This $25M project will develop, conserve water at Apex in North Las Vegas

For years, the Apex Industrial Park map in North Las Vegas City Manager Ryann Juden’s bathroom drove his wife crazy. So he moved it to the closet, and soon he’ll take it down for good.

It took more than a decade of looking at his bathroom wall to solve that one critical question with which any development has to reconcile in Nevada: What about water?

The Apex Industrial Park project has long been heralded as one that would vastly change the local job market, attracting industries from across the world and providing opportunities for Southern Nevadans outside of hospitality and tourism. Working on it has led Juden into meetings with delegations from China and Mexico, persuading them to establish facilities there.

“We were very creative,” he said. “It’s one of the final things on that initial list the mayor and council set out to do to restore North Las Vegas to be the economic engine that we know it can be. And it has definitely turned into that.”

On Tuesday, city officials and the Southern Nevada Water Authority broke ground on a 14,000-foot, $25 million water line and wastewater system that will ensure all indoor water used at the complex is recycled and sent back to Lake Mead.

The water authority expects to complete the construction by September, General Manager John Entsminger told the crowd of about 50.

Apex has been in the works since the early 1990s, when local leaders set out to establish a new economic center after the 1988 PEPCON factory explosion in Henderson. The site’s future also became more complicated after North Las Vegas was on the verge of state takeover in 2013 following financial troubles.

Once all of the 7,000 acres of developable space is claimed, North Las Vegas estimates it will create 73,000 new jobs. So far, big names like Kroger and Crocs have set up facilities in the park off U.S. Highway 93.

“No longer is North Las Vegas a bedroom community,” former Mayor John Lee said at the groundbreaking. “More money will be made in North Las Vegas in the next 10 to 20 years than anywhere else in this valley.”

Scott Black, North Las Vegas’ mayor pro tempore and representative on the water authority board, said he hears from residents all the time who don’t understand that growth can be sustainable.

The industrial park is an example of how the valley can expand without straining limited water resources, he said.

“I get this question very often: ‘How can we continue to build homes and buildings in an area that’s short on water?’” Black said. “I’d like to rephrase that question. It’s: ‘Can we, as North Las Vegas or as a region, develop and conserve water at the same time?’ That answer is absolutely yes.”

Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.