By the BF Staff
From the May/June 2021 Issue
The sun shines on Henderson, NV 297 days a year. That’s a lot of Nevada light, and recently the city has brightened even more under the spotlight of national acclaim, as Henderson has garnered rave reviews and top national rankings for its quality of life, even as companies like Google, Amazon and Haas Automation have chosen to locate in the city.
Henderson is also emerging as a pro-sports hub, home to the Henderson Silver Knights AHL hockey team, and to the new training and performance center of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Not surprisingly, new residents are also flocking to the city. Henderson’s population of 314,232 is expected to continue growing at a 1.8-percent pace through 2025. And while Henderson is now Nevada’s second largest city, it has the state’s highest per capita income, 19 percent higher than the U.S. average.
And there is yet another number catching the attention of businesses and site selectors: 2 million. That’s the population within a 30-minute drive of Henderson, making Henderson a strategic choice for distribution or business services, especially with an additional population of 27 million within a 5-hour drive. Proximity to all major Southwest markets is another key advantage. Henderson’s Southern Nevada location allows one-day turnaround delivery to Los Angeles ports.
It was proximity to the company’s California headquarters that first drew Haas Automation to Henderson. A global leader in tool-making with annual sales exceeding $1.8 billion, Haas also needed lots of space for its new $327 million manufacturing complex. Henderson offered that, with 20 million square feet of available space, sites and land. More importantly, the city’s lower costs and taxes and enlightened pro-business climate were factors that really sealed the deal.
In recent years Nevada has come into its own as a preferred business and industrial location; the state is now ranked first in the U.S. for job growth and routinely cited as a top state for doing business. Nevada is generous with tax breaks, including zero tax on both personal and corporate income, one of the factors that helped the state climb to fifth in the top 10 states with the most business-friendly tax climate in the 2018 ranking by the State Business Climate Index.
Henderson adds to those advantages with the lowest property taxes and utility rates in the region, and a streamlined regulatory process that adds greater ease and speed to relocating or startup businesses. Lower costs and a “get-to-yes” environment, whether for incentives packages or permitting, have captured the interest of businesses from costlier and more regulatory-bound states such as California.
And it isn’t only California businesses that have taken notice; 56 percent of Henderson’s new residents between 2013 and 2017 came from California, drawn to lower costs, less traffic congestion and nationally recognized quality of life; the city has appeared on the national “best of” lists of publications ranging from Money Magazine to U.S. News and World Report to WalletHub to Niche.com. The city’s 14 master-planned neighborhoods include some of the nation’s fastest selling communities, while the nationally award-winning city parks department has developed a spectacular array of outdoor recreation to enjoy on all those sunny days, including 180 miles of trails and over 1,300 acres of city parkland. And at the Lifeguard Arena, the practice facility for the Silver Knights, dual ice rinks have opened the opportunity for youth hockey leagues as well as community skating.
Adding to both quality of life and robust economic growth, Henderson’s healthcare sector is also expanding, with Henderson Hospital’s new six-story addition to the 166-bed facility, and with the development Union Village. One of the world’s first and largest integrated healthcare villages, the mixed-use development is planned to offer an array of residential and commercial options as well as healthcare facilities like a skilled nursing center and the nation’s first “memory care village” for the treatment of dementia.
While Henderson’s quality of life has been a factor in recruiting top medical professionals to the area, the area’s aligned talent pipeline is powered by five institutions of higher learning focused on healthcare training, with five of the top 10 degrees and certifications earned by area graduates in healthcare-related fields.
The innovative qualities of Henderson’s healthcare cluster is expected to attract a new category of visitor—the “medical tourist.” However, already the city benefits from the global exposure of the 49 million visitors who visit Las Vegas annually. Henderson’s family-friendly atmosphere (and designation as one of the nation’s safest cities) may seem a world away from Vegas, but in actual miles Henderson is quite close—just 15 miles away. And that proximity is a big asset for Henderson’s emerging tech cluster.
Today, as ideas and innovations flow across the Las Vegas Valley, Henderson is in prime position to leverage the advantages. Google, which began work on its $600 million data center here in 2019, has already announced it will double its investment to $1.2 billion. Other companies like K-2, a leading provider of Lithium ion energy storage, and VadaTech, a global supplier of embedded computer solutions, were both founded here and continue to flourish.
With plenty of sunshine in a pro-business climate, quality that’s drawn the national spotlight and innovation lighting the way, the forecast for Henderson couldn’t be brighter.
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