When Kevin Coleman was asked if he had any ideas to develop a 4.5-acre site in Minden, he didn't need to look far for an answer but the answer wasn't easy.
The hard answer reassembling parcels of property into one ownership, dusting off a 20-year-old plan came to fruition last month as work began on the $25 million Minden Village.
Coleman's firm, Net Development Co.
of Costa Mesa, Calif., wasn't enamored with the 4.5 acres near U.S.
395 just north of the Carson Valley Inn.
A better idea, Coleman thought, was a village-style development that had been proposed by a group led by Carson City homebuilder Chip Hanley.
That concept, part of a prosperity plan adopted by Minden residents in 1984, included the 4.5-acre parcel as part of an 18-acre mixed-use project.
That plan, however, hadn't gained traction.
In the meantime, pieces of the property had been sold off.
By the time Coleman came onto the scene in mid-2003, the 18 acres had been broken into six parcels with three owners.
He moved quickly to reassemble the land holdings.
At the same time, he worked with officials of Minden and Douglas County
to update the village plan that Hanley's group had proposed.
Coleman strongly praised local officials' work.
"Everybody in this town has looked at this with nothing but positive energy," he said last week.
"It's been beyond the norm."
In fact, Coleman's company scheduled a formal groundbreaking at Minden Village last week largely as an opportunity to praise local officials.
From the start, town and county staffers like what they saw from Net Development Co.
"It's essentially a really good mixeduse project," said Mimi Moss, the county's planning and economic development manager.
Minden Village includes about 92,000 square feet of commercial and office development along with a 50- home subdivision.
Coleman said the commercial development is expected to include a bank and health club.
Net Development also hopes to land a gourmet grocer for the project.
He said about half the commercial and office space was spoken for as construction began.
Building pads range from about 3,200 square feet to 8,662 square feet.
Net Development will sell the buildings as well as the underlying land to occupants.
Coleman said the first buildings are expected to be ready for occupancy by late summer.
The residential portion of the project, which will be built by Syncon Homes Hanley's company will maintain the same architectural look as the commercial and office development.
Homes in the clustered project will back onto streets, and their front doors will face one another across lawns, Coleman said.
While Minden Village marks the first time Net Development Co.
has undertaken residential work, it's built office projects specializing in medical offices across the country.
The company developed many of the offices occupied by the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.
Coleman said the company's approach remains the same no matter where it's working.
"You come to someone's town and ask them what they want," he said.
"We're just the facilitators."
