Tribes work to promote land leases

Looking for a spot to locate your business? Ever thought of Indian land? Probably not, but tribes in northern Nevada are working to attract commercial, industrial and retail tenants to their reservations.

And not tribal-owned or operated businesses - although deals may come with incentives to employ tribal members - but independent businesses looking for the right place to locate their operations.

The developments are a key component of the tribes' overall economic development efforts.

The reason? Much of the land is located in or near booming urban areas, and in prime commercial corridors, where typical properties are becoming scarce or increasingly expensive.

The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, for example, over the last 15 years has bought up about 40 acres close to its Reno reservation off Second and Mill Streets with an eye to developing a large retail center adjacent to the Truckee River.

The Washoe tribe, based in Gardnerville, is developing 225 acres in increasingly popular Douglas County, off Topsy Lane near Clear Creek.

The tribe, which has a total of 3,000 acres, is also developing about 13 acres on Carson City's Curry Street.

"The best incentive is the location," said Garrett Furuichi, economic development director with the Washoe tribe.

Furuichi said the tribe is hoping to develop the land for a variety of uses, from corporate offices to retail to light manufacturing.

"We're working on a couple things that I'm not privy to disclose," he said.

"It is pretty preliminary."

The tribe itself operates a cattle and alfalfa ranch on its reservation and has plans to open a casino in Douglas County.

The 15,000-square-foot casino, scheduled to open in about a year, will be tribal owned but operated by Holder Hospitality.

The Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe's land north of Reno is located near rail and Interstate 80, said John Van Etten, economic development coordinator for the tribe.

"There is also a huge gas line that runs from Canada to Los Angeles that runs through the reservation," he said.

The tribe currently has one tenant Paiute Gravel and is looking to lease out its marina on the lake and its convenience store in Nixon, both of which were previously tribe-operated.

The most ambitious plans may be Reno-Sparks Indian Colony's retail development called Crossroads Marketplace.

It's a 22-acre site located near the Reno Hilton, off Glendale Avenue near Highway 395 and along the Truckee River.

The colony has been developing the area for over a decade and is probably three to four years from completion.

"We are still a ways off," said Arlen Melendez, chairman, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.

"We had to buy it piecemeal from multiple owners and consolidate nine parcels."

The property is also in a flood plain and the colony has to install levies or flood walls, said Melendez, as well as wait out current leases on some existing tenants that don't fit into the plan.

A current plan of the center includes over 175,000 square feet of retail space and more than 700 parking spaces.

That includes a large anchor store and several smaller spaces as well as hopes for several restaurants to front the river.

An existing tenant, Springtime Nursery, is already in place and the plans include an 8,000- square-foot retail operation owned and operated by the colony.

The colony is developing retail rather than commercial or industrial because it will provide sales tax revenue, which is the colony's main source of revenues.

Chuck Rosenow, director of the colony's economic development department, says there are a handful of incentives for retailers to locate there.

He estimates a business would save about $27,000 annually in business license fees.

According to federal law, businesses that invest on Indian land are entitled to an accelerated depreciation period of 22 years rather than the usual 39 years.

A business can also receive an annual $4,000 tax credit for each tribal member it employs.

Businesses also don't need local building permits or to pay for sewage, plumbing and other hookup fees.

It's those last incentives that have given some the impression that "anything goes," on tribal land, as one commercial real estate broker put it.

Rosenow said that's not true.Tribes, have to abide by all federal laws, including environmental regulations, and the colony, in particular, follows zoning and other local laws as a rule to ensure its status as a good neighbor.

There are drawbacks, though, to locating on reservations.

Some reservations are lacking in infrastructure, but tribes such as the

Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe are working to fix that.

"It's a challenge all the tribes have," said Reno-Sparks Indian Colony's Melendez.

But the biggest disadvantage may be financing.Tribal land is held in trust by the federal government and a business may have a hard time getting money.

"Banks don't want to lend if they can't take the property back," said Kris Holt, an advisor with Grubb & Ellis Nevada Commercial Group.

Rosenow said about half the banks won't lend to businesses on reservations, but the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, for one, has established banking relationships with the Bank of America and U.S.

Bank and is in the process of upgrading its BBB bond rating with Fitch Services.

Ron Weisinger, executive director with Northern Nevada Development Authority, is working with a manufacturer who is looking to locate on a reservation.

He said they are now working to secure insurance.

Weisinger, who wouldn't provide any more detail than that, said he considers this effort a "test case," for whether tribal lands will become a viable option for other businesses.

The tribes certainly hope so.

"I'd love to be talking to companies wanting to locate on tribal properties," said Washoe's Furucihi.

"I think it's been a missed opportunity."