1. The Next Las Vegas Boom Robert Lang, UNLV Director Brookings Mountain West

2. The Great Recession—Where are We Now?

3. U.S. Employment

4. U.S. GDP by Type

5. U.S. Household Net Worth

6. U.S Retail Sales

7. Where is Commercial Real Estate?

8. Changes in Retail Vacancies Improving MarketsMarkets with highest increase in vacancy Region3Q09-3Q08Region3Q09-3Q08 Memphis, TNFrom 10% to 8.9%Phoenix, AZFrom 8.4% to 11.4% Providence, RIFrom 7.3% to 6.6%SW FloridaFrom 5.7% to 8.5% Long Island, NYFrom 5.1% to 4.6%Sacramento, CAFrom 7.6% to 10.4% New York, NYFrom 3.0% to 2.5%Tucson, AZFrom 5.5% to 8.2% Westchester, NYFrom 7.2% to 6.7%Inland Empire, CAFrom 6.3% to 9.0% Tulsa, OKFrom 7.8% to 7.6%Orlando, FLFrom 5.7% to 8.3%

9. Changes in Retail Rents: 3Q08-3Q09 Improving MarketsDown Markets RegionRent (psf)UpRegionRent (psf) Down San Antonio, TX$15.474.4%Memphis, TN$10.9818.1% Cincinnati, OH$12.53 2.9%Toledo, OH$8.0417.8% Tulsa, OK$10.09 1.8%East Bay/Oakland$24.8813.8% San Francisco, CA$31.98 1.5%Seattle/Puget Sound$19.9611.8% Madison, WI$13.38 1.2%Southwest FL$17.3110.2% Raleigh/Durham$16.39 1.3%Las Vegas, NV$22.559.9% Dallas/Ft Worth$14.51 0.9%Detroit, MI$12.729.6% Birmingham, AL$10.10 0.9%Tucson, AZ$18.249.5% West Michigan$10.68 0.8%Miami-Dade, FL$25.839.3% Columbus, OH$12.15 0.4% Philadelphia, PA$15.12 0.2%

10. U.S. Store Closings

11. U.S. Office Vacancy Rates

12. Office Supply and Vacancy Trends

13. U.S. Office Rents

14. Office Market—Absorption and Completions

15. Overall Performance of Top 100 Metro Areas During Recession

16. Top 20 Best and Worst Metro Areas

17. Las Vegas in the Southwestern Megaregion

18. The 2008 Brookings Report Identified Five Megapolitans in the Intermountain West

19. Lang and Nelson, 2010 Book

20. Lang/Nelson Definition of Las Vegas Mega

21. Population Change, 1970-1940 Southwest Megapolitans (Thousands) GrowthPercent Megapolitan Area19702000201020252040'70-'40Change So Cal11,97620,23722,63526,38630,27318,297153% Las Vegas3231,6742,4073,4164,4424,1191275% Sun Corridor1,4474,2975,6997,4479,2337,786538% Total13,74626,20830,74137,24943,94830,202220% Source: Woods & Poole, 2009

22. Las Vegas—The Bridge to Somewhere

23. Official 2009 High Seed Rail Map

24. European 2009 High Speed Rail

25. Megapolitan vs. Megaregion Rail  Megapolitans are mostly continuous urban corridors and are best served by “Regional High- Speed Rail”  Megaregions are proximate but discrete urban complexes that need “Express High-Speed Rail” to bridge the gaps between multiple megapolitan areas

26. Megapolitan vs. Megaregion HSR  In Megapolitans—Trains mostly compete with autos and should make multiple stops at key centers along the route  In Megaregions—Trains mostly compete with short-haul air service and should make very few stops in order to maintain maximum speed

27. California/Mountain West HSR  Megapolitans  Front Range = Regional HSR  Sun Corridor = Regional HSR  Wasatch Front = Regional HSR  Megaregions  So Cal to Las Vegas = Express HSR  So Cal to Nor Cal = Express HSR  So Cal to Sun Corridor = Express HSR

28. Linking the Southwest Megaregion

29. Economic Diversification—The Next Frontier

30. Overlying on Growth & Tourism Share of metro private sector GDP from food, drinking, leisure, hospitality, construction, and real estate

31. We Used to Count on Migrants

32. County Population Change, 2000-2008

33. Las Vegas Has a Future in Alternative Energy Source: State of Utah; PNM

34. But the Real Boom Will Come from Better Leveraging the Region’s World City Assets

35. Need to be Less Tuscan, More Milan

36. How About an Ikea to Start?

37. From the Brookings Press