Historic downtown property on market for $2 million

The historic building that housed Carson City’s first firefighters, a hardware store and the offices of the Nevada Secretary of State is for sale, and the real estate agent listing the property wants to find a buyer with a vision for downtown use.

“Here’s the deal: historic buildings are unique, and unique buildings require unique buyers. Not everyone is up to the challenge of a historic property. On other hand, there are a few folks who just love historic buildings,” said Torry Johnson of Chase International.

The building at 202 N. Carson St., is on the market, as is, for $2 million. Just over 10,000 square feet, excluding an unfinished basement, the building includes the former George Meyers Hardware store on Carson Street, the Warren Engine Company No. 1 firehouse on the corner of Musser and Curry streets and a relatively modern structure between the two. The Nevada Secretary of State has leased the building for several years but vacated at the end of August, according to Johnson.

“We spent about a month preparing it to bring it to market,” she said.

The Nevada State Historic Preservation Office traces the updated connecting structure to the 1990s. The buildings on either side, however, date back to the 1860s. The property is zoned downtown mixed-use, a zoning district Johnson said has “tremendous flexibility.” She envisions something unique for the busy and prominent corner of downtown: a community center, a church, an art gallery or some mix of office and residential.

“When you look at commercial real estate, when COVID hit, the need for big office space went away, so I’m not sure this is going to be another 10,000-square-foot office,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but the chances are small. When you think about what the Internet did to retail space, I would be very surprised to see this turned into 10,000 square feet of retail. So, what I’m really hoping is there is a creative new use for the space.”

The property does need some rehabilitative work. For example, the roof in the central portion sprung a leak this year after a wet winter and spring.

“Let me tell you how we arrived at the price,” Johnson said. “Office space on the west side, fully move-in ready, runs about $273 a square foot, so what we figured was if we price it at $2 million, that gives someone roughly $750,000 to do what they want with this building to bring it up to snuff … which is a very generous remodeling and renovation budget.”

Johnson pointed to tax credits for rehabilitation of historic structures. More information can be found at https://shpo.nv.gov/services/taxcredits or https://savingplaces.org/historic-tax-credits.

The property also resides within the Carson City Historic District.

“Any exterior changes need to be approved by the Historic Resources Commission,” Johnson said. “In addition to dealing with the city, you got an additional layer.”

But she believes the right buyer is out there.

“As I put in the marketing brochure, we’re looking for the next steward of this building … is what it boils down to,” she said, “someone who will cherish the history, preserve the history, enhance the building and basically bring the next incarnation of this property to downtown Carson City.”

George Meyers Hardware

“In the years following the discovery of gold in California, Bavarian native Aaron Fleishacker operated a store in Sacramento that provisioned gold miners,” reads a historic inventory on the building, dated 2011, from the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office. “By 1862, Fleishacker had established A. Fleishacker and Company at 202 N. Carson.”

According to state office, some historians have thought the building was constructed in 1863. Other evidence points to 1865.

“The early to mid-1860s seem plausible considering details of construction and the prominence of the firm and its location (it is not inconceivable that Fleishacker operated at first from an adobe building, later rebuilding in stone as did many Carson City merchants of the era),” reads the SHPO inventory form. “The building appears in a ca. 1871 photograph taken from the roof of the Capitol. At the time, the business was run by Jacob Tobriner, earlier Mandelbaum and Tobriner, and the building had a shed porch that wrapped partway around on the south side.”

According to the document, C.H. Meyers was associated with Fleishacker in 1862 “when he moved to Carson City and was still with the firm in the 1870s.

“George H. Meyers II operated Meyers Hardware here in the twentieth century,” reads the form. “In the 1980s and 1990s, the building was occupied by National Business Factors, Inc. From at least 2000 to the present, the building has been occupied by the Nevada Secretary of State.”

A similar inventory from Carson City, updated in the 1980s, states the building “is an important remnant of the early downtown business district.”

“The structure has remained essentially intact and represents a good example of early mercantile buildings in Carson City,” reads the city inventory.

Warren Engine Co. No. 1 firehouse

“Built in the early 1860s, the structure is an important remnant of that age when the fire department and engine company were community focal points,” according to a historic inventory by Carson City, also updated in the 1980s.

The document further states the firehouse is a “fine representative of early Carson City stone construction.” Both the firehouse and hardware store were constructed with sandstone quarried at the Nevada State Prison, according to the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society.

Despite the “Warren” moniker etched into stone (viewable from Musser Street), the firehouse was originally built for Curry Engine Co. No. 2, a volunteer company created by Carson City’s founder, Abraham Curry. Warren Engine Co. No. 1 had been established a year before in 1863.

“By June 17 (1864), Abe Curry had purchased the former Dorsey, Wellington & Co. stables at the corner of Musser and Curry streets and paid to have it converted into a firehouse for the company bearing his name,” Steven Frady, former Nevada Appeal editor and Warren firefighter, wrote in a 2013 history of the Warren company.

The early fire companies in Carson City often competed for “first water” on a fire, sometimes with fists, Frady wrote. By the end of the 19th century, Curry Engine Co. No. 2 and another fire company sharing the building, Swift Engine Co. No. 3, had petered out. The Warren company moved into the building in 1908 and took over fire operations for the entire city. Warren members stayed in the building until 1954, when a new firehouse was built across the street. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the Carson City Fire Department was created with career firefighters.

“Life-time Warren member Les Groth was appointed the fire chief in 1964, and served until retirement in 1978,” Frady wrote.

Finding a buyer

Johnson noted the engine doors in the firehouse have been converted into windows. One can still see the original masonry in the now-empty office space. She also showed the Appeal a hand-cranked elevator in the back of the hardware store, which she said could become a neat feature.

Johnson reiterated potential buyers need the right vision.

“This is just a prime location,” she said. “This is the heart and soul of downtown Carson City, and it would be lovely for the next owner to think creatively and out of the box and just bring a whole new level of richness to the downtown core.”