Faraday Future, an electric car company, is on the road to help lay the infrastructure at the site of its planned large-scale manufacturing facility at Apex Industrial Park in North Las Vegas.
That’s according to a letter recently sent to Steve Hill, director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, signed by Dag Reckhorn, vice president of global manufacturing at Faraday, and Dave Wisnieski, director of finance.
The letter said Faraday will acquire a surety bond of up to $75 million and will deposit another $13 million into escrow to assist with financing infrastructure projects at the site, including engineering and preliminary construction of water, wastewater and rail facilities.
On top of the bond and money headed into escrow for construction projects to help with infrastructure projects, Faraday also will help fund its share of bringing in utilities to the site with $3 million heading into escrow in mid-March and another $10 million being deposited by mid-May.
The action follows state Treasurer Dan Schwartz expressing concerns near the end of February over the ability of Jia Yueting, billionaire owner of Leshi Internet Information &Technology or LeTV, to fund the $1 billion project.
The bonds were also required under a nearly $216 million tax incentive package approved by the legislature during a special session in December and is set to be returned to the electric car maker when at least 1.6 million of the planned 3 million-square-foot facility is completed and Faraday Future has generated revenue from selling cars.
In the long term, Faraday, in order to qualify for the tax abatements, must invest $1 billion over 10 years and meet other criteria including hiring and wage minimums.
Under the tax abatement legislation, Nevada can take up to $175 million in obligation bonds backed by the state, where half would be covered by Apex property owners through a special improvement district. The other half would come through a tax increment area, with the idea that increased property values, through the increase in infrastructure at Apex and consequentially the increase in tax assessments on the property, would go toward paying the bonds back.
State cuts rates
for workers comp
Nevada’s workers compensation insurance rates headed in a positive direction for business owners in early March with a decrease in assigned-risk rates and a reduction in loss-cost rates — the state’s largest since 2010.
Acting Insurance Commissioner Amy Parks approved the filing set forth by the National Council on Compensation Insurance that called for an average decrease of 5.5 percent in Nevada workers’ compensation voluntary insurance loss costs.
Parks also approved an average 4.2 percent decrease in Nevada workers’ compensation insurance assigned-risk rates. This market also saw a decrease in the assigned-risk expense constant, from $240 to $160. This rate reduction could benefit smaller risks in the assigned-risk market. And possibly create fertile ground for small business development, according to a release from the Nevada Division of Insurance.
All the new rates went into effect March 1. The last large decrease happened in 2010, falling an average of 7.6 percent for loss costs.
The reason behind the decrease today is being blamed on favorable changes in loss experience, along with favorable changes in loss development. This factor suggests that the amount of reported claims will not grow over time by the amount previously anticipated.
The assigned-risk market, a place for hard-to-insure employers with unique or unusual risks or historically high losses in their industry, implements reductions based on movement in the voluntary market as well as the assigned-risk market.
Residential appraiser adds commercial division
Metro-West Appraisal Co., the largest independent residential real estate appraisal company in the U.S. with offices in Las Vegas, has expanded its service offerings to the commercial market.
“Expanding our focus into the commercial real estate appraisal sphere is the next step in what has been a tremendous period of growth and evolution for Metro-West Appraisal,” said Brandon Boudreau, chief operating officer of Metro-West Appraisal.
Metro-West’s new commercial real estate valuation services will encompass several parts of the sector including industrial, office, multifamily, retail and other markets.
The nearly 30-year-old company will offer several services, including fully compliant reports from licensed appraisers, valuations services and hybrid products for commercial property valuation. Metro-West also offers several specialty services including portfolio valuation, due diligence, property tax appeals and assessment review and a business and partnership valuation and advisory service that includes partial interests.
Metro-West serves 80 metros across 34 states and employs more than 200 staff appraisers.