The City of Reno has issued violation notices for the falling-apart, piece of junk property at 200 South Center Street known as the Center Street Lodge. The violation says if the property owner doesn't take steps to clean it up, the city could demolish the property and charge the property owner for it. The image I used above for the article is far too kind. The property is pretty sad looking today.
This property was going to be part of a larger project called the Hudson Project.
I originally reported the sale of the property here. It sold to Center Lodge Reno LLC in March-ish of 2014. Nearly two years ago.
A quick lookup of the property owner, 'Center Lodge Reno LLC' which is an active LLC formed in California with jurisdiction in Nevada, the name 'ULRICH SCHMID-MAYBACH' comes up with an office on Fillmore Street in San Francisco.
With a such a unique name it was easy to track down his Linked In profile, here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ulrich-schmid-maybach-5ab4719
Ulrich has been a busy guy, managing several investment firms, real estate funds, and is a strategist for the 'Maybach Brand of Luxury Products' which includes a collaboration with Mercedes to co-produce one of their more expensive luxury vehicle models.
Much in the same way that the West of Wells Neighborhood Group has both collectively sent derelict owners in our neighborhood cordial professional letters letting them know we're not cool with code-violating absentee-landlord properties AND encouraged residents of this neighborhood to write problem-property owners on their own, which had some success in doing so, I encourage downtown residents and business owners who are affected by the Center Street Lodge to write the property owner, and let him know, kindly of course, that you aren't cool with letting a bad investment fester in downtown Reno for nearly two years. Considering the building could probably be demolished for less than the cost of a Mercedes-Maybach edition (base model goes for $191,000) I don't think it's too much to ask to either clean this property up or demolish it.
I can see the building in question from my office, it is fenced off with a MW construction sign on it. Does that bode well for future redevelopment or even refurbishment in to the lodge that is has been?