Carson City supervisors agreed Thursday to sell the U.S. Bureau of Land Management nearly 62 acres near the Silver Saddle Ranch in east Carson City, and take a $1.5 million, or 150 percent profit.
The board reluctantly agreed to buy the land on behalf of the BLM four years ago. The cost was $1 million and some wondered whether the bureau would ever come through with its pledge to buy it later.
"This was the proposal you gave me a hard time about," Carson City Open Space Manager Juan Guzman told Mayor Marv Teixeira.
"I wasn't with the board then," Teixeira said.
"That didn't prevent you from giving me a hard time," Guzman responded.
The BLM wanted the property to round out its popular Prison Hill Recreation Area but it can take years for federal agencies to get clearance for a land purchase, so the bureau asked the city to buy it.
Earlier this year when the BLM had the money and the green light to buy the land, an appraisal pegged its value at $2.5 million - a 150 percent hike in the past four years.
Even with the jump in price, Supervisor Pete Livermore said the bureau is getting a good deal.
The sale price comes out to $40,650 per acre. Not bad, he said, in the current Carson City land market.
