Kiley Ranch sets its sights

With its residential development business mired in the recession, Kiley Ranch Communities is battening down the hatches and targeting office and retail development.

The Reno company, which is developing an 800-acre property east of Pyramid Highway in Spanish Springs, last week said it terminated its consulting agreement with Ryten Properties, whose managing member, Paul

Curtis, served as chief executive officer of Kiley Ranch Communities.

Curtis, who had been CEO of the company since 2004, remains president of the nonprofit Kiley Ranch Preservancy Foundation, a 200-acre wetland preserve on the ranch property.

Matthew Kiley, president of the development company, said Kiley Ranch Communities continues to tighten its belt as the residential slump continues.

With little life stirring in the residential development industry, Kiley said the company is focused on attracting office and retail development. About 140 acres of Kiley Ranch will be devoted to business parks, and Kiley said infrastructure is in the ground to allow developers to move quickly.

A key piece of that development is a 52-acre retail project. Trammell Crow Co. had been signed on to develop the retail space, but the project lost several potential anchor tenants to RED Development's Legends at Sparks Marina project.

Trammell Crow closed up shop on its Reno-area development operations this autumn, and Kiley Ranch Communities now is searching for another retailer developer to take on the project.

Before the residential market tanked, Kiley Ranch Communities sold about 76 acres of the 96 acres in the first phase of its residential project to Lennar Corp. and Pacific West Companies.

Pacific West developed the Waterstone condominiums now offered as rental properties and Lennar sold off its property.

Kiley said the company isn't under substantial pressure from its lenders.

"We have a very friendly lender," he said. But he quickly added, "We're always under pressure to perform."

L. David Kiley, the father of Matt Kiley, took the first steps toward development of a master-planned community in 2004.

The property previously had been operated by the Kiley family since 1929, and the management team led by Curtis laid the groundwork for what the company calls a "resource conservative, environmentally friendly" development.

Kiley last week praised the work of Curtis.

"Paul has been instrumental in overseeing all that we have accomplished at Kiley Ranch, and we remain committed to the vision for the community," he said.

And he noted that the family maintains a deep emotional connection to the land.

"To us," he said, "it's more than just dirt."