8 minute read
Here We Grow
Hee We Gro Mike Chernine, Brass Cap Development HERE WE GROW Vegas INC
Living LArge LV O ver a few decades, the city of Las Vegas has changed and grown in a short period of time. From the hot spots on the strip, to the renovations and scenery changes in the neighborhoods out in the suburbs of Henderson, Summerlin, and other branches of the Las Vegas Valley.
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Mike Chernine, partner at Brass Cap Development, a local industrial development frm, has seen these various shifts in the Valley not only from the perspective of a resident, but also that of an aspiring and successful businessman.
“I’ve been living in Las Vegas since 1981,” Chernine said. “I’m a real estate investor and developer, slash entrepreneur. I have several companies and one of them is called Brass Cap Development where we build industrial projects. My other company is CherCO where I just help put on other people’s projects and give them the funding that they need.”
One of Brass Cap Development’s most recent projects is called SanTico, a 2.5 acre industrial space at the intersection of South Rainbow Boulevard and West Sunset Road.
“ T h a t project is just a two-acre parcel that we bought about a year and a half ago over by Sunset and Rainbow. We just completed a 40,000 square foot building on it and put it in escrow to sell it,” Chernine said. “It’s an industrial building, but it’s in a retail location which means it’s just a higher trafc area. So we built the building, but right now I love Vegas because it’s constantly reinventing itself, there’s always excitement. Mike Chernine “
“it’s in escrow with an artist, a young famous artist - a painter. He’s going to print his prints in his warehouse and store his art.”
L o o k i n g at these kinds of higher end p r o j e c t s , it’s easy to forget that a few decades ago, Las Vegas wasn’t the constantly busy and bustling city that it is now today.
“When we moved here from Eugene, Oregon, which we had been there for one year prior, so when I got of the airplane - I mean then the airport was you walked of the airplane, out the gate, you walked like a couple hundred feet, then you walked out of the front of the airport and the parking lot was right there. I think there were probably about 280,000 people in town at the time and we lived in the outskirts over at Alta [Drive] and Rainbow [Boulevard] which is defnitely not an outskirt anymore” Chernine said.
Since the 80’s, the Las Vegas Valley has continued to thrive and produce successful businesses. This has resulted in the building of many retail and commercial centers in various neighborhoods across the city. “I live in the suburbs, I live in a master plan community, I live in a golf club community, and I live up in the mountains, so we spend a lot of time hiking up at Red Rock which is 10-15 minute drive from where I’m at,” Chernine said. “All my favorite restaurants are within one or two miles and I literally live my life within about two miles from my house. All three of my kids
25 go to school a mile and a half away. Downtown Summerlin is one minute away and it has shopping, restaurants. The 215 [interstate] is a couple hundred yards away and I can get anywhere in town. You run into the same people all the time at restaurants, stores too and it has kind of a smaller town feel where I live on the West side of town.”
Convenience is only one of the perks of living in Las Vegas. The city is moving so fast to keep up with the trends and pop culture happenings of the entire world. But, that doesn’t mean the city is exclusive to that single kind of lifestyle either.
“I love Vegas because it’s constantly reinventing itself, there’s always excitement. You can live a really lowkey, quiet life here that’s really afordable or you can always go live it up. I’ve been standing at my bathroom at three o’clock in the morning, looking out the window and looking at the lights of The Strip and going, ‘people are going crazy down there right now.’ There’s always something to do here 24 hours a day. The caliber of entertainment, food, shopping, and golfng that we have here is incredible. Plus, I just love the excitement of this town,” Chernine said.
Alongside the convenience and culture of Las Vegas, the city is also a place where various opportunities and experiences may present themselves. “When I moved here when I was 13 years old, I was planning on being a dentist in Eugene, Oregon and this kind of changed my trajectory. I was going to UNLV and I took a real estate law course and I said, ‘This is it. I get real estate,’” Chernine said. “So at the age of 19 or 20, I embarked on a real estate career that I’ve now had for 33 years. But, the growth of this town during its growth spurts has created opportunities for me in my life to travel the world, enjoy a lot of experiences in life and all of that was owed to what happened in this town, which someday people write books about.”
Las Vegas has always been a city of new opportunities and risk-taking and that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon.
“Right now, this town is thriving and it’s growing up - all the new businesses that have come here, the sports teams have changed and turned this into a big city. It’s like we’re going through a maturation period right now, we’re just evolving into something bigger, a bigger city,” Chernine said. “It’s a good place to move your business because of the tax structure - we don’t have state income tax, inventory tax, corporate tax. So, there’s a lot of benefts to having your company here, plus you don’t have natural disasters, so it’s still afordable comparatively speaking to southwest cities like Phoenix, L.A., Northern California, Salt Lake City. I think that there’s more and more demand being created here and with demand, prices get pushed up.”
Additionally, the economics of Las Vegas are stable, except in light of the recent events regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19). However, even after all the chaos dies back down, there are still big companies looking at Las Vegas from a business opportunist perspective.
“Up until 30 days ago, we were probably one of the strongest economies in the United States, I mean this town was thriving and now with the COVID-19 things are kind of tossed up in the air here for a month, maybe two months, or maybe even three months,” Chernine said. “But, I think overall, the economics and what is happening in this town is moving in the right direction. There are big companies investing in this town. You’ve got: Blackstone coming in here and paying hundreds of millions of dollars for apartment complexes when that wasn’t happening before. A lot of tech companies are moving into Southern Nevada. We’re working on building facilities for Amazon right now, so there’s a lot of interest in this town and a lot of businesses are leaving California due to the cumbersome regulations there.”
Aside from the COVID-19 pandemic and efects, if you’re thinking of moving to Las Vegas, be sure to be confdent in your knowledge of the city and its ins and outs.
“You have to fnd a very seasoned broker to guide you so that you can ramp up your knowledge of this market quickly. If you try to do it on your own or you get with the wrong person then you’re going to get bad information and you need good information,” Exodus Las Vegas Pinterest Downtown Las Vegas, 1992. Fremont & 1st Street, early 1980’s.
A view of the Las Vegas Strip back in the 1980’s.
rediscoverthe80s.com
Chernine said. “I have been burned in other markets because I have built and bought property in six or seven diferent states. I had to make sure I got with the right people when I was entering a new market.” Because of Las Vegas’ diversity, each part of the city renders diferent cultures that you’re bound to experience within the bounds of each area. “There’s so many diferent experiences that you can have in this town depending on where you live. So, really understanding where in town fts you and your family is of paramount importance when you get here,” Chernine said. “It all depends on what you want out of your experience here and making sure you start of on the right spot. Like if you want to live in the northwest in a half acre lot or in Downtown Vegas and you live in a loft and don’t use your car as much or you want to live out at Mountain’s Edge so you’re up against the mountains and far from the city lights, but you’re close to Red Rock. Geographically, there’s a lot of diferent experiences you can have here. If you like old school Vegas you can live down on East Oakey and get those old homes built in the ‘60s and they still look that way. Or, if you want to build a custom home with a bunch of billionaires you could go to The
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LV Summit.”
The diversity in Las Vegas extends outside of its population. The city also caters to practically everyone - early risers, night owls, midday risers, etc.
“This town is full of people from somewhere else, it is a true melting pot here. It’s built for people coming here and starting something new. It’s a great town for anything, there’s something for everybody here,” Chernine said.
