DON MCDERMOTT / PVT A Holiday Inn Express like this one in Las Vegas is expected to be constructed soon on Highway 160 in Pahrump. Advertisement

It takes patience to see some commercial building projects through to fruition.

Just ask Drew Alexander.

It was Nov. 21, 2005, when Alexander was turned down on a waiver from a distance requirement mandating liquor establishments be at least 1,500 feet from schools or public facilities.

Alexander wanted to open a Buffalo Southwest Cafe attached to a proposed Holiday Inn Express at 540 S. Highway 160.

The denial, by a 4-1 vote of the county commission, created an uproar. The site is close to both the Pahrump Library and Manse Elementary School.

County commissioners later modified the law in January 2006, shortening the minimum distance in a general commercial zone to 200 feet. Alexander received approval of a conditional use permit to allow a hotel and gaming establishment May 16, 2006.

The RPC granted a waiver Feb. 13 to allow the Holiday Inn Express and Buffalo Southwest Cafe to use parking at Wells Fargo Bank. The company was short 36 spaces from what were required. Alexander told the RPC back then he expected to break ground in a few weeks if everything went well.

Alexander said he had to resubmit drainage plans to the Nevada Department of Transportation. It took months to get the NDOT surveys, he said. Alexander will have to install some culverts in the front.

The other step was to acquire 12 additional acre feet of water rights.

"I didn't have enough water on the property to take care of the hotel and the restaurant. So I had to go back, and they had to do a study on how much water usage I was going to use at the hotel," Alexander said. "As soon as we get that closed and get those water rights turned over to Utilities Inc., then we'll be ready for permitting and ready for construction."

Plans call for a 71-room hotel with a pool, the restaurant and gaming with slot machines and a sports book but no table games.

"I would anticipate in the next couple weeks we'd be grading off that piece of property and putting a trailer out there, getting ready to start," Alexander said.

Alexander said he appreciated the more thorough review by Nye County planners, as opposed to Ely, where city planners took the word of the architects. As it turned out, Alexander said the Las Vegas architect neglected to calculate the snow loads at the Ely property, a mistake that will be expensive to fix.

Alexander said he hired a new architect to work on the Pahrump project after that.

"They're doing the right thing. They're making sure the civil engineers and architects are doing the right thing before they issue the permit," Alexander said. "It takes longer to get permitting in Pahrump. After all I've gone through, you appreciate it, want it to be right."