When residential construction soured in the Truckee Meadows beginning in 2008, longtime Reno developer Alan Means cast his eye east toward Winnemucca and Elko for new opportunities.
Mining kept those cities thriving during the downturn, and Means, who made his mark developing the master-planned community Caughlin Ranch in the mid 1980s, eventually settled on Winnemucca. He has since built 34 homes, 40 townhomes, a Wingers Roadhouse restaurant and a man camp for Allied Nevada Gold Corp in the seat of Humboldt County.
His newest project is much more ambitious, though.
Means is working as a consultant for the City of Winnemucca to guide city officials through development of Winnemucca Regional Recreation Complex, a multi-use sports park on 43 acres. Means gifted 43 acres of land to the city for the park, which includes:
A soccer complex that can be configured for nine youth or four adult fields.
A rec center, gym and new facilities for the Winnemucca Boys & Girls Club
A four-field Little League and youth baseball complex
An aquatic center
Tennis, volleyball and basketball courts.
The City of Winnemucca this summer awarded contracts for the first phase of development of the recreational complex. Winnemucca City Manager Steve West says local firm Honeywell Construction has completed about 75 percent of grading and infrastructure work under its $1.45 million contract for development of the soccer fields.
Garden Shop Nursery of Sparks was awarded an irrigation and landscaping contract worth $571,000 and is expected to begin work this spring, and Public Restroom Company of Minden was awarded a contract for $139,000 for prefabricated restrooms.
The building pad for the new Winnemucca Boys & Girls Club also is being constructed as part of phase 1, and the city is accepting proposals for architectural renderings for the new center.
The project is being developed jointly by the City of Winnemucca, Humboldt County and the Winnemucca Convention & Visitors Authority. Phase 1 development, expected to be wrapped up by mid summer, totals $3.2 million and is fully funded. Additional phases of development are expected to cost between $16.5 to 19.5 million, and those phases are expected to be jointly funded by the three different entities, regional businesses and community fund-raising efforts, and a host of charitable organizations.
“We have applications into 16 different funding organizations,” West says. “We have local fund drives and also have got commitments from a couple of the mines. By the end of January we should have a response from most of the funding sources and we anticipate sizable donations.”
Means completed the master plan for the park and now is bringing his engineering, planning and development background to bear to help bring the entire project to fruition.
“When we did Caughlin Ranch we had huge open spaces with green belts and neighborhood parks and trail systems, but I’ve never done a park this big,” Means says. “This is a very large project and I’m proud to be able to help with the city’s ability to attract and retain new residents.”
The Winnemucca Regional Recreation Complex will allow the city to host large sports tournaments and regional sporting events, which will directly impact tourism spending throughout Humboldt County.
“We are looking at this as another available facility to host large statewide events,” West says. “We have quite a few that we are doing in our other convention facilities, and this just adds another facility to attract outside guest, which we really need for our economy. We have 1,100 motel rooms in Winnemucca, and it’s our goal to keep those rooms full.”
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