Carson City supervisors approve Eagle Station condo plan

A plan for 36 condominiums to be built on the vacant lot behind Mervyn's was approved Thursday by the Carson City Board of Supervisors.

"This is a close one," Supervisor Richard Staub said. "Future board members may wonder if we needed our heads examined."

Supervisors said previously they would prefer the site be used for a commercial purpose because a business there could produce much-needed tax revenue.

Not much commercial space remains available for development around the city, supervisors said.

The 3.66-acre site at 250 Eagle Station Lane "has sat vacant for 20 years," said Dennis Smith, Western Engineering and Surveying Services, speaking for the developers.

Commercially, the site just hasn't seemed "viable." Past plans for uses such as a senior care facility didn't come to fruition, he said.

The developers involved with this latest plan acquired the site this fall.

Next to the site is Southwest Gas Corp., which voiced no objections to condominiums being built nearby. Glenbrook Co., an owner of neighboring Southgate Shopping Center, and J.C. Penney Co. Inc., expressed opposition to the plan.

Another issue for the supervisors is how the area could change, especially if noisier businesses replace the retailers that dominate the area now, such as Mervyn's, J.C. Penney and Raley's. They wonder whether the buyers of these condominiums will regret their purchases when the businesses around them change.

Smith reassured them it would not be a problem.

"This is the type of product people are looking for," Smith said. "They understand the noise implications."

These properties tend to attract singles and couples without school-age children, often seniors, who want smaller places to live without big yards to maintain but who don't want to live in mobile homes, said Susan Warren, a real estate specialist of Century 21 in Minden.

Price for one of the two-bedroom condominiums is expected to be just above $300,000, Warren said.

The matter, originally scheduled for Jan. 5, was postponed because Mayor Marv Teixeira wasn't there to cast a vote. Planning commissioners and city staff recommended the project be approved, though staff characterized the concept as "challenging" but potentially "rewarding."

Supervisor Shelly Aldean abstained from casting a vote. She is president of Glenbrook Co.

-- Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber @nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.