Carson City's Ormsby House back on the market

CARSON CITY, Nev. — The project proposed at the Ormsby House will not close escrow on Thursday, Oct. 17.

“I received a cancellation from the buyer on Thursday of last week and that the Ormsby House is back on the market,” Kim Fiegehen, who represents the sellers, told the Nevada Appeal on Wednesday.

Prospective buyer Joe D'Angelo has said he agreed to the asking price of $15 million for the property with escrow expected to close on Oct. 17.

He planned to buy the Ormsby House, the attached parking garage and the small block to the south that is now occupied by the closed ARCO gas station, and he laid out grandiose plans for the property that included changing its name to Joshua House.

The project ran into a snag with D'Angelo seeking to avoid a special use permit from the city.

“The city's trying to force me into a special use permit, which I do not believe I need,” D'Angelo told the Nevada Appeal in September. “With a special use permit they lock you in. They want their nose inside my business.”

The Carson City Planning Division on Oct. 8 issued a letter outlining the findings of a major project review conducted by staff after meeting with the applicant Oct. 1.

“At the onset of the meeting, the project architect advised that congregate care is not the intended use. Therefore, staff comments do not contemplate congregate care. Note if congregate is intended, a zoning code amendment would be required to cause the use to be either permitted or conditionally permitted in the (downtown mixed-use) zone,” reads the letter.

The initial application said the project would include concierge service, or on-site medical service, for people living on one of seven planned residential floors.

According to the letter, the project would have needed separate use permits for a residence hotel which allows occupancy up to 180 days, a childcare facility, and culinary arts school, all conditional uses in the downtown mixed-use zone.

D'Angelo told the Appeal last week, “thank you for contacting me, but no comment at this time” about the letter from the city.