Development company accidentally overbids $365K on airport land
A golf course development company may be out an extra $365,000 after its president inadvertently overbid on surplus airport land during an auction at Tuesday’s county commission meeting.
The Walters Group successfully bid $4.956 million for about 36 acres at the southeast corner of Durango Drive and Warm Springs Road. The land is located at the Rhodes Ranch Town Center neighborhood shopping mall, which is anchored by a Vons grocery store and contains several stores and restaurant chains.
The county had recently evaluated the property’s value at $4.591 million. The Walters Group was the sole bidder, so a bid of only $5,000 more than the estimated value was required to win the auction.
Walters Group president Michael Luce told commissioners the amount submitted in his sealed bid was a mistake. The 5 and 9 were switched, making the bid $365,000 higher than intended.
Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak told Luce he couldn’t withdraw his sealed bid without disqualifying himself from purchasing the land during the auction.
“So the error is going to cost $400,000?” Luce asked. “I don’t know why I can’t withdraw that bid and make a bid on that property in an open forum.”
The Walters Group has until 5 p.m. Wednesday to finalize the deal by submitting a nonrefundable deposit equal to 10 percent of its bid price.
The Review-Journal was not able to reach a company spokesperson for comment Tuesday.
Most of the sale proceeds, 85 percent, will go to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management due to stipulations of the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998. The county’s Department of Aviation gets 10 percent of the proceeds and the state the remaining 5 percent.
Since March 2014, the Department of Aviation has worked to auction about 1,500 acres of land for which it has no current or foreseeable use. Two other parcels available for auction Tuesday did not receive bids.
One property contained approximately 88 acres at the southwest corner of Rainbow Boulevard and the 215 Beltway near the Arroyo Market Square. The county valued it at $40.7 million. The other property was about 12 acres at the northwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard South and 215 Beltway. It was valued at $7.33 million.
Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Find @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.
