The extension of Nevada Pacific Parkway, master planning of the North Fernley project and the
development of the Center of Excellence are currently the major areas of focus for Mark IV
Capital, representatives of the company told members of the Fernley Chamber of Commerce at
its quarterly luncheon on Aug. 6.
Mark IV Capital Vice President of Entitlements Scott Barnes told the crowd of about 70 people
at the meeting, held at the Boys & Girls Club Teen Center, that master planning for the North
Fernley area is just getting underway. He said the company is working with the University of
Nevada, Reno, and Western Nevada College to bring workforce development through the Center
of Excellence, and that construction on Nevada Pacific Parkway will begin in 2026.
Barnes said the Nevada Pacific Parkway project will include reconstructing the entire stretch of
the existing road from Interstate 80 to its current dead end just south of Newlands Drive, in
addition to the extension of the road to connect with U.S. 50. He said Mark IV has to purchase
some right-of-way along the existing road in order to straighten it.
“It meanders a little bit, it changes width and it does a bunch of other things,” he said. “We
expect to be under construction on that in 2026 and we want to have that done right around the
end of 2027 or first part of 2028 because a lot of our users are asking about that connection.”
In addition to the 2,600 acres it owns in the Victory Logistics District south of I-80, Barnes said
the company owns another 1,600-plus acres north of I-80. He said planning for the North Area
project is just beginning, but it includes a combination of residential, commercial, institutional
and other uses, including new schools and a hospital.
“We’re planning this far in the future, so it’s going to change that area of Fernley,” Barnes said.
“When we kick that off in September, we’re going to have a number of public meetings because
we’re going to involve the public in the planning of this.”
Barnes said the questions they get from prospective buyers or tenants are where the workforce
will come from and where it will live.
To answer the first half of that question, he said the Center of Excellence has become a major
area of focus.
“What we do know from a lot of the studies, more than 65 percent of the working population in
Fernley leaves Fernley every day and then comes back,” he said. “We recognize, through our
conversations with our users, we may not have the training level that they need. So, we’re
bringing in the educational systems to provide training.”
Barnes said Mark IV will be providing space for free for the first few years to get the Center of
Excellence up and running. He said programs are being developed with UNR and WNC to
provide the specific types of training that companies coming to the industrial park need.
He said the company partners with SkillUp in other states to provide vocational and technical
training, but hasn’t yet gotten to that point with the Victory project.
To date, Mark IV has spent about $400 million on the Victory Logistics District, and Jackson
Grout, the company’s vice president of asset management, said the ultimate economic impact
will be in the billions.
“And that’s obviously a pretty detailed calculation that isn’t just looking at straight cash in and
out. It’s looking at the overall impact of job creation and job retention,” he said.
Grout said that doesn’t include North Fernley.
“That’s something that we haven’t even really begun running the numbers on, but overall I’d say
it should have a major shift in the economic landscape,” he said.
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