The $2.1 million sale of land designated for a shopping center is the latest indication that real estate activity is picking up along the route of the Carson City bypass.
The 6.58-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Goni Road and East College Parkway was purchased by Connemara LLC of Carson City, said Bruce Robertson of Sperry Van Ness/Gold Dust Commercial Associates.He represented both the buyer as well as the seller,North Pointe LLC.
Robertson said the property in northern Carson City is planned for a 75,000-square-foot development that combines office and retail space mostly financial companies with supporting uses.
While no leases are in place, Robertson said businesses that are targeted for North Pointe Center include banks, mortgage companies, insurers, accountants, attorneys and residential real estate companies.
Supporting retailers might include a dry cleaner and a coffee shop.
"Nothing like this has been done in Carson City," he said.
Occupancy of the center is scheduled for the autumn of 2005.
Development of North Pointe Center is among several projects spurred by construction of the Carson City bypass.
The first 3.8- mile segment of the bypass, which skirts the northeast neighborhoods of Carson City, is scheduled for completion by Utah's Ames Construction in 2006.
The largest of projects planned near the new bypass is a Walmart store,with neighboring retail, soon to begin construction at College Parkway and Hot Springs Road, said Joe McCarthy, the Carson City economic development and redevelopment manager.
But McCarthy said developers are studying a number of mid-sized retail and office projects in the area.
"We're going to see a lot of 21st century design in that area," the city official said.
That design is likely to include blending of office and retail projects.
That's a counterweight, he said, to the bigbox retailers who located in recent years along Highway 395 at the south edge of Carson City and just outside the city in Douglas County.
McCarthy said financial services companies may be among the leaders in leasing space in northeast Carson City.
The financial industry, he says, is becoming a larger piece of the city's economy, partly because Carson City's diversified mix of manufacturing and government employment keeps its economy on an even keel.
The northern portions of Carson City are getting a boost, too, from construction of Carson-Tahoe Regional Medical Center and the nearby medical offices and retail properties that will support the major hospital, McCarthy said.
Robertson said developers are scurrying to get themselves in position when the bypass is completed.
"There's a tremendous amount of activity there," he said.
