camera, how crucial it is to the recovery. When might that aspect come back, because so many people plan what, a year ahead of time to have a convention. -Sure. Las Vegas obviously is a very popular place to have a convention. I've been hearing for a while now that if you look a year, a couple years out, it's pretty positive on the booking side.
A lot of these resorts on the Strip, a lot of these companies put a lot of money into their resort space or their convention spaces so, you know, they're itching to get people in there. But you look at CES, which is the biggest convention annually on the calendar here in Las Vegas, that happened in January and it was about 40,000 people. In a non-pandemic year, there would be 160-, 170,000, so that kind of gives you an idea. Of course, you know, everyone in Las Vegas is thrilled to have 40,000 people here for a convention but still, you know, they're looking to continue to build that back up to where it was before the pandemic. -Right. Preview Las Vegas, an event that previews the economy for the year ahead, that was in January and there was an overall positive feel to that.
It's a preview, but some of the leaders there were harkening back to the 1990s. What were the similarities they were talking about between now and the '90s? -Well, I think Las Vegas kind of goes in cycles, and there's certain periods where people are kind of happy to get out and about, travel, go to these destinations. Las Vegas is a fun town that people like to go to. So I think there's a lot of talk about, you know, this pandemic is-- it's been depressing. For everybody.
It's been stressful for everyone. So when people are-- you know, when they're comfortable, when they feel like they can get out and travel again, Las Vegas, there's a lot of confidence that Las Vegas is one of those places where people want to get out and have a good time. So I think there's some optimism there. You know, at Preview Las Vegas, there's a lot of talk about Las Vegas being the sports capital of the world. The entertainment piece, you know, we kind of have that down.
There's a big push to be kind of that sports entertainment place, destination where you want to go. There's a lot of talk about that, there's a lot of money going in that direction. You talk about the Super Bowl and all these different events, the new Raider stadium, Allegiant Stadium. So I think looking forward, that's one piece that tourism folks here want to really focus on is that sports aspect. -Sports is what's giving them a lot of positivity, and also Steve Hill of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, about the 1990s, was saying there was a boom back then of new resorts, Luxor, Excalibur and Bellagio, and now are we seeing similar things like with Resorts World opening and Circa Las Vegas? -Yes, absolutely.
Resorts World is a massive facility. You know, you're talking about a huge complex that opened just recently, and people have been excited about going there. Really if you look at that north end of the Strip, you have Resorts World, the new Las Vegas Convention Center space which was about a billion dollars, and of course Fontainebleau, which is hopefully going to open in October of 2023. There's a lot going on on that north Strip.
You know, if you look at back in the '90s, you know, the south Strip was kind of the place to be with Luxor like you said and Mandalay Bay. So it's interesting kind of how things-- you know, the south Strip is still a hustling, bustling place especially with Allegiant Stadium there, but that's certainly-- everyone's always excited about a new resort opening in Las Vegas. I know Circa Las Vegas which is Downtown, not on the Strip-- -But close enough.
It's bridging the gap between the two. How positive are you or confident are you that North Las Vegas-- not North Las Vegas, the Strip, the north Las Vegas Strip, is going to finally come together with properties like Fontainebleau that have had issues? -Yes. I mean, everybody sees that building. You drive down the Strip, it's a big blue glass building. It stands out, and people have been talking about it for years, starts and stops and what's going to happen. It looks like this time there's a good chance that it is going to happen.
Koch Industries, there's a lot of financial backing there for the property, some folks who certainly have done it before on the resort side who are, you know, getting ready to open this property in about a year and a half. You know, the other piece though, is employment. It's hard to find people nowadays. That's almost any industry across the board, and if you're opening a resort, you're going have to find those employees. You're going to have to-- there's a lot of competition out there of course partly because of the pandemic and people being out of work, but certainly you're going to have to find that workforce. That's going to be a challenge for anybody.
-You wrote a really great article that was about the new president of Fontainebleau, and he stressed the treatment of employees. Did you take anything away from that as far as he's trying to get employees? -Yes. You know, I think employers are having to really recruit these days. There's a lot of competition out there.
You look at the Palms, which is set to open later this spring, that's owned by a tribal company, San Manuel out of California. They're looking to hire a thousand people, you know, so it's a challenge for anyone. You have to kind of-- it's definitely a job seekers' market right now. Job seekers are kind of in the driver's seat, so you got to do what you have to do, whatever that is, to attract people into your operation. -From job seekers to house seekers, the housing market is still hot. Wells Fargo economists that you spoke with said the housing market in Las Vegas is in better overall shape than the economy itself because that convention aspect hasn't come back.
What about the possibility and the likelihood that interest rates are going to be raised as soon as March? -Yes. It certainly looks like that's where we're headed, you know, which is going to mean those mortgages are going to be a little more expensive, maybe not a lot, but when you're talking about that amount of money, it's possible to price people in or out of a certain category for a house. It's interesting. I mean, everyone I talk to says look, in the near future, a year out maybe even longer, you know, we're not going to see prices come down.
It's just a question of how far prices are going to increase, which is kind of scary. You know, it's a double-edged sword. On one hand if you own a home, your value has gone way up. You're thinking about well, should I sell? Okay, if you sell then you have to live somewhere, so, you know-- -Where are you going to go. -Rents are going up, housing prices, you know, so it's interesting. It's partly supply and demand.
It's partly just a lack of inventory out there. That's been building up for a few years, kind of a perfect storm, but it's interesting. And then of course the piece that people talk about a lot is the folks coming in from California. -That's still a steady flow. -Absolutely. You can cash out, sell your home
in California for some absurd-- you know, 700,000, upwards of a million. You can come here and buy a home here for-- the median price for a home here is about $430,000, $440,000. So you can kind of change your whole lifestyle.
There's people doing that. So it's an interesting dynamic right now. -And so even a small, maybe half percentage increase in the interest rate is not going to deter those buyers, perhaps? -It doesn't seem like it. I don't think so. -Bryan Horwath, thank you so much for your time. One city in Southern Nevada is hoping a new entertainment and sports venue is going to boost its economy.
At the brand new Dollar Loan Center is where I caught up with Derek Armstrong, the City of Henderson's director of economic development and tourism. Henderson has long been a destination for youth sports tournaments, bringing in kids and parents from out of state, but now with the Dollar Loan Center, Henderson is entering the professional sporting arena. So what kind of economic impact do you expect this to have? (Derek Armstrong) Yes, I think you're right that Henderson has been home to a lot of youth events. Our parks and rec department does a great job with that, and even with Lifeguard Arena that opened up last November, we've seen a growth in youth sports.
But this facility is one of a kind in Henderson, and the economic impact from the initial studies that we've done is going to show that this will provide 17 to 26 million in annual economic impact a year. -The City of Henderson is paying $42 million for this, and the Vegas Golden Knights owner, Bill Foley, is matching that. It's in his interest because his AHL team is going to play here as well as his indoor football league team. How does this work out for the city of Henderson though, that economic impact you talked about? How quickly do you think you will pay off this Dollar Loan Center? -Well, it's a great project, and the Golden Knights have been a tremendous partner for the city of Henderson. Not only is it just going to be paid off over the 20 years, it's going to be projecting more than $42 million in tax revenue.
But the community benefits as well. We're able to do high school graduations, the Henderson Symphony will be playing here, and it's just really an amenity that the city of Henderson expects and we're delivering to them. -The Big West Championships is going to be the first event here in March. How did you convince the Big West to move here to Henderson when just last year, they were playing in Las Vegas? -I think it's a number of different things, but Henderson is really a place that distinguishes itself from Las Vegas with some of those family-friendly features, and it's still just as easy to access as Las Vegas.
We're still going to be using McCarran Airport, and from this facility, we're about 10 minutes from the airport so it's extremely convenient for those people traveling into the valley to participate. But then we're able to provide a brand-new venue to host them, and they're going to be one of the initial events here so I think we're able to showcase them in a way that maybe some of the other venues aren't able to. -You brought up the importance of distinguishing yourself from Las Vegas. In terms of marketing strategy, what is the strategy? How much do you want to differentiate yourself, or is it a close line to toe? -I wouldn't say it's a close line, but I would say we're never going to compete with Las Vegas, right? They're a global name brand. What we can do is supplement that and bring in additional tournaments and additional features that help supplement what they're doing.
So I don't think we're in competition with them, we're just helping supplement and complement them in bringing more people and revenue to the Las Vegas Valley. -Of the visitors that you will be getting here for these events, how many do you expect will actually stay in Henderson hotels, or do you think a lot of people are going to still be staying in Las Vegas? -I think it's going to be on the types of events that are held here. If it's just for sporting events, obviously Green Valley and the District are right next door to this facility, so I think you'll see a higher propensity for those types of events. If it's for a conference or say a trade show spillover from something on the Strip, you would see more that stay on the Strip. I think there's going to be some natural events that tend to draw people to Henderson. -Talking about conventions, this is outside of the Dollar Loan Center, but you do already bring people and businesses from Southern California here to Henderson for conventions.
Is there going to be a bigger, broader push for that? -We do a lot to work with our partners to bring meetings and smaller types of conventions to Henderson, working with a number of our partners. We do have the District and Station Casinos next door that do bring in meetings and conventions as well. We have the M Resort off Las Vegas Boulevard that has space as well, and then we have some of the resort properties out in Lake Las Vegas that attract those meetings as well. We work with all of our partners to help pitch Henderson as a place for them to host their events. -And this push for tourism and conventions to Henderson, is it part of a specific campaign? I know back in 2019, there was a tourism revamp, you changed the logo.
Is this part of that still? -We do specifically target Southern California as a region because I think a lot of people from Southern California want an excuse to come up here so we're happy to host them. I think the mayor and city council have done a great job in helping promote the city and bring other things to light about the city. We have the Raiders whose home is in Henderson now, and every report with them starts with Henderson, Nevada. So I think that we're growing as a brand and as a community, and I think more and more people are recognizing Henderson outside of the valley.
-At the beginning of this month the NFL Pro Bowl was in Las Vegas, and I was leafing through the digital program for it and two pages in, I see a full-page ad for the city of Henderson advertising, bringing tourism to Henderson. It really stood out to me because everything else was luxury cars and high tech, so I thought wow, they must be really making a big push. Are you making a national push to bring people to Henderson? -Well, I think we're picking where we think we can move the needle. Obviously the Pro Bowl is a unique event where we're going to have a lot of eyes that aren't normally in the valley looking at the valley with, you know, the Pro Bowl and some of those other partners that we do now have international brands here working with the Raiders and some of those other organizations, the Golden Knights. We're able to have a reach that we didn't have before, and we're excited to be able to utilize that to help get more people to Henderson. -I understand there may have been conversations with an airline to promote Henderson.
-We've had conversations with a lot of unique propositions to do advertising, and we evaluate those as they come. -We could likely do a whole other interview on the economic development of Henderson outside of tourism. I mean, Amazon has a distribution center here, the Raiders have their training facility here, the Aces are building their training facility right next door. When you were working with the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development, you helped bring Google, a $600 million data center, to Henderson and then you recently broke ground on a training center with the College of Southern Nevada to train people in manufacturing jobs. What would you describe the economic development state of Henderson to be? -That's a great question.
What I say is it's a good time to be in Nevada, but a great time to be in Henderson. I think that's a pitch that resonates with a lot of companies and what they're seeing, how we're dealing with them and how we're able to move very quickly for government to meet their needs. In addition to those projects, we also have Haas Automation, who are building a 2-1/2 million square-foot facility in west Henderson as well. They're currently doing their site grading and hopefully be going vertical by the end of this year, which will employ 2,500 people in advanced manufacturing.
So a huge push to diversify Henderson and Southern Nevada's economy which has really been the effort of the city's leadership, mayor and council and staff alike. So I'm excited. It's a great place to be.
There's a lot of great things happening, and I think momentum builds on momentum and as companies are seeing what's happening here, they're checking out Henderson more and more. So we're really excited about the future. -And part of your job is bringing business to Henderson, but on another level, you may need to fill business needs here. Is there a specific business that you would still like to see in Henderson? Is there a need? -Well, I think that as a city matures, there's different needs that present itself, and overall the business system is an ecosystem. You need those large businesses to come in and provide opportunities for small businesses. You also have to grow an entrepreneur network and make sure that you're providing opportunities for homegrown businesses to succeed and thrive as well.
So as we move forward, I think you'll continue to see growth in healthcare. That's a huge need for the valley, and we're working on that as a target industry. You'll see more business and financial sector type companies as well, helping provide some of those opportunities for those entrepreneurs to access capital. So that's part of that ecosystem, and we'll see more technology and manufacturing jobs come to the valley as well. -The Big West basketball Championships, March 8-12, will be the very first sporting event at Henderson's new Dollar Loan Center, and the Big West appears to have big plans for a future in Henderson.
Joining us to talk about this partnership is Big West Commissioner Dan Butterly. Dan, thank you so much for joining us. The Big West has many of its schools based in Southern California, that is where you are joining us from, and you held a lot of the tournaments in Anaheim in the past. This past year was in Las Vegas with all the big boys, PAC 12, the Mountain West, but this year you're moving it to Henderson. Why? (Dan Butterly) Henderson has provided us a great facility at the new Dollar Loan Center right there in the main part of Henderson. It is the perfect size venue for the Big West.
College basketball in the West, relative to conference basketball championships, has moved to Las Vegas. It has become the mecca of March Madness, and the Big West is excited to get there. -Six thousand seats is what the Dollar Loan Center has to provide you. Now, when you let the Big West schools know about this relocation, what kind of reaction did you get, did they say where is Henderson? -No, they're actually excited about it.
Last year we were at Mandalay Bay because of COVID. We moved the basketball championship out of California over to the Las Vegas area, and while we were there, we took advantage of the opportunity to look at other facilities, and we were surprised to hear of Dollar Loan Center being built in Henderson. So we took a ride over there with some of our athletic directors, took a look at the facility and they said yes, this feels like a great fit. Not only the family-oriented area of Henderson, but also being at this facility just felt like a glass slipper for our teams that will be playing Cinderella for the NCAA tournament. -Mandalay Bay may have been a little bit too big for the crowds that you're going to bring in but this is a good size, and I imagine that compared to Mandalay Bay and compared to Anaheim, you're saving a lot of money. -It's definitely-- the benefits we had negotiating and working with more of a smaller venue definitely helped the Big West make this decision.
There's no doubt about that, and the feedback we got from our student athletes of being in Las Vegas last year, they indicated to us that they want to come back. It really felt like a championship city for them. Obviously we couldn't have fans last year because of COVID, but we are excited to welcome fans to this championship in Henderson. -And I understand you have some plans for the outside of the Dollar Loan Center, which is unique in that-- I don't know, at Mandalay Bay you surely couldn't have done what you are planning as far as outdoor parties.
Tell me about that. -Absolutely. I mean, we'll have alumni functions out front. The way the building was designed really provided a great front porch to the city of Henderson, so we're excited about the grassy areas right up front of the main entrance. Food trucks, concerts, interactive opportunities, bands, cheerleaders, we'll be having a celebration, particularly between sessions, between the afternoon and evening sessions each day of the championship. -How many of the people that are coming to the tournament do you expect are actually going to stay in Henderson, or might a lot of them be staying in Las Vegas and traveling? -Well, once we announced the championship was coming to Henderson, we started tracking on hotel room availability, started immediately contacting our teams and indicating to them they need to book their hotel rooms as soon as possible. We're happy to announce a lot of the hotel rooms in Henderson have been sold out on championship week.
So I'm hopeful that's fans coming over to Henderson as part of our championship, but I know Henderson is a great destination for conventions as well. -Are you going to be staying in Henderson? -I'm staying right across the street from the Dollar Loan Center, absolutely. So excited about what Henderson offers to us, the great restaurants, the shopping, the nightlife after games as well as obviously the championship basketball. -You are such a big fan of Henderson that the Big West has become part of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce. Does that indicate you have long-term plans for Henderson? -We absolutely have long-term plans for Henderson. We've got at least a three-year contract with the Dollar Loan Center with options for additional years.
Everybody I seem to have worked with during my days at the Mountain West running the basketball championships there for over 20 years, a lot of the people that work the scores table or volunteered at that championship lived in Henderson. So again when this opportunity came up to be in Henderson and know that a lot of people that I've worked with live and work near there, it was really exciting to say Henderson's our championship city. -What are some of the other benefits that Henderson and the Dollar Loan Center provide that Anaheim and Las Vegas did not? -I think, you know, obviously the size of the building is much more beneficial to the Big West, 6,000 seats seems to fit our membership very well. We're going to bring California cool with a splash of Hawaii to the Henderson area. I think also the proximity to numerous flights at McCarran International Airport from the Big West not only from Hawaii but obviously Northern California and Southern California where our institutions are, they can get to Las Vegas nonstop, and then obviously you've got Las Vegas as well. So those individuals that want to go over to the Las Vegas Strip, it's only 15 minutes away from the facility.
So it offers a lot for us and for the Big West and our teams, provides them a great opportunity to stay at some great properties, eat at some great restaurants all right there in Henderson without having to go over to the Las Vegas area. -And you are certainly excited about having the tournament in Henderson, but this is a symbiotic relationship. Why should Henderson be happy to have you? -I think more than anything, we claim this is Henderson's basketball championship.
This is NCAA tournament basketball in the city of Henderson, and we are planning to be a member of this Henderson family for a very long time. We're looking at other opportunities to bring events to Henderson. We want this to be a Big West city. We know there's a lot of sporting events in town, in the region, but really this is Henderson's own event. So we are excited to be a part of that. We have joined the business community.
We are looking for Henderson businesses to affiliate with us. Anything from the need for copy machines to electronic equipment to carpet are things that we're looking for Henderson businesses to partner with us and help us out with to make this venue look fantastic for the first event. -You mentioned other sporting events.
What are you thinking of? -Well, obviously we've got some great golf programs here in the Big West. We've got volleyball. We've got some other other opportunities to look at here, and I think the Dollar Loan Center is going to provide us that opportunity down the road. -Dan Butterly, Big West Commissioner, thank you so much for taking the time, and we will see you locally very soon. -Can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks. Thank you so much.
-And thank you for joining us. To see any of the resources we discussed, go to our website at vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at @nevadaweek.
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2022-02-26 18:42
