Land improvements and Capital Gains

[Tim Schulace]

Sorry if these are nooby questions.

I bought a piece of land last July and am in the process of creating three parcels through a family transfer. The Two new parcels will be quit claimed back to me/wife in short order (either in our name or in an LLC). We then plan on breaking ground in April and (hopefully) completing construction in the fall. We will keep one house for ourselves and sell the other two.

When we divide the property, does that reset the clock in terms of our holding period? Also, can the land and the eventual structures have different start clocks? Could taxation be split between capital gains and ordinary income based on the time we've held either the land or the finished houses? The idea to split the property was not the original intent (we thought we'd just build something for ourselves, but we've now changed our minds and want to make sure we are structuring the project in the most tax-efficient manner possible.

Thanks in advance for any/all replies.