The pandemic has been devastating to many local businesses, some shutting their doors for good. But it's also bringing some new opportunities as well.

"We've had some companies that are saying, we have seen good things in Northern Nevada in the past, we have an imperative to move, we're picking Northern Nevada and they've made multimillion dollar investments here," said Dan Oster, Senior Vice President of NAI Alliance. "And maybe that's the silver lining to all this, is some of that employment is going to shift from the public sector, kind of consumer activity, into more back of the house manufacturing and other types of economic activity."

There's been some diversification of the state's economy in recent years, and that's been appealing to new companies looking for places to build. Oster says if they stay the course, these new facilities will likely be designed and built to meet the new needs of an economy that's been further shaped by the current crisis.

"Those are the green shoots on the plant, they grow towards the sunshine," Oster said. "The economy will do the same thing. The newer facilities, the newer investment will go to that which people think is the highest rate of return; that will be the facilities that are most needed. There is a natural economic process that's going on here, and that's one of the reasons we are such an adaptable and productive society. We adapt better than anyone else in the world."

He says a lot of businesses are having to change the way they do business to stay afloat, and that kind of adaptation is key for long-term success.

"I think that progress is not made in a simple straight line, it's made in giant leaps forward," Oster said. "And it's often a crisis like COVID that creates the necessity to jump forward. I know it's difficult right now, but I'm very optimistic about where we're going to end up in a few weeks and months as a result of COVID. As a society, we're allowing the room for change right now, and where we end up, I believe, there will be some bad, but I believe there will be far more good."

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