MAY 26 2022 / ISSUE NO. 75 / ARCHIVE

This Week's Top Stories

Athletics Release First Renderings of Club's Proposed New Ballpark in Las Vegas

Today, the Athletics released its first renderings of the Club’s proposed new ballpark at the 9-acre Tropicana site located on the Las Vegas Strip. The ballpark will feature a partially retractable roof and a fan capacity of 30,000. Construction is estimated at $1.5 billion and will crate more than 14,000 construction jobs.

On May 24th, Governor Joe Lombardo announced a tentative agreement between his office, the A’s organization, Treasurer Zach Conine, and Clark County officials to forward a bill for consideration by the Nevada Legislature that would bring the A’s to Las Vegas. As a part of the proposed legislation, the public-private partnership includes public financing constituting no more than $380 million, which is less than 25 percent of the total $1.5 billion construction cost.

Read More

Three Square Food Bank Names Beth Martino as President and CEO

Three Square Food Bank announced Beth Martino as its president and CEO. Her official first day is June 5th.

Martino has over 20 years of leadership experience in food bank, public affairs, and healthcare sectors. Prior to Three Square, Martino was the senior vice president of public affairs for the American Health Care Association, the nation’s largest association representing nursing homes and assisted living communities.

Read More

PNC Chief Economist Gus Faucher: Industrial Production Rebounds in April, Including Big Increase in Manufacturing. But Sector Is Flat

This article is written by PNC Chief Economist Gus Faucher.

• Industrial production rose 0.5% in April, after no growth in the two previous months.
• Output is basically flat over the past year.
• Higher interest rates will be a drag on the industrial sector this year, with a recession leading to a decline in output in the second half of 2023. Output should start to recover in 2024.

Read More

Nevada Receives $4.5 Million to Cleanup Brownfield Sites

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding over $4.5 million to Nevada to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites that are abandoned or underutilized due to pollution from industrial use.

In Southern Nevada, City of Las Vegas will receive $2,000,000 to clean up Symphony Park, the largest brownfield site in Las Vegas. Remediation will position the site for redevelopment into a cultural center. And City of North Las Vegas will receive $498,750 to conduct environmental site assessments in Downtown North Las Vegas, focusing on former gas stations, auto shops, and sites with chemical contamination.

Read More

Q&A: Cristina Reding, Founder of Aroma Retail and Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 200

For this year's Small Business Month in May, we decided to feature Cristina Reding, who is the founder of Aroma Retail and recently named to Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 200.

Cristina Reding is the owner and CFO of Aroma Retail, which provides environmental scenting solutions for homes and businesses, including pure grade fragrance oils used by world-class resorts. Recently named to Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 200, Reding founded Aroma Retail in her kitchen in 2017 and has grown the business to more than $5 million in annual revenue and 25 employees.

Read More

Please share this newsletter, subscribe here and follow us on social media. Thank you so much!

About Us

Vegas Business Digest is a forward-thinking, local digital media publication that focuses on Las Vegas business news and community. #HomeMeansNevada

To submit press releases and articles: press@vegasbusinessdigest.com

Subscribe to our email newsletter and follow us on social media.

Today, the Athletics released its first renderings of the Club’s proposed new ballpark at the 9-acre Tropicana site located on the Las Vegas Strip. The ballpark will feature a partially retractable roof and a fan capacity of 30,000. Construction is estimated at $1.5 billion and will crate more than 14,000 construction jobs.

On May 24th, Governor Joe Lombardo announced a tentative agreement between his office, the A’s organization, Treasurer Zach Conine, and Clark County officials to forward a bill for consideration by the Nevada Legislature that would bring the A’s to Las Vegas. As a part of the proposed legislation, the public-private partnership includes public financing constituting no more than $380 million, which is less than 25 percent of the total $1.5 billion construction cost.

“This agreement follows months of negotiations between the state, the county, and the A’s, and I believe it gives us a tremendous opportunity to continue building on the professional sports infrastructure of southern Nevada,” said Governor Joe Lombardo. “Las Vegas is clearly a sports town, and Major League Baseball should be a part of it.”

The tentative agreement is being drafted into legislation that will be introduced in the Nevada Legislature in the coming days to be publicly debated and considered.

“From the minute we stepped onto the Tropicana site nearly two years ago, it was immediately obvious what a fantastic fit it would be for a new A’s ballpark in Las Vegas,” said A’s director of design and owner of Schrock KC Architecture, Brad Schrock.

A's President Dave Kaval said, “We are excited to share our vision for the A’s potential new home. As our first conceptual design, we will continue to refine the look and feel of the ballpark over the next year. We hope our project goes beyond a traditional ballpark and serves as a catalyst for community development and engagement. It follows in the footsteps and success of the professional sports teams that come before us, in creating union jobs, stimulating economic growth, and fostering investments in the community."

Subscribe to our email newsletter and follow us on social media.

Three Square Food Bank announced Beth Martino as its president and CEO. Her official first day is June 5th.

Martino has over 20 years of leadership experience in food bank, public affairs, and healthcare sectors. Prior to Three Square, Martino was the senior vice president of public affairs for the American Health Care Association, the nation’s largest association representing nursing homes and assisted living communities. While there, she land her team produced an Emmy Award-winning documentary highlighting the effect of the pandemic on these communities.  She also has served as president and CEO of the Maryland Food Bank; as associate commissioner for external affairs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; and director of communications and press secretary for Kansas Governors Mark Parkinson and Kathleen Sebelius.

Born and raised in Kansas, Martino has a bachelor’s degree from Washburn University in political science and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas.

“Having lived in Southern Nevada for the past seven years, I’ve witnessed Three Square’s direct impact in the community, as well as the reach and support it has from so many wonderful philanthropic and professional partnerships,” Martino said. “I look forward to working with the team to build upon the stellar work the organization has embraced as we set our sights on strategic planning to determine ‘what’s next’ for this well-respected and essential community resource.”

U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding over $4.5 million to Nevada to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites that are abandoned or underutilized due to pollution from industrial use. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these sites can help communities access new land for economic development and increase their local tax base. The funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was signed into law by President Joe Biden in November 2021.

Oftentimes, brownfield sites lack the resources needed to initiate cleanup and redevelopment projects on polluted or contaminated land. Through EPA’s Brownfields Program, Nevada will receive funding for the following sites:

• $2,000,000 for the City of Las Vegas: This grant will be used to clean up Symphony Park, the largest brownfield site in Las Vegas. Remediation will position the site for redevelopment into a cultural center.
• $1,517,000 for Mineral County: This grant will clean the Babbitt Housing Area, a site originally built to house Naval Ammunition Depot workers and their families.
• $498,750 for the City of North Las Vegas: This grant will be used to conduct environmental site assessments in Downtown North Las Vegas, focusing on former gas stations, auto shops, and sites with chemical contamination.
• $500,000 for the Northern Nevada Development Authority: This assessment grant will support redevelopment for new housing and for industrial, commercial and public services in Northern Nevada.

Subscribe to our email newsletter and follow us on social media.

For this year's Small Business Month in May, we decided to feature Cristina Reding, who is the founder of Aroma Retail and recently named to Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 200.

Cristina Reding is the owner and CFO of Aroma Retail, which provides environmental scenting solutions for homes and businesses, including pure grade fragrance oils used by world-class resorts. Recently named to Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 200, Reding founded Aroma Retail in her kitchen in 2017 and has grown the business to more than $5 million in annual revenue and 25 employees.

From growing up in Romania and touring the world as a professional ballet dancer to climbing the ranks as vice president and corporate trainer at a bank to holding a PhD in special education where she also teaches educational methodology courses at UNLV, Cristina has continued to reinvent and thrive in a variety of industries.

1) What inspired you to start Aroma Retail?

It started with what I thought was just going to be a little side gig, completely separate from my career as a banking executive and professor at UNLV. My husband was developing custom scents used at many resorts here in Las Vegas and hotel chains across the country. He was getting frequent requests to make scented products to put in the resort gift shops. From there, we figured out how to make candles, room sprays, and reed diffusers on our kitchen counter in the evenings and started filling orders for the resorts in 2017.

I soon realized that there was a growing public demand for better scenting solutions for every home and business using pure grade fragrance oils that the resorts use. These fragrance oils are unique because they do not contain synthetic toxins or volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) like pollen that cause allergic reactions – this is why the resorts could diffuse scent in public spaces without the public’s consent. In 2018, I launched the first website where anyone could purchase pure grade fragrance oils with scent machines like the ones used at their favorite hotel, along with other scented products using that same fragrance oil. It wasn’t long after that when I realized this was a much bigger opportunity that required my full attention. Today we have 27 employees and a 13,000 square foot factory with a Smelly Bar open to the public.

2) What were the biggest challenges you faced when starting your business, and how did you overcome them?

Transitioning from my career to being able to focus on my business fulltime was scary. I am not one to do something half-heartedly, and both required a lot of time and energy. At the same time, the business was presenting opportunities that required a lot of financial investment that required personal sacrifice and daunting risk. It took a lot of strategic planning to prioritize the opportunities that yielded the quickest return with every bit of the profits going back into growing the business. Once it got to the point where I could start hiring employees, I devoted myself to making sure that those employees would always have a job. There was no turning back at that point, and soon both I and my husband were dedicated fulltime to Aroma Retail.

3) How do you stay ahead of the competition and remain relevant in the market?

Innovation with a focus on the customer is the only sustainable competitive advantage any company could have. Competitors will always be able to mimic your product if you are not constantly improving it and offering more variety.

Being responsive to customers is key. While I have a dedicated team of Customer Care Agents, they are not the only ones that answer the phone during peak time.  We have a rule that “the third ring is for you.” We also hold ourselves to a standard of shipping all orders within 24 hours. This requires constant cross training for every employee so we can have “all hands on deck” whenever and wherever needed, whether that means getting caught up on production, getting hundreds of orders out the door in a few hours, or answering customer inquiries.

4) Can you share a pivotal moment or decision that significantly impacted the success of your business?

That pivotal moment was when I was told I had to close my business for the pandemic. That is when I realized that you have to fight to defend your employees’ jobs and take care of your customers, no matter what. We leased more space so that we could spread out the work stations, and set up a drive-by sniffing system in the parking lot since customers could not come in to The Smelly Bar. It paid off better than I expected, because now I have a very loyal team of tenured employees and was able to grow my customer base exponentially by keeping our commitments.

5) What advice would you give to other aspiring female entrepreneurs who are looking to start their own businesses?

Go for it! The resources and support for women entrepreneurs are exceptional and plentiful. Join boards and organizations that can offer value and save you time.  Get certified with WBENC (Women's Business Enterprise National Council) – they are the real deal; they make sure that you are not just a name on an LLC and that you are actually running the business, but once you are a member you are able to connect with big buyers that are prioritizing diversity.

Most importantly, do not get ahead of yourself. Do not go into more debt than you could handle with your current resources, and do not give away equity in your company until you have a clearly defined strategy that can only come after doing the heavy lifting yourself. Owning a successful business that you built with your own blood, sweat and tears requires grit, but the rewards include a sense of pride that cannot be described. Be prepared to sacrifice and fight for it.

Subscribe to our email newsletter and follow us on social media.

This article is written by PNC Chief Economist Gus Faucher.

• Industrial production rose 0.5% in April, after no growth in the two previous months.
• Output is basically flat over the past year.
• Higher interest rates will be a drag on the industrial sector this year, with a recession leading to a decline in output in the second half of 2023. Output should start to recover in 2024.

Industrial production rose 0.5% in April from March, after holding flat in February and March. Industrial production was up 1.0% in January, but declined late last year, and so output is roughly equal to where it was in mid-2022.

Manufacturing output rose a solid 1.0% in April, with mining output up 0.6%. Utilities output fell 3.1% in April due to unseasonably cool weather.

On a year-ago basis overall industrial production was up a scant 0.2%, with manufacturing output down around 1%, mining output up almost 6%, and utilities output down slightly.

The capacity utilization rate rose to 79.7% in April from 79.4% in March, with the manufacturing rate rising to 78.3% from 77.6%. The capacity utilization rate is down from mid-2022; this, along with easing supply chains, has contributed to much slower goods inflation this year compared to last.

The industrial sector is stagnant. Mining output soared in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and spiking energy prices but has been flat since the fall. Manufacturing output is down from mid-2022 as high interest rates and spent-up demand for goods, after consumer goods purchases soured during the early stages of the pandemic, have been a drag. The ISM manufacturing index indicates a small contraction in that sector this year.

PNC expects a drop in industrial production, particularly in interest-rate sensitive segments like durable consumer and business investment goods, as the U.S. economy experiences a mild recession starting in the second half of this year. Production should start to turn around in the first half of 2024 as the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates in response to slowing inflation and a deteriorating labor market.

One positive in the report was a 9.3% increase in output of motor vehicles and parts in April from March, despite high interest rates, as supply-chain problems continue to recede in the industry.

About the author: Prior to joining PNC in December 2011, Faucher worked for 10 years at Moody’s Analytics, where he was a director and senior economist. Previously, he worked for six years at the U.S. Treasury Department, and taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He serves on the board of directors of The Economic Club of Pittsburgh - the local chapter of National Association of Business Economics (NABE). He is also co-chair of the Financial Roundtable of NABE. Faucher earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a B. A. in economics from Cornell University.