River Cities Business Journal: Cover Story

Editing the River Cities Business Journal is a fascinating task. Each month I encounter new and interesting people and businesses.

In this issue I found Supervisor Tom Sockwell's column (Supervisor lauds county's growth, Page 16) particularly interesting.

Our theme this month is commercial construction and growth and his comments particularly fitting.

But, what I found by researching the theme is even more interesting.

Although there is much lamenting being done about the slowed housing market, the commercial construction industry, and with it the business community, is booming.

If you travel very much in the county it's obvious that there is a lot of commercial growth.

It is difficult to drive more than a couple miles in Kingman, Bullhead City, Mohave Valley or Lake Havasu City and not see signs of commercial construction.

It isn't just the commercial building that is going strong, but business space is in high demand.

In this issue in the story on Colorado Place (Offices filling fast, Page 1)in Bullhead City there will be seven new tenants this month alone with at least two more announcing their intent to move in shortly.

In Kingman in the former Albertsons/Wal-Mart center businesses have filled the vacancies relatively quickly.

Corral West Ranchwear opened May 17 and Ross Dress for Less announced it will move into the former Albertsons building. Big!Lots also opened in the mall recently as well. That brings the number of businesses in the strip to 11 with only one empty storefront left.

In Mohave Valley the Hoover Professional Plaza at El Rio recently opened and is filling up quickly.

In truth, this is as it should be.

The county experienced a remarkable boom in housing for a couple years. It also experienced some remarkable population growth.

This has to balance out.

Now there is a need for business services to take care of the needs of the thousands of new county residents.

On this swing of the pendulum what we're getting is jobs. What the county needs more than anything else right now.

With the unemployment rate hovering around 4.3 percent for years in the county, what is need most is new opportunities for employees and employers.

When the pendulum swings back to a strong housing market there will be jobs for the new residents.

It will be nice to see the housing Realtors happy again when that happens....

Ric Swats is the Editor of the Journal. He may be reached at (928) 704-6245 or rcbj@npgcable.com