Apex comes to life

With the warehouse market booming in Southern Nevada, more developers have ventured to North Las Vegas’ Apex Industrial Park, a rare surge of momentum for the remote area.

Apex, off Interstate 15 at U.S. Highway 93, has been around for decades and offers thousands of acres for potential projects. But for a long time, construction activity was scarce amid a dearth of infrastructure.

However, utility service has been expanding to the area, and over the past year or so, multiple companies have bought land and pushed ahead with construction plans in the industrial park some 20 miles northeast of the Strip.

The increased activity at Apex also comes amid higher land prices and the depleted availability of project sites in the northeast valley’s Las Vegas Motor Speedway area, a popular warehouse construction spot in recent years.

Reno developer Dermody Properties broke ground last year on a 664,300-square-foot distribution facility in Apex; aluminum beverage can maker Ball Corp. unveiled plans last year to build a plant at Apex; developer Vantrust Real Estate bought roughly 350 acres last year with plans for a 4.5 million-square-foot industrial park; and grocery chain Smith’s purchased nearly 100 acres last year.

Northpoint Development broke ground this summer on an industrial complex that’s expected to span more than 2 million square feet. Hey Dude, a footwear brand owned by Crocs Inc., unveiled plans to open a distribution facility in the project.

Rob Tecco, vice president of North American distribution and logistics at Crocs Inc., said in September that the property size it needed wasn’t available in other parts of the Las Vegas Valley.

“Everything else was spoken for near the Speedway,” he said.

Eli Segall