Bill O'Driscoll

bodriscoll@rgj.com

It will be a few years before Tesla Motors' massive – as in five million square feet – battery gigafactory is visible in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center 17 miles east of Sparks.

But the coming changes to the landscape of daily life in greater Reno-Sparks are already taking shape in the minds of those awaiting what TRIC partner Lance Gilman says will be a "new Comstock Lode" for the region.

Many details are yet to come. But from roads to planes, housing, shopping and schools, the footprint from the tens of thousands of employees at the gigafactory and the ancillary businesses it will spawn will surely be huge.

The site

The factory itself will easily be the biggest building in the 106,000-acre Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center when it's done and operating, as planned, in 2017. A dirt pad is already in place.

Expect as many as 4,000 workers – ideally locals – in on the construction, said TRIC developer Roger Norman. That will mean lots of trucks moving steel and other materials that will arrive either from the nearby Union Pacific Railroad mainline or on surface roads via Interstate 80.

To that end, getting into and out of the site is, at present, a one-way proposition – from the north via USA Parkway.

But that will change – and fast, TRIC officials say.

South from the gigafactory site, USA Parkway's still-unbuilt 16 miles to U.S. Highway 50 in Silver Springs will be "fast-tracked" to completion in as soon as two years, they said, opening up access to Lyon County and the Dayton Valley and to Carson City beyond.

"Instead of an hour-plus trip getting employees to their jobs, it suddenly becomes as little as 12, 13 minutes," Norman said.

Housing boom ahead?

Well before Thursday's confirmation of the gigafactory after months of rumors and speculation, builders were knocking on the opportunity door, officials say.

"I've had builders at the table for three weeks. They're looking at lots in Fernley and buying property in Silver Springs," said Gilman.

Norman said the gigafactory's influence on housing could reach into downtown Reno, where condominium high-rises have become more popular with the area's post-recession housing recovery.

Others agreed.

"The big picture is great for Reno and Northern Nevada. It will absolutely stimulate growth," said AndrooAllen, interim executive director of the Builders Association of Northern Nevada, citing the North Valleys and areas of Sparks for in-demand low- to mid-level new homes.

"There are several builders looking at parcels now," Allen said on Friday, a day after the Tesla announcement. "There's a lot more momentum today than there was yesterday. I've had three conversations just today with builders. The trickle-down has already started."

Brian Bonnenfant, project manager at the Center for Regional Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, said he doesn't see a housing shortage ahead.

"We still have over 20,000 approved and unbuilt single-family units on the book," he said of new homes left unbuilt because of the recession. "Those builders are ready to jump. Finished lots are waiting to go. This (Tesla) will definitely excite builders."

The Reno-Sparks area's existing-home market has rebounded from a recession-low median sales price of $135,000 in January 2012 to the $250,000 range in July, according to the Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors.

More recently, rising inventories have helped slow the median price increase, RSAR President Mark Ashworth said, helping temper the market and keep prices affordable for first-time home buyers.

"Before Tesla, we were looking to return to a more historical slowdown," he said. "Now with Tesla, that could change. But it's too soon to make any projections. Long term, we anticipate an increase in prices with demand."

But he added, "From the 30,000-foot level, it's hard to see anything negative with (the gigafactory's impact) except for price rises."

Tesla and schools

As the housing pattern for the expected influx of employees unfolds, the gigafactory's geographical impact on education will become clearer.

Until then, at least in Washoe County, "I'm optimistic now that with Tesla, the Legislature and governor will understand the implications on education," said Pedro Martinez, superindendent of the Washoe County School District.

"There will be challenges on the capital side, but I'm confident there will be solutions," he said of funding for and accommodating new students.

But Martinez also sees an advantage for Washoe's K-12 students with Tesla's gigafactory.

"We're pushing so heavily on graduating more children, how we can keep them in the community," he said, and Tesla's presence in advancing battery technology could help keep graduates in the area with its quality jobs.

"We can tell them there is great opportunity. These jobs will be waiting," he said.

Fuller planes in the future?

Given Tesla Motors' corporate base in Palo Alto south of San Francisco, Reno-Tahoe International Airport officials hope the gigafactory will boost demand for more service linking Reno and the Bay Area.

"It will become a real high priority for us. The community still clamors for Oakland," airport spokesman Brian Kulpin said of Reno-Oakland flights discontinued last year by Southwest Airlines. "That (gigafactory) moves it back to the front burner for us."

He added, "We're preparing a mailer now to airlines and UAVs (drone businesses) across the world announcing Tesla's coming here, and we look forward to talking with them. We intend to capitalize on it any way we can."

Additionally, Kulpin said the gigafactory will boost the Reno airport's already-bustling cargo business, which last year grew by 4.5 percent.

"We don't know yet what products Tesla could ship, but we know of the Japan-Panasonic link with the battery production," he said. "We have a 24-hour tower, landing lights. You need a lot of runway and concrete. We already have that in place."

Commercial impacts

From the start of construction on, people converging on TRIC will need services – food, gasoline, supplies.

Gilman envisions a commercial corridor developing along Interstate 80 to the west of the USA Parkway interchange, catching the potential thousands of vehicles using that route each day.

Within the business park now are a couple of fast-food options and a fueling stop.

"There's no real restaurant yet. There will have to be a bigger food source than what we have," Norman said.

To the west in Reno-Sparks, the Truckee Meadows' commercial real estate market could benefit from the gigafactory, Bonnenfant said.

"It will be good for vacancies, for the empty buildings," he said.

The bottom line, says UNR economist Mark Pingle, is the demands of the thousands of gigafactory and other new employees will help bolster the overall economy.

"What is great about a new large business like Tesla locating to our area is that most of the new employment will produce products (batteries) that will be exported," Pingle said in an email to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

"Such a new business has a greater multiplier effect than something like a new restaurant which serves the local area," he said. "The revenue received by a new restaurant is (taking) revenue away from existing restaurants in the area, while the revenue received by an exporting business is not competing with local companies (but rather is competing with companies outside the area)."

"This," he said of Tesla, "is a fine feather in our cap."