Airline moves to Southern Nevada

To serve her latest client, Jane Rowland performed a lot of functions, including some that don't fit under a strict job description of Realtor: hosting a picnic, managing the renovation and design of an office, conducting citywide tours, and matching a couple of dozen families to real estate agents.

About the only thing Rowland didn't need to do for Allegiant Air is actually find real estate. The airline announced June 9 it would transfer its operations and maintenance divisions from Fresno, Calif., to the Flynn-Gallagher Corporate Center in northwest Las Vegas, where the company already has an administrative office.

The giant office and retail complex is held by a company owned in part by Maurice J. Gallagher, who along with Mitchell H. Allee, owns the airline. With its new offices, the airline will occupy about 8,000 square feet of the center at Cheyenne Avenue and Buffalo Drive, which encompasses more than half a million square feet.

As a relocation specialist for Colliers International, Rowland must bring together tasks large and small to ensure everything a company needs for a seamless interstate move happens according to schedule. Some are as cut-and-dried as managing the creation of an office by a certain deadline, in this case Sept. 1, or in finding homes for employees on a suitable timetable. Others are as free form as grilling hot dogs and hamburgers for visiting employees at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.

Rowland's complex undertaking is common in Southern Nevada. From July 2002 through June 2003, 54 companies moved to Southern Nevada bringing a combined 2,796 jobs with assistance from the Nevada Development Authority, according to authority President Somer Hollingsworth, who points out that those numbers don't include companies such as Allegiant Air who move independently. An additional nine companies, representing 686 new jobs, expanded within the region with the help of the NDA.

Hollingsworth said more than half of companies moving to Southern Nevada originate from California, where rising energy and worker's compensation costs have risen sharply in recent years.

"(California) is a very anti-business climate. There's no predicting your operating costs there, which worries a lot of companies," he said. "It's been real happy hunting grounds for us.

Concerns that such problems are long-term within Nevada's western neighbor, combined with its $35 billion budget deficit woes, have made company moves an economically viable option, despite their steep upfront cost. Hollingsworth added that intangibles such as government responsiveness, also play a role.

"The state (government of California) is not listening. Their legislature is not paying attention to the problems employers have. (Businesses) feel like they have no voice within state government," he said.

The authority provides "one-stop relocation service" for companies planning to set up operations in the state. Although certain services are outsourced to professionals such as Rowland, the authority can determine cost-of-business comparisons, schedule valley tours or meetings with utility executives, find possible state incentive programs, locate appropriate real estate and arrange the actual move.

Allegiant Air's move includes maintenance and flight operations personnel, in addition to accounting and other administrative staff, about 20-25 employees in all, plus their families.

Another two dozen air crew members are re-basing to Las Vegas as well, according to Mark Peterson, an executive with airline.

The airline has created a niche linking mid-size cities such as Wichita, Kan., with service to Las Vegas. Moving the company's operations to the valley made sense because its activities are there, according to Peterson.

"We look at it as the right move for our airline. So much of our activity is focused on Las Vegas," Peterson said.

As most of the employees are unfamiliar with life in Las Vegas, Rowland must give them the rundown.

On a weekend getaway paid for by the airline, Rowland delighted in showing the out-of-towners the lesser-known parts of the valley.

A tour gave the employees a crash course on living in locales such as Boulder City, Henderson and Summerlin. A picnic at Spring Mountain Ranch highlighted the public lands. In addition, those who wanted a head start on moving learned about schools, churches and real estate agents.

"It's a lot of fun telling people who have never lived here what it's like to live in Las Vegas. Many of them still think we all live on the Strip," Rowland said. "It's fun to tell them whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it, we have it."

Not all were sold on the idea, however Rowland believes she made an impression.

"Some of them are apprehensive about moving. What they know about the city comes from TV and movies. It's an experience for them to learn we lead normal lives here, that we live in houses, not hotels," she said.

A slightly less daunting challenge for Rowland is establishing the new office while keeping the old one up and running long enough so as not to interrupt service to customers.

There's wiring, security, carpeting and other contractor work that needs completion, furniture that must arrive on schedule -- no earlier or later -- and computer systems that need to work when the office goes live.

"The whole month of August is set up for that. It's a planned transition where we move certain functions at certain times," Rowland said.

"(The employees) should know where they are going to live, and the office should be set up by then. They'll work out of both for a while."

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