The Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRI) is a 107,000-acre office park located south of Reno, Nevada. It’s home to ~130 companies, including Tesla’s $5B Gigafactory and fulfillment centers for Amazon, Walmart, and PetSmart.
A recent New York Times article highlights the tension between companies’ attempts to lure employees to TRI with frolicking wild horses — a claim Musk famously tweeted in 2018 — and the reality of… well, wild horses.
Yeah, horses… because office perks are changing
Free lunches, nap rooms, and yoga classes are out. Access to nature, sustainability, and wellbeing are in. Enter 1k Nevada mustangs.
In the case of TRI, letting horses roam its massive, corporate grounds has proven challenging.
The largest tenant, Blockchains, a block chain development company, spends ~$300k a year supporting the horses with volunteers and water tanks.
But caregivers remain strapped for resources, fielding emergency calls for horses needing rescue within the park or managing horse/car accidents as the park’s footprint has expanded.
And TRI is expected to grow
Currently, just 15% of the office park is occupied, but the park’s manager expects that number to double in the next 5 years.
Google purchased 1.2k acres to build a massive $1.2B data center, lured by the area’s tax incentives.
Plus, there’s a brewing ‘Wild Wild Country’ situation…
… between Blockchain’s CEO Jeffrey Berns and Storey County, where TRI is located. Story goes: Berns wanted to build an experimental city within TRI by seceding from Storey. He was just denied.
This likely won’t be the last time you hear about these parts.
