Carlton Street, which runs from Highway 160 near the Saddle West Casino up to Floyd's Ace Hardware, will soon be made similar to an entrance to a shopping center instead of a regular street.

The Pahrump Regional Planning Commission last week granted a request to abandon a public right-of-way to Carlton Street between Highway 160 and Loop Road, which will become a private road.

MFR Properties requested the abandonment so properties it owns south of Carlton Street can be incorporated into shopping center plans previously approved for the block north of Carlton.

A letter signed by Mike Floyd, registered agent for MFR Properties, said: "This request is being made as a step in a wide ranging planning process for properties that are owned by MFR LLC surrounding the designated portion of Carlton Street. The vacation and abandonment of Carlton Street is paramount to the overall design of these properties and their future use."

The other officers of MFR Properties LLC include manager Ron Floyd and managing member Carl Moore.

Jeff Meads of Classic Homes represented MFR Properties at the RPC meeting.

"The overall goal for that property is to turn it into a large retail shopping center," Meads said. "The whole purpose of getting the vacation and abandonment is so we can have whole control of the site so we can divide it and make it attractive.

"Our plan obviously is going to a commercial subdivision situation where we can attract potential buyers to come in and then develop that site as business or commercial investors."

In February 2008, officials from Ace Hardware held a groundbreaking at the proposed Heritage Plaza shopping center, between Carlton and Postal Drive. Plans were presented for shopping malls of 18,053 and 24,619 square feet with a 7,284-square-foot building in the middle.

But the plans for an upscale shopping center with landscaped patios fell through with the depressed economy.

During the groundbreaking, there was talk of demolishing the buildings on the south side of Carlton Street and even the Carlotta Plaza fronting on Highway 160.

Meads said plans for phase I of the development were submitted to the Nye County Planning Department. The company also wants to submit plans for second, third and fourth phases in the future, he said.

RPC member Nevada Tolladay asked if Carlton Street will be forever gone.

"You will continue to enter the site, just as if you were continuing up Carlton. It will be no different than entering Walmart's parking lot, Albertson's parking lot. You will be entering into a shopping center," Meads said.

The approval was conditioned upon a drainage easement being granted.