Downtown Reno Development Feed
Covering downtown Reno Redevelopment

• Downtown Walk Pictures
  New pics of Montage construction, folks downtown and more. Click here to view.
• Ken's Expanded Park Lane Concept
  Ken over at Urban Blog created a 3d model of how he'd like to see the new retail laid out on the giant Virginia and Plumb parcel. It's quite impressive, go check it out by clicking here. Ken, you really outdid yourself this time!
• WeFi Year Round Urban Market Clues and more
  1. Long's Drugs - There's a City Council meeting on the 12th, and check out C.14 Approval to the Reno City Attorney's Office to research viability of filing a lawsuit relating to the uses allowed at the location of the former Riverboat Hotel and Casino, which is on Second Street, Reno, Nevada, with respect to land uses or other claims, and providing authority to file such suit. 2. WeFi Indoor Year-Round Urban Market - In a recent DIA Presentation, Mark Lewis hinted to the 'area' for the indoor urban market. Although he wouldn't name the exact spot, a very engaged audience coaxed several clues out of him: It's proposed location is between 1st and 2nd Street, on West Street, and not on the bottom floor of the Comstock. 3. CommRow - Sorry Myrna, it doesn't look like Dave Aizzi and the rest of the council is going with the name Plaza Del Sesso. I was the one who submitted that name to your name contest, BTW, so I am equally saddened as you are. Anyway lol, during his presentation Mark Lewis referred to the trench covers, and the general area following Commercial Row/Plaza St. over to the proposed baseball stadium as ''CommRow'. It's a throwback to when Commercial Row was the bomb in Reno...the place to do business and be seen, I believe he said construction would commence in January for the 2-block covers. 4. Amendment 21 Sports Bar and Grill - Will be taking over the space where Adele's, Spencer's Steakhouse and the Blue Trout formerly occupied in the BofA Building on Liberty and Virginia. 5. December 19 Planning Commission Meeting - Though as of this writing the agenda hasn't been posted yet, I know two important issue to the Wells Avenue neighborhood will be on tap. First, the Wells Avenue Neighborhood Plan that dozens of residents including me have worked so hard on will be submitted to the Planning Commission Dec 19, and also, the public hearing for Mill Street Townhomes will be on the agenda. Mill Street Townhomes is the 28-townhome project on Mill and Holcomb.
• Construction Tidbits
  It was too dark already to take pictures on tonight's dog walk downtown, however it was light enough to see some major construction happening: 1. Grant's Landing - These guys continue to do various things with various colored dirt piles. I can't figure out if it's for the additional street they are putting in, or if they are preparing the dirt for foundation. I thought the models were going along the river, but it could be they are going on the corner of Museum Way and Mill Street where all the dirt work is going on. They are set to break ground in January. 2. Pedestrian Bridge - The pedestrian bridge connecting the Amtrak Station to where future retail is going is complete and open. I like the stamped concrete work on the floor, although the mesh fencing on the sides is kind of institution-like, but understandable. 3. RTC Transit Station on Plaza St.- The parking lot or whatever was there before is being ripped up. 4. State Street Center - Across the street from Pioneer Center, the State Street Center project site is alive with 4 giant back-hoe type machines moving dirt around. Glad to see this project didn't bail out, I'm never a fan of old buildings being torn down in vain. 5. Nevada Discovery Museum - This project has kicked into high gear, with a mobile-home-size construction office now hugging the north side of the building. It's almost completely gutted and pretty cavernous looking inside. Also, I was contacted this week by a NDM marketing guy, a sign that there is now something significant to market. 6. Mill Street Townhomes - This project of 28 townhomes on Holcomb and Mill Street goes before the planning commission December 19 at 6 p.m. So far I havent seen any renderings of it, and the staff report links for the 19th when they're posted may be our first chance to view what they look like. Judging by the giant yellow public hearing sign posted right in the front yard of one of the homes on that lot, the 5 homes (lost count) on this lot will be demo'd for the project. And on that note, I'm sure glad I don't live in one of the homes that is situated on Mill Street or State St., because with Grant's landing next door to the north, Mill Street Townhomes across the street to the east, and Holcomb Townhomes across the street to the south, all being constructed simultaneously, can you imagine the noise level? That's ok though, it will be exciting to see all these built simultaneously.
• Heller Passes Land Deal for ReTRAC
  Here's an interesting blurb; Dean Heller passed a bill in Congress that will allow the transfer of land from Union Pacific to the City of Reno. It's easy to sometimes underestimate what's involved with transactions of this magnitude; I had no idea a national bill was required to transfer the land legally to the City of Reno. It's very rare a city has the opportunity to develop such a large amount of land in their core; we're talking 120 acres, and 78 parcels. An extensive master plan is being developed to guide the City in how to develop the land.
• Wingfield Towers and Thoma Lofts retired from site
  Well it's been a long bumpy road for Wingfield Towers, but I am officially retiring Wingfield on this site. I came to the conclusion long ago it wasn't being built after they missed their bankruptcy deadline at the end of October. I just haven't had a chance to remove it till now. Also removed is Thoma Lofts. Yes, sadly, the project is dead, or in hibernation for a while. So the real question is what are they going to do with the land they acquired as part of the Baseball Stadium deal?
• Sprinklers Saved the Day - Almost Mizpah: The Sequel
  A very close call in the building that houses the Coin Shop and Electronic Espresso. One of the residents living in the units above the retail units decided to light his mattress on fire and then left the building. Luckily, this building was equipped with sprinklers, unlike the Mizpah, and the fire was contained to the man's room and mattress. In fact the sprinklers put the fire out before it really spread out from the mattress. Electronic Espresso and the Coin Shop suffered minor flood damage, and a few holes were poked in the ceilings of both retail outlets to make sure the fire was out. But it could have been much worse! It eerily happened around 10:30-11:00 p.m. as well. People were sleeping, and this could have been Mizpah all over again. This is the exact reason why old buildings need to be retrofitted with sprinklers. They work! According to the Electronic Espresso owner, the guy who lit the mattress on fire is still at large.
• ReTRAC Master Plan
  It's huge, it's detailed, and it reads like a crystal ball for the future of the properties the City acquired as part of the ReTrac process. In case you didn't know, the City of Reno acquired over 100 acres of land that lines the train trench downtown. They weren't quite sure what to do with this land, so a massive study/master plan was commissioned to serve as a guidebook. Keep in mind, just because it's in the plan doesn't mean the City Council will immediately implement it; but it definitely serves as a blueprint for prospective developers and the public works portions of the project can be adopted by the Council over time. The development process for this plan was long and involved, just like any plan, and public participation started to peeter out toward the end. Now's the time to get involved again as the plan comes closer to approval. It's a pdf, and large, about 44 megabytes, so if you have dial up, Gillian Pollard over at the Redevelopment Agency will gladly mail you a cd of it. Call her at 334-3813.
• Nice Roundup of Development Projects Throughout Reno
  It's important to take a step back from downtown occasionally and look at how Reno as a whole is developing. Ken over at the Urban Blog wrote an excellent post on this, as well as some comments underneath adding more developments to his list. It's quite impressive when you look at Reno as a whole.
• The Covers are Coming! The council agrees to build them
  I have to say first WOW, DTM readers definitely rallied behind this project, I think I broke my comments record for any one post. People feel passionately about this project, both residents and out-of-towners alike. Our rallying has paid off! The deal, at least Phase 1, went through. Leal broke the deal down into a $9 million dollar proposal by Granite Construction to build the raw trench covers (two blocks) - City staff estimated another $1.5 million in indirect costs bringing the total to $10.5 million. The rest