Developer wins brief extension to continue entitlement work on Coleman Road apartment project

The Churchill County Board of Commissioners voted to extend, through March 6, 2025, a termination deadline in its purchase-and-sale agreement with Veritex Fund 3 for two parcels on Coleman Road as the developer works to finish entitlements and finalize a proposed contract amendment.

County counsel said the property holder has submitted a draft final map and additional information but that federal and state agency approvals — including the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), Tahoe-Carson Irrigation District (TCID) and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) — remain the principal outstanding items for full approval. The short extension gives counsel and the developer time to negotiate and produce an amendment for the March 6 meeting.

Developer Steven Tuck told commissioners that Veritex and its partners have invested heavily in the project’s entitlement process and that family-office lenders have expressed interest in financing the construction once entitlements and outside-agency approvals are in place. He described the entitlement phase as ‘‘notoriously brutal’’ and said final agency actions are the only remaining gating items to begin construction.

"Our BOR submission has gone in," Tuck said. "We have TCID and NDEP items that run concurrent. Once those come, we are ready to move forward." He added that lenders the developer has approached are willing to underwrite the project once permits and maps are final.

County counsel Joe Sanford summarized the board’s options: grant a short extension, allow the agreement to lapse and pursue default remedies, or direct staff to negotiate a comprehensive amendment. Sanford advised against multiple 60-day extensions because he said that option would likely return the parties to the same position without resolving disputed terms.

Attorney Garrett Gordon, representing the developer, said Veritex has spent about $1.8 million on entitlement work and that the firm’s engineer is prepared to address county comments on a final map that county staff is now reviewing.

Developers described a phased construction plan and said, if financing is obtained and entitlements finished, the full buildout of roughly 420 apartment units could take about three years from the start of construction, although exact phasing, infrastructure sequencing and total timelines depend on final engineering and lenders’ terms.

The board approved a motion to extend the termination date from March 2 to March 6, 2025, solely to allow more time for counsel and the parties to complete an amendment for the Commission’s consideration at the March 6 meeting. Commissioners and counsel noted that the extension preserves all other rights under the original agreement and does not waive the county’s termination or default options if the parties fail to reach agreement.

Ending: The matter will return to the commission on March 6 with a proposed amendment for consideration. If the commission does not approve an amendment, the agreement would remain subject to its original termination provisions.