As February draws to a close, the Nevada Flats project is around 75 percent completed, according to its field superintendent, Isaiah Kistler.
Kistler, who works for Build to Suit, recently provided interior tours of the project to members of the Nevada City Council, allowing them to walk through any and all apartments located in “the tower” and “the west wing,” which are the areas most complete at this time.
“We divided the project into four areas,” he explained. “The tower” (29 units) is the two-story piece of the hospital which previously housed residents of Senior Care. The “west wing” (9 units) is the part of the building that used to house the medical clinic and 21st Century Rehab. The other two areas being worked on are the “main hospital” (22 units) and “the basement” (which will provide 60 storage units for tenants).
Construction started with asbestos abatement and demolition in June of 2025. The project was slated for completion in July of this year, but Kistler is happy to report the project is about a month ahead of schedule and should be complete June 1.
“We had a slow start with demo, but once that was complete, we’ve picked up time as we gone along. By being able to reuse a lot of the exterior walls and not have to use new materials on them, that really moved things along,” he said. Also, a benefit to the project was reusing existing windows. “We fixed a couple (of windows) and added 10 new windows, but otherwise all the existing windows were used in this project.”
Of the 60 total units:
• two of them, one located in the west wing and another studio apartment located in the old hospital area, are ADA compatible with larger bathrooms and washer-dryer units where both washer and dryer sit on the floor (all other units have stackable washer-dryers);
• nine are studio apartments;
• seven are two-bedroom apartments; and
• the rest are single-bedroom apartments.
Other than the apartments in the tower, all other apartments have unique layouts, which makes Nevada Flats different from most apartment complexes, Kistler agreed.
Kistler pointed out that each apartment will have its own power meter and its own heating/cooling settings. Each apartment has light-colored laminate flooring throughout, light-colored quartz countertops, dark-colored cabinets, full-sized range and refrigerator, and pull-down blinds fitted to each apartment’s windows. It’s hard not to notice that many of the apartments, with the big windows, are filled with natural light.
A mail room and a manager’s office are located on the main floor of the building.
Kistler said as the weather gets warmer, more work and landscaping around the exterior of the building will take place. There will be two courtyard areas, he noted, and the one between the west wing and main hospital will be fenced in as a tenants’ dog park.
An average of 25 workers has been on site every day, Kistler said. He remarked that the biggest challenge of the project overall was the demo early on and working with the new architectural layout. “Just getting into structural walls that needed modifications and the adding of structural steel for new openings was a lot, but once we got all of that out of the way, then it’s like you’re dealing with a new building.”
When asked what he’s happiest with, Kistler commented on finishes. “I like the way they turned out, and how well we did with the use of the existing hallways. I also like that we can finish ahead of schedule.”
–Written by Marlys Barker, City of Nevada