Another commercial center near Indian Hills

MINDEN - Work has begun on road improvements to serve 46 acres of commercial development and another phase of residential construction near Indian Hills.

Crews have begun shaping the new terminus of Plymouth Way at Highway 395 and are preparing to install new turn lanes at the highway's intersection with Plymouth and South Sunridge drives.

The work has been planned for several years. Bill Wellman of the Sunridge Corp., which developed the subdivision and golf course of the same name, said construction on a third phase of houses triggered the road work.

Eventually, the intersection is scheduled to get a traffic light, but that won't happen until traffic from Plymouth and South Sunridge drives becomes heavier, which hinges on development of the commercially zoned land near the highway.

Costco has been identified as a potential tenant for the site, but recently expressed interest in a south Carson City location. Even if Costco chooses the Carson location, development of the Sunridge location may proceed because other large retailers are interested, Wellman said.

"We're moving forward," said Wellman. "We've got many smaller users looking at some of the smaller pads out front, once we finalize things with the larger, big box-type users."

He said one retailer is interested in as many as 25 acres at the site, but declined to divulge any names. Wellman learned of Costco's interest in Carson City through the newspaper, which he considered surprising because Costco had asked Sunridge to keep its interest in 15 acres at the Sunridge site quiet.

"We have a letter of intent to go there (Sunridge) with Costco. We had come to terms on land price and everything," said Wellman. "We had let Costco have the first choice. They're not working exclusively with us, and we're kind of moving forward on our own."

He said talks with other potential tenants may be completed in January. That would coincide with the opening of South Sunridge Drive, which needs final touches such as street lights, gutters and curbs.

The highway work includes installation of a second left-turn lane for southbound traffic, acceleration and deceleration lanes for highway traffic and realignment of Plymouth Drive, which now lines up just south of South Sunridge Drive. The signal won't be installed until a traffic study showing it is needed is completed.