The cover of the June 6, 2011, edition of the Northern Nevada Business Weekly.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week in 2021, we will feature snippets of stories that published a decade ago to provide readers a 10-year perspective of business news in the region. This week’s stories first published in the June 6, 2011, edition of the NNBW.
Despite tighter vacancies, apartment rents don’t move
Vacancy rates for apartments in the Reno-Sparks area dropped the six of the past seven quarters and are approaching stabilized levels. But property owners have yet to see any increases in rental rates, and that’s keeping a lid on property values.
A quarterly apartment survey compiled by real estate appraisal firm Johnson Perkins and Associates shows the overall vacancy rate in Reno and Sparks stood at 5.64% in the first quarter of 2011. In the fourth quarter of 2010, the overall vacancy rate stood at 7.16%.
Despite the improvements in the region’s overall vacancy rate, rents are still stagnant or dropping throughout the area. The average rent for the first quarter of 2011 was $821 compared with $824 in the prior quarter.
— Page 1, by Rob Sabo
Facing loss of federal funds, NCET to become a volunteer group
Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, facing the loss of federal dollars that covered its overhead, will become an all-volunteer organization next month.
Dave Archer, president and CEO of the nonprofit, will work for $1 a year under the new structure. Roxanne DeCarlo, who oversaw NCET’s marketing and special events, will leave the organization.
Archer said all of NCET’s programs are expected to continue. Those programs, he said, are self-sustaining through ticket sales, sponsorships, memberships, donations and the like.
Some $200,000 a year in federal grants, however, covered NCET’s overhead, representing about 50% of its funding. As those dollars dry up, Archer is assembling a cadre of volunteers to conduct events; oversee membership, sponsorships, grants and other financial operations; and work on marketing and communications.
— Page 1, by NNBW staff
Maker of medical implants creating a low-cost niche
The Orthopaedic Implant Company (OIC) wants to upset a longstanding paradigm in healthcare, convincing orthopedic surgeons and hospitals to embrace a new business model.
Itai Nemovicher, president of the Reno-based startup, thinks the financial and ethical climates have aligned favorably to create big changes in healthcare that will benefit his company. In fact, Nemovicher’s big worry at this point is keeping sales growth under control while OIC gets its feet firmly on the ground.
The company’s big idea: Manufacture and market low-cost hardware — screws and the like — for use by orthopedic surgeons. OIC looks for medical-device implants that are coming off patent protection, manufactures identical items in FDA-approved facilities, and tightly controls its marketing and overhead costs as it moves them into the market.
— Page 4, by John Seelmeyer
