Reno Citizens Advisory Board Redevelopment Agency Meeting
Greetings folks! Well today was an information packed CAC Meeting. Let's cut right to the chase:
1. The 10 North Virginia Project - Is being awarded to Inverness Equities LLC. Both Fernando Leal's group and Union Capital both pulled out, citing that they wanted to work on their current projects (Union Capital has the 100 North Sierra Building and Leal is doing the Montage). Inverness Equities is headed by John Pappas, who has a very high standing reputation in Northern California. The canopy portion is going to use the last design schematic approved by the City Council which is great news, because that means it won't get redesigned again to fit the retail building. They showed renderings of the retail building itself, and I am going to try to get digital caps from Kristen Rossiter over at RDA. It changed substantially from the previous retail building concepts; it's more square than half moon shaped, and is two stories, instead of 4. This should make the canopy stand out more. Where I kind of run into issues is one of the 'optional build outs' that the developer presented. It involves taking the open area fronting Virginia Street, where the 'grassy knolls' and the art pylons are, and building 2 additional retail buildings there...so there would be a main retail building on the East side as originally proposed, and then 2 buildings on the West side. There would be an opening between the two buildings to enter the plaza. What do you think of this idea? I feel it takes away from the open space, and closes off the plaza from Virginia Street even if there were openings between the two buildings. But, it's the developer preference to build retail buildings on the west side as a second phase, and as it was comically said by another citizen in the meeting, 'He's the only one left'. It is however an option that isnt a deal breaker. Construction would theoritically start June 2008. The next step is review by the River District Sub Committee, and then to the Redevelopment Agency for approval on 10/24/07.
2. Priority Project Update:
Post Office Project - Over the past three weeks, this project took a surprising turn. Previously, it kind of stalled out, and at a CAC meeting a month or so back, Mark Lewis said the project could be stalled out for a couple of years or more. Well, in the past three weeks some 'redevelopment magic' has happened, and they now plan to move forward with their original MOU plan. Things are going so well that Mark Lewis hopes to have something in approval form by the next CAC meeting. Construction of the Plaza portion of the project could start this coming Spring. That would mean both this and the 10 North Virginia project AND the baseball stadium would be happening. Fun! Those coupled, with a hopefully-to-be-announced-soon project on the former Chambolle site next to the Riverside will add a big boost to the Riverwalk. Oh and in some good news for downtown residents, the majority of post office boxes downtown would stay in the building and be fully functional as P.O. boxes.
Beautification Project - Mark Lewis expects soon the Savoy Motel will be torn down in preparation for some kind of gateway art project in conjunction with the University. The Savoy Motel is located on the 700 Block of Virginia Street. Depending on the art this could either be ingeniously cool or go horribly wrong. In other beautification news, the new lighting on Virginia Street between Mt. Rose and Pueblo, is nearly complete. I like the new lights.
Parking Structures - RDA has a commitment to build two parking structures downtown. This doesn't include the proposed eventual parking structure of the Courthouse. One is to be built on the East Side of Virginia Street, one on the West Side. On the West Side, Mark Lewis mentioned they feel they have a good relationship going with a private entity downtown to possibly partner in building a garage. On the East Side, however, he mentioned land prices have skyrocketed, and they are having trouble assembling a site...they are looking for a private partner to work with who owns land in the desired east area for a garage.
Baseball Stadium - Not much to report on since its approval with the county, other than the architect is in action now, and things are rolling to relocate the 60 people that will be displaced when the motel in the far east side of the ballpark property will be demo'd. Here's something interesting mentioned by Mark Lewis. He mentioned two motels on the far east side of Harrah's Parking garage, both of which will likely be demo'd...one sooner than the other. He mentioned in that area 'down the street' a new modern-suite style Brand motel with NO GAMING could be built, ala Embassy Suites or Hilton Garden style. If this is true, this, coupled with Grant's Landing across the river, a new retail district, the Waterfront's retail plans, could transform the east side of downtown. After the presentation, Stacy Crowley stood up, representing the Young Professionals organization, and offered assistance for development of that area, giving a young professionals perspective. Mark Lewis and the CAC Board really took to this idea, citing the need to market downtown to the very group the YPN represents. One CAC Board Member said it's critical that young professionals outside of Reno to perceive Reno differently than they currently do. I think this could be a good partnership. One last thing mentioned is that Evans Street, to cooperate with RTC, will convert into a 'public plaza with low-speed bus access.' ...Interesting?
3. Longs Drugs - "I wish I had good news here" is how Mark Lewis started the report on Longs Drugs. Besides construction not quite being completed, no Certificate of Occupancy, some minor issues with liquor licenses, the real hang up is with gaming issues and limited vs. unlimited gaming permits. Apparently this is entirely at the City level and not at the State level where the problem lies. Mark Lewis, being new to Nevada and the concept of gaming licenses, had trouble even comprehending the issues of what was going on himself. It's hung up in the City legal office, and Longs and their landlord. He mentioned it was 'pretty jammed up'. He expects a memorandum to come out of the Legal Office to the council in the next few months, but this problem appears to be long term. A gentleman in the room who is member of both the Palladio and Riverwalk Homeowners Associations mentioned people living downtown are very unhappy with the situation, and all the parties involved are unhappy as well. All of this over 15 slot machines. No one on the CAC understand why the hold up even exists. Longs is holding out, they will not open the store without those machines....yet Mark felt confident Longs won't pull out completely. So, don't expect any miracles to happen in the next few months regarding this project. Sorry!
Overall it was a very informative meeting, and if everything goes right, there wil be some major construction going on downtown in the next few years.
I was wondering if there was any mention of the eco channel/ whitewater park extension in the discussion of the post office project as they seem to be connected?