Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)

TEXAS ROADHOUSE WAS 1ST TO OPEN ON ‘RESTAURANT ROW’

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Sheridan said the restaurant row took shape organicall­y as the immediate area developed, but that North Las Vegas had, until recently, a dearth of dining throughout. With about 275,000 people, North Las Vegas is the state’s third-largest city behind Las Vegas and Henderson, and ahead of Reno.

“There wasn’t an abundance of fast food, either,” Sheridan said. “This really was the impetus.”

Developers noticed. They were built to meet the demand for family dinners and workday lunches.

Texas Roadhouse got the restaurant renaissanc­e started when the steakhouse opened down the block from the Cannery in late 2018. One eatery does not make a restaurant “row,” but operators pay attention to each other, Sheridan said. When a restaurant is successful, others will want to be its neighbors.

“Commercial retailers follow rooftops, and they recognized the housing and employment that has taken place within the city of North Las Vegas, and they are meeting the end needs of those residents and those employers (and) employees needing a place to go,” she said.

Texas Roadhouse and Salad and Go, a healthy drive-thru, entered the Las Vegas metro market by building on Craig Road, Sheridan said. There are now few open parcels left on the Craig frontage.

“There are dozens of different opportunit­ies to choose from today that did not exist three years ago,” she said.

The Great Recession nearly took North Las Vegas out at the knees. A third of the homes in the then-bedroom community went into foreclosur­e, and with little industry at the time and an outsize reliance on residentia­l property taxes, the vulnerable city tipped over the cliff of insolvency and hit junk bond status in 2013. The city diversifie­d its economy, especially with industrial parks, and climbed out of its hole. In 2019, the city had regained A and A+ bond ratings.

At the new Pinkbox, on the road that was once the northern edge of town, active residentia­l infill developmen­t can be seen and heard.

“There is so much happening in our city in terms of economic developmen­t, from Apex, the crown jewel of our industrial developmen­t for all of Southern Nevada, to new housing developmen­ts like the one right behind you or like the Villages at Tule Springs and so much more,” Goynes-brown said.

hillary.davis@gmgvegas.com / 702-990-8949 / @Hillarylvs­un

 ?? WADE VANDERVORT ?? Doughnuts are displayed during a Pinkbox Doughnuts ribbon-cutting event in North Las Vegas.
WADE VANDERVORT Doughnuts are displayed during a Pinkbox Doughnuts ribbon-cutting event in North Las Vegas.

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