Sagebrush lots: Undeveloped land in Carson

Sagebrush has endured for 140 years on a number of lots within a mile or two of the capitol.

Some properties simply sit vacant with sagebrush nearly as high as an elephant's eye. Others seek specific commercial, office or housing development.

At least 50 combined acres on some 20 lots remain undeveloped on Carson City's main streets within a mile and a half of the capitol.

Land prices, flood potential, earthquake faults, oddly shaped lots and stoplight squabbles all play a part in some patches of land eluding the developer's touch into the 21st century.

Real estate broker John Uhart represents three sagebrush lots, each surrounded by buildings. Uhart, though, has mixed feelings about building just for the sake of building.

"I was born and raised in Carson City," said Uhart, owner/broker of John Uhart Commercial Real Estate Services. "I'm in real estate but it's also nice to see some plots not developed."

Two Uhart lots sit near the east end of Long Street.

A 3.3-acre pocket of land in apartment country opposite State Street is destined for another multi-family unit. Farther east on Long, next to Carson Plaza Retirement, another 1.89-acre plot also is zoned for apartments.

"We've had offers on both of those," Uhart said.

But natural obstacles on both these Long Street properties has kept interest lukewarm. The land by State has a small earthquake fault but Uhart said that could be overcome by placing parking lots or landscaping on the fault.

The property near Lompa Lane is prone to flooding in the southeast corner, but Uhart said flood control work for the nearby Highway 395 bypass project will eliminate the flood threat.

In the meantime, the "for sale" signs will stay up at both Long properties.

"I don't think either of the owners is really in a rush," Uhart said.

The 1.6-acre triangle as Roop Street curves around Lone Mountain Cemetery will see action sooner.

Coming months should see two one-story office buildings that will house professional or medical offices, said Bruce Robertson, a Realtor at Gold Dust Commercial Associates.

One building will offer 9,633 square feet of office space and the other will have 7,683 square feet. Suites can range from 1,023 square feet to the full square footage of either building.

The property's owner acquired the former city land five years ago but he built other projects before turning to what is being called Point Office Complex.

"It's a timing issue, I think," Robertson said. "Like around Kmart, the timing is now."

Two more commercial buildings with 20,000-square-feet are envisioned for the 2.94-acre South Carson Street property that already has two similar sized buildings with automotive businesses.

The lot just north of the Poker Palace has about 1 acre of sagebrush that broker Gary Cook thinks will see a buyer soon.

"I've had quite a few offers on it and I have a good offer now," said Cook, who put the lot between Carson and Curry streets on the market about six months ago.

The existing buildings with Paul's Precision Detail, Valley Glass, Carson Motor Supply, Carson Auto Body and Dwight's Automotive sit on the middle of the lot. New buildings could go on either the Curry or Carson sides.

Cook also represents two neighboring plots on the hill side of South Curry Street behind the Shell station. The 2.8-acre lot is zoned for retail commercial and the 2.6-acre lot is zoned for apartments.

These are the last vacant lots of a former single property. The rest of the property has offices for the Nevada Highway Patrol, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development and other state departments plus a Dulux Paints store.

Cook believes the undeveloped commercial lot will see a building to join all the offices to the north.

"I get calls all the time on that," Cook said. "It's just a matter of what they want to do and the price."

The apartment land may remain natural a while longer.

"The apartment piece is tough to see because it's on the side of a hill," Cook said.

John Serpa Jr. and partners acquired 2.425 acres across from Mills Park in October 1995. The former AmeriGas property becomes part of about 20 acres of undeveloped Serpa holdings behind and to the east.

John Serpa Sr. said a real estate office will open in the AmeriGas building but no firm plans are in place for the remainder of the acreage, where an improvised BMX bike track was demolished a few months ago.

"There are several proposals," Serpa Sr. said.

Sierra Pacific Power has about 6 to 7 sagebrush acres due east of its office on Long Street. The office and parking lot sit on about 10 acres.

Sagebrush, however, will stay on the eastern part in the near future.

"Right now we're just holding on to it," Sierra Pacific spokesman Karl Walquist said. "We have no plans for it at this time."

Two South Carson Street empty lots have had substantial projects pending for a couple years, yet the sagebrush still stands tall south of Poker Palace and south of Craft Market.

The plot next neighboring Craft Market awaits a $10 million shopping center, but Conkey Real Estate Development of Sacramento awaits a Sonoma Street extension west to Curry Street and a stoplight at Carson Street.

Between Wells Fargo Bank and Poker Palace, Specialty Holding Inc. of Las Vegas submitted plans in October 1998 but has yet to start construction on a 200-room Specialty Suites.

Custom Office Supply is currently building a new store in the middle lot of three undeveloped lots on North Carson Street, south of Bank of the West (formerly SierraWest Bank).

Before the stationery store broke ground in April, only sagebrush and maybe a tree or two stood on 7 acres between the bank and the long-closed Chinese restaurant next to Valley Chevrolet. Custom Office Supply expects to open at its new 17,500-square-foot store in July.

A medical office is planned for the lot to the right of the office supply store.

A few blocks farther north, between SuperKmart and Glen Eagles, Albertsons plans to build its third Carson City store this summer on 6.5 acres of sagebrush that will soon get harvested.

A flurry of construction claimed dozens of acres of sagebrush in the Roop-Hot Springs-College Parkway in the past three years with the 176-unit Parkway Manor the current project in construction.

College Park Village duplexes, the Villa Basque Deli, Dialysis Clinic and Maytan Music have all gone up on sagebrush land in the past three years.

The remaining untouched plot at Hot Springs and Roop in 1994 became part of the joint Northridge/Mountain Park developments owned by Landmark Homes and Millard/Ferguson.

These homebuilders have built more than 1,000 homes off Northridge Drive (550 for Millard, 472 for Northridge) in those six years. Home building east of Roop has kept this land west of Roop untouched.

"We've had too many things to do," said Ron Kipp, Landmark's project developer. "No real interest has been shown. The biggest problem is the oddball shape of the intersection."

Kipp said Landmark intends to buy out Millard on the 1.5- and 2.4-acre parcels across from the Basque Deli, on the west side of Roop.

Conceptual plans drawn up in August 1998 call for a convenience store/service station for the smaller lot at Roop and Hot Springs. Landmark envisions a climate-controlled self-storage complex for the lot immediately to the south.

"There are lots of storage units but there are no climate-controlled storage units in Carson City," Kipp said. "What ends up in these usually are collected volumes of paperwork. It's better to store them in units that don't broil in summer and freeze in winter."