The Apex Industrial Park near Interstate 15 and Highway 93, north of Las Vegas is shown on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016.
Monday, Nov. 11, 2019 | 9 p.m.
Leaders in North Las Vegas hope a planned liquid hydrogen plant will attract more development to the city's Apex Industrial Park.
Air Liquide, a French industrial gas company, has its sights on the 18,000-acre park to build a $150 million production plant.
Construction is expected to start early next year, city officials said. The company did not say how many people would be employed to build or operate the plant.
North Las Vegas started working with Air Liquide on the deal six months ago and finalized it in October.
"This is a significant milestone for the development of Apex Industrial Park," North Las Vegas City Manager Ryann Juden said.
"Apex has been recognized as a valuable location for the implementation of a new advanced production facility. Innovative companies like Air Liquide continue to put Apex on the map," Juden said.
The plant will help the company expand its distribution network in the Southwest, Air Liquide spokeswoman Cassandra Mauel said.
While most of the liquid hydrogen — used mainly to power vehicles — will go to customers in California, Nevada was a more attractive location for the production plant, Mauel said.
"Nevada offers local incentives, a competitive permitting process and competitive utilities, and the North Las Vegas site fits all of the characteristics that we were looking for," Mauel said.
City spokesman Patrick Walker said bringing the company to North Las Vegas is part of a wider effort to attract development. "We really have been working hard to recruit green companies like these," he said. "We are open for business."
The city has made strides in the last two years on infrastructure to make Apex more feasible for companies like Air Liquide. Last summer, the city held a ground-breaking ceremony for a 12-mile surface water pipeline that should be finished next year.
"More new money will be made here in the next 20 years than anywhere else in the region, and Air Liquide will be a key part of that," North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee said.
