A long-vacant 5-acre chunk of riverfront land may finally be seeing traction of some kind, beyond just being a staging ground for public works projects.
I'm referring to the vacant plot of land on Museum Drive and Mill Street, which also has northern exposure on 2nd Street.
Originally, way back in 2006-2007, this project, originally named Village at the River and then Grant's Landing, was going to be a colonial themed three-story residential project. The project almost happened, and went as far as getting infrastructure like water and sewer built out, and private roads added and lighting installed. Then poof, the housing market crashed hard in Reno, as we all remember.
Then there were rumors of an extension of the National Auto Museum expanding and adding a secondary building featuring modern cars and technology, but that never happened. Instead, the lot remained empty, being used as a staging ground for other projects.
But recently, the property changed hands for $14,000,000.
And now, work shows there's some kind of plan for the property
Soon after that appeared, a grading permit has surfaced for the property:
22TMP-028001 - Commercial Grading & Site Improvements - 2 MUSEUM DR NA RENO NV 89502 - RENO - Site and infrastructure improvements for 2 Museum Drive, including the relocation of Cochran Ditch and other on site storm drain systems. Rebuilding all curb and gutter along the property frontage adjacent to Museum Drive and Mill Street, with a driveway cut out to 2nd Street.
The relocation of Cochran Ditch is a big one. As the developers who built the townhomes on the corner of Stewart and Holcomb and the shipping-container duplex on Holcomb can tell you, it's an underground ditch that has water flow, that cuts through some of the densest parts of Reno, including downtown and midtown. You can't build over it, on top of it, or within a certain setback from it. Could something finally be built on this property, after Grant's Landing fell through 15 years ago?