Wal-Mart's new 915,564-square-foot distribution center opened in August in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center about 15 miles east of Reno in Storey County. The facility will service 72 Wal-Mart stores throughout Nevada and California.

Located in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRI), the facility has approximately 600 employees. According to a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, about 5,000 people applied for positions at the distribution center.

"The Storey County distribution center will provide Wal-Mart the opportunity to better serve the growing number of Wal-Mart customers who shop at our surrounding stores," said Wal-Mart’s Rollin Ford, executive vice president of logistics, when the project was announced. (He's currently executive vice president and chief information officer for the company.)

Wal-Mart has 39 supercenters, discount stores, neighborhood markets and Sam’s Clubs in Nevada.

Among existing tenants in the TRI development are Alcoa Aluminum, Lanier Industries, Eagle-Picher Minerals, Dura-Flex Diving Boards and Royal Group Technologies.

Although occupancy rates for Reno-Sparks-Fernley area industrial properties are at record highs, over 2.3 million square feet of new space will be available in 2007.

"Reno's four largest developers (DP Partners, Panattoni, ProLogis and Trammell Crow) are all working expeditiously on large speculative projects," notes Grubb & Ellis, a leading commercial real estate brokerage, in its second quarter 2006 Northern Nevada Industrial Market Trends report. "Over 1 million square feet of this total planned construction figure should be completed within the next six months," the report adds.

The current rise in occupancy is not only the result of new firms moving to the region, but existing firms expanding their capacity.

Alliance Commercial, another brokerage firm active in northern Nevada, reports that the region saw six transactions over 100,000 square feet during the second quarter. According to Alliance, "What's also interesting is five of the six were expansions or additional space for existing companies – Anderson Merchandisers, Ames True Temper, Kuehne & Nagel, Fosdic Fulfillment and Southern Wine and Spirits – all distribution companies."

Besides constructing new buildings to satisfy the growing demand for commercial space, Alliance notes that developers are acquiring and upgrading or re-positioning older buildings.

"As of July 1, 2006, approximately 2,894,400 square feet of industrial space is presently available for lease, sublease, or sale in the market, representing an available rate of 4.76%," broker CB Richard Ellis writes in its second quarter analysis of the industrial market in the Reno-Sparks-Fernley area.

"Reno is now officially on the map," conclude the experts with CB Richard Ellis. "As a location known for a low cost of doing business and a geographically-strategic logistical hub, companies seeking lower operating costs will continue to migrate here."

Northern Nevada has become an economic hot spot for businesses looking to expand or relocate from California and other western states, but it's not just the urban areas that are seeing significant growth. Nevada's long overlooked rural communities are now being targeted by businesses looking to take advantage of an abundance of land and skilled labor.

Lovelock, a rural community that serves as the county seat of Pershing County, Nevada, and that is primarily supported by mining and agriculture, is primed to diversify its economy and is marketing itself as a choice location for manufacturing and distribution companies.

"A lot of people say that this is the next natural growth hot spot in Nevada," said Dave Ayoob, Pershing County commissioner. "We have a lot of things in the works right now; some industrial, some commercial, and some residential. Our facilities and location are probably best suited for manufacturing companies and we are just now starting to see those companies take an interest in us."

Lovelock's location 90 miles north of Reno and just off Interstate 80 makes it an ideal location for distribution centers that are seeking an affordable gateway to West Coast markets. The town was built around the Union Pacific Railroad, an asset that has benefited Pershing County mines and farms over the years. Great access to major transportation routes is just one of the community's attributes.

"The price of land out here is still very inexpensive," said Ayoob. "The growth in other, nearby rural communities has forced them to raise their land prices while we have not yet felt that same pressure."

Plus there's a large inventory of developable land available, he added. Currently there are over 1,500 acres of land zoned for industrial use in Pershing County and much of that is for lease or sale.

Lovelock also has the infrastructure required for businesses to get up and running quickly. "We have a good school system, natural gas service, telecommunications and all of the other utilities and a skilled labor force," said Ayoob. "Not only that, but we have capacity in our infrastructure for growth."

Ayoob said that he is already observing the signs of a growth boom. "Currently, there is quite a bit of housing construction taking place which, if you looked at Lovelock in the past, was not happening. We are at a time when there is development or plans for development that I have never seen."

Sierra Pacific Power's Economic Development Website has everything you could possibly want to know about Northern Nevada – and more.

The latest addition to the website, the Geographical Real Estate Industrial Database (GRID), "is an excellent way to assist potential companies looking for available resources, properties or facilities," said Ken Pierson, director of business development for Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, whose experts worked with Sierra Pacific on development of GRID. "I'm hearing more from companies looking to locate in Northern Nevada that the GRID has made finding potential locations easier with vast resources at their fingertips."

This section of the website -- the most comprehensive in Northern Nevada -- includes all the data required to comply with the standards established by the International Economic Development Council, including scaleable maps, specifications for land use, census data and direct links to the developer or broker responsible for the property. The site is searchable by size, location or type of property desired and employs a geographic information format (GIS). As of October 2006, over 400 industrial and commercial properties were listed on the GRID.

Added Pierson, "Sierra Pacific's Web site has a number of user-friendly features that make navigation easy. The information is comprehensive, up-to-date and give a great overview of northern Nevada. EDAWN recommends the site to site selectors and company prospects alike for much of the information and tools they need."

Among the other features on the Sierra Pacific Economic Development Website are detailed profiles of the counties and communities in northern Nevada within Sierra Pacific's 50,000-square-mile service area, as well other Nevada counties that are served by other electricity providers but that might be of interest to site location managers.

The website includes detailed information about transportation, the northern Nevada labor force, tax information and relevant news articles, and provides links to other economic development websites in Nevada.

Most importantly, the website is constantly updated with the latest information available to assist economic development professionals.