News 5-25-07 Council Retreat
Post your commentsPosted by: Doofus - 5/25/2007 7:10:22 PM
The great yellow beast of the King's Inn was due to come up for public auction on 16 May 2007 in a foreclosure sale. The original loan amount was 3.5 mil. Anyone know if someone bit? There are currently well over $600,000 in mechanic's liens on the property. My understanding is that these liens get erased in a bankruptcy filing, which where King's is right now. Are there any legal eagles reading this that can clarify that, if the City went and fixed up the place and placed a lien for the services, would it be a standard mechanic's lien, or something that would cling to the title? In the end, Reno, just DO it. King's is worth the investment just to uphold the values of the property taxes of the buildings surrounding the redevelopment. A blighted property brings down the property assessments and therefor tax income from the entire area. PLEASE make it go away or get fixed, Council.
Posted by: dave aiazzi - 5/26/2007 10:12:00 AM
What should be cut to pay the approx $4,000,000?
Posted by: Mike Van H - 5/26/2007 10:21:02 PM
I agree with Dave on that one. Not worth cutting something in the budget necessarily, let's see how the new blight laws work. Also, it would be nice if a private developer could step in and do it...after all, not every building downtown is the responsbility of the City.
Posted by: dave aiazzi - 5/28/2007 9:05:10 AM
Here's a different question: What's the "next" thing? After all, there is ALWAYS something to do next. If you could picture the King's Inn fixed tomorrow, what should we concentrate on after that. It's very possible that if we find THAT thing, it would be cheaper and easier to fix NOW (even ahead of the King's Inn).
Posted by: Crystal - 5/28/2007 1:30:00 PM
It seems like the ReTRAC process is dragging on. I read the master plan draft on this site, and if the council folks do even a quarter of what is suggested in that plan, it would improve downtown tenfold. The retail concept under the bowling stadium parking garage, the pedestrian greenway plan, I love the idea of a consolidated police station/community center over by Keystone. Where the police stations currently is seems like prime riverfront property. A little small for city of 218,000? How many ideas in a master plan like this usually come to reality? You have a whole guide book of ideas in that plan. Something like 100 acres the City owns and can disperse to developers with projects that fit the plan? I heard developers are just waiting in the wings for this plan to be done?
Posted by: Mike Van H - 5/28/2007 2:13:01 PM
Two polls previous, I had a poll which asked what possible future project people think is most essential, and oddly enough, Revitalization of Commercial Row with pedestrian amenities, on the block where the Amtrak Station is overwhelmingly won, with 60.96 percent of the 98 votes, beating out A pedestrian bridge from Idlewild to 4th street, Retail under the Bowling Stadium Garage and Townhouses on Third St. Since Virginia St from 2nd to Commercial Row was chosen as the pilot program for the facade program, beautifying Commercial Row from Virginia to Lake could provide the perfect East-West pedestrian corridor from the new Transit Center going in east of the Bowling Stadium, and provide a connection to the vast asphalt wasteland that is East Reno and hopefully will be developed in the near future. Crystal is right, the ReTRAC Master Plan has a lot of good ideas on how to develop East downtown, but if you connect it first to the existing redevelopment going on via Commercial Row, it may encourage development on the east side.
Posted by: Paul - 5/28/2007 2:35:15 PM
What should be next? The river park should be extended down to where those condos are being built next to automobile musuem. I saw something about a low-flow channel being constructed down past Lake Street connecting to an additional whitewater park. Didn't the first whitewater park only cost 1.5 million? A drop in the bucket compared to the price of some of these projects (canopy). It's not expensive, you have someone who could design it (Jim Litchfield), and it can be done relatively quickly.
Posted by: Revi - 5/29/2007 6:53:39 AM
I would like the council to work with and solicit developers for a Legends-at-Sparks Marina size development downtown. Maybe something that could take up both the Woolworths building and JC Penney building. We need something downtown to compete with Legends.
Posted by: Derrick - 5/29/2007 8:14:58 AM
Mr. Aiazzi it's too bad you can't motivate the casinos downtown to upgrade....A ring of casinos around downtown are doing vast improvements, GSR will have an indoor water park, Legends at Sparks Marina will have a new resort going in, Peppermill is expanding big time, a new casino going in on the fringe of downtown to the West. If the casinos downtown don't do something to keep up with the times, we'll be left with the donut hole effect, with nothing in the middle for tourists to want to come to downtown Reno.
Posted by: AF - 5/30/2007 9:33:40 PM
Mr. Aiasi - why is it that Agency money is used to do public works projects? Since 1983, the Agency has spent nearly $40 million on public works projects - like Chinese Pavers that were ultimatley replaced. Since 1983, the Agency has only spent $2 million on Property Tax Paying projects - Palladio and River's Edge. With the Agency in such dire need for increased property tax revenue, why is the Agency Board pursing an additional $30 million in Public Works projects proposing to use Agency moneny? I.e. the Post Office, 10 N Virginia Street and the Community Assistance Center. Aren't these City Public Works projects? Not Redevelopment projects? Shouldn't the Board be considering its responsibilities to downtown property owners and bond holders of Agency debt? According to Amendment No. 3 to the downtown redevelopment area, the property tax values in the downtown declined by nearly 65% in just a few years. What's up with this?