Mortensen Ranch owner buys Carson Valley property for $27 million

GARDNERVILLE, Nev. — A California businessman has purchased 206 acres of land behind the Gardnerville Walmart from Carson Valley Inn owner Mike Pegram for $27 million.

According to documents recorded with Douglas County, the sale occurred Dec. 21.

Stan Lucas, owner of Lucas Automotive Engineering in Long Beach, California, purchased the former Virginia Ranch property.

Pegram previously purchased the land from Sierra Nevada SW Enterprises for $5.6 million in 2015, according to the assessor’s office.

Of note, Lucas is owner of the 676-home Mortensen Ranch development proposed on a roughly 1,000-acre plot of land near Verdi in Washoe County, west of Somersett.

In the Carson Valley, the Virginia Ranch Project was approved for 1,020 homes on the former Jacobsen Ranch in December 2004.

The Gardnerville Walmart was built on a 22-acre portion of the original development in the commercial area under the approval obtained by Sierra Nevada SW Enterprises of Dayton.

In 2004, the mix of housing on the site was 715 single family homes and 305 townhomes.

The site is designated as a receiving area in the Douglas County master plan and will require development rights be transferred to the property to achieve the density.

In a story appearing in the May 9, 2010, edition of The Record-Courier, Nevada SW attorney Mark Forsberg was quoted saying his client had already purchased the necessary rights.

One of the requirements for approval is the extension of Muller Lane Parkway from where it ends at Grant Avenue to the segment completed near Stodick Estates.

That section is critical to making the Parkway useful as a route around Minden and Gardnerville.

The county approved a $1.3 million contract for final design work on its 3-mile portion of the Parkway last month. The county is obligated to build two lanes of the Parkway by 2025, which is estimated to cost $12 million.