Buying your own town is as easy as buying 500 acres of vacant land located just 70 miles south of Las Vegas from the founder of a place called Cal-Nev-Ari.
Nancy Kidwell is offering the entirety of her town for just $8 million. She tried to sell the property in 2010 for $17 million but couldn’t find any buyers. Now the 78-year-old has dropped the price and is including Cal-Nev-Ari’s casino, diner, convenience store, 10-room motel, RV park and mile-long dirt airstrip in the deal.
The only things not for sale are the residents themselves, some privately owned homes, the small community center and a volunteer fire station built by Clark County.
Kidwell and her husband, Slim, founded the town in 1965 when it was just an empty swath of land along U.S. 95. Now it is home to about 350 people, but Kidwell said she can’t sustain it. Slim died in 1983 and her second husband died in 2011, leaving the bulk of maintaining the town to her.
“It’s time for someone else to do something with it,” the 78-year-old said. “Fifty-one years is long enough.”
Listing broker Fred Marik said the main value of the property is land and that the businesses are “just breaking even.” He said he is advertising the town as a blank canvas. It doesn’t have paved roads, but it does have deep-water wells, a sewer system and a utility company.
When real estate was a hot commodity, investors bought land in rural towns outside Las Vegas — Kidwell said she once had two people get into a bidding war for the town — but when the economy crashed interest died down.
Marik said he has received a few inquiries so far, with prospective buyers considering the land for a retirement community, a renewable energy project, a motorsports park, a dude ranch, a survival school, a shooting range or a “marijuana resort,” if that were to become legal.
“You’re basically buying the land and the opportunity to grow something on it,” Marik said.
Resident Kate Colton, who has lived in Cal-Nev-Ari for about 20 years, said she’s happy that Kidwell is trying to move forward with her life. She said a marijuana business would be “a little scary,” but that new investors are probably a good thing for the community.
“The economy here could use a boost,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
$16,000 per acre of desert is a bit on the steep side, even if it is 70 miles south of Las Vegas. But for the right entrepreneur, it could be turned into a gold mine.
I forsee another “Bunny Ranch” in its future, especially with the small motel already built.
Nevada law only allows bunny ranches in rural counties, which excludes Clark, Washoe and Carson City from hosting such activities. This town is in Clark county.
Great Idea……….PERFECT!!!
Yes, I bought just one acre 55 years ago in Pahrump Valley, Nevada and there was not one commercial business or residence there in the high desert country. Forgot now how long after I bought the acre as a investment for a mere $600 but sold it to a lady from Oregon for $17,000.
Any land anywhere can become very valuable. I only wish I owed this 500 acre parcel.
Talk to the actor Sam Elliot. He’s might be interested.
Nothing wrong with a bunny ranch. If
We had more of them..we might have
Less child abuse less rapes and maybe
Even less domestic abuse.
If I get lucky with a lottery ticket, this sort of deal would really interest me.
Where can I contact the owners? I’m very interested in buying this for my wives, children and perhaps a few Indians too. Some say the land can be used for a bunny ranch. What an excellent idea! We all know how fast rabbits breed, so there will be lots of opportunity for hunting! We’ll kill them to the tune of Lethu Mshini Wami! We can even turn it into a cultural village right in the heart of America. I’ll keep the casino: running my household is a costly affair and you can only imagine my groceries bill with six wives and about 20 children. If the owner is willing to swop that for a prime piece of land in the African bush, complete with a firepool, tuck shop and a kraal for cattle we can consider this a done deal.