Harvey says his ownership group is covering the cost of extending the city waterline to its property, and then the city will set up a special improvement district to pay for the extension of the line to the rest of the Apex land it annexed. The utilities would run under a road that would cross federal land. The City is working to gain the approvals for the right of way.

Furthering the development advantage is the joint effort by Harvey's group and the City to obtain Foreign Trade Zone status for Harvey's property. Such a designation would allow those within the zone to import raw goods directly to the property and then add value without paying duties. After that, the product may be exported back out of the US without paying any duties at all or may enter US commerce at a reduced duty rate. It could also help casino companies, which could avoid paying duties on warehoused slot machines until they are actually sent to a casino.

"We have had very detailed conversations with the licensee of the Foreign Trade Zone as well as the management company and will be working with Harvey to make application," Majewski says. "All parties are very excited about moving forward with it; nothing is done until it's done but it appears to be a case of when, not if."

Harvey says the current conceptual plan calls for 5 million sf but the rail design is being revised to allow for an additional 1 million sf of development. As for the type of development, Harvey anticipates developing three-story office/R&D building on the land adjacent to Interstate 15 with the best Valley views and, beyond that, heavier industrial uses.

Site work is still a few months out, Harvey says, but once it begins completion of the first buildings could happen inside 18 months. That means the first building would be delivered no sooner than early 2010.

Also gearing up for development at Apex is Kapex LLC, which two years ago paid $69 million for a 3,250-acre chunk of Apex located several miles beyond City View Business Park. Plans call for a 30 million-sf of big-box warehouse and distribution buildings to be built over the next 10 years.

Kapex acquired its land from Kerr-McGee, which acquired the property in 1989 and shuttered its operations there in 2001. The face of the group is Adam Titus, who represents the ownership of more than 6,000 acres within the park.

Titus tells GlobeSt.com that one of the ownership groups he's involved with, which is developing Mountain View Industrial Park four miles beyond City View, has broken ground for its first building, a 474,000-sf cross-dock warehouse. Completion is slated for mid-2009.