About eight acres of property in downtown Carson City owned by the Carson Nugget, Inc., including other bits and pieces of land throughout the capital, were transferred to the Mae B. Adams trust on Wednesday.
Steve Neighbors, the sole trustee of the trust that controls the Carson Nugget, said the move was made to prepare for the city's pending decision about the Carson City Center Project that may be built on the land behind the Nugget by P3 Development of Sacramento.
"We just wanted to get it done so that it was all assembled and ready because we know this is coming up for a decision in the near future," Neighbors said.
He added, "All we're doing is making sure the land is available if and when they do it."
Neighbors said the Carson Nugget's gaming operation will be administered separately within the trust, which means, "if the city decides to go forward with the development, it doesn't involve the gaming license."
Over the past year or so, the Carson Nugget has been buying parcels surrounding the casino.
"There were four different owners that we bought out, some had multiple parcels," Neighbors said. "We felt we had to do that otherwise those owners could have held the project for ransom."
Neighbors said the trust spent more than $1 million buying out the property owners.
One parcel, located in the middle of the Carson Nugget parking lot just east of Fall Street, netted about $119,000, according to the Carson City Assessor's office. And the parcel with that old boarded-up house on Stewart and Telegraph streets? About $76,000.
The property transfer included a number of other parcels that have not been included in plans for the downtown project, including about a half acre off of Empire Ranch Road and Darla Way in east Carson City that had been owned by former Carson Nugget co-owner Alan Adams, according to the assessor's office.
As for what the trust will do with the properties not included in the downtown project?
"I'll cross that bridge once I get to it," Neighbors said.
The $87.3 million City Center Project would include $30.9 million of public investment, which would help build a knowledge center, public plaza, infrastructure, digital media lab, parking garage and transit hub.
The $56.4 million private investment from P3 Development would include a 125-room hotel and 5,000 square feet of meeting space plus an office building with about 50,000 square feet that would include space for a business incubator, the city's business resource center and retail space.
