NevadaGrown Agriculture Helps Downtown Restaurants Grow Success

Downtown Reno isn’t just a place for late night buffets anymore. The explosion of the restaurant scene has transformed the way people dine in the urban corridor. New restaurants offering diverse cuisine, culture and globally-trained chefs have flooded the area and the abundance of food and atmosphere options has been warmly welcomed. One key ingredient to this newfound success: local food.

Renderings for Truckee River Lane Building Rehab!

Check out these awesome renderings of what the Truckee River Lane Building may look like when Siegel Group is done renovating it.

Synergy on Riverside Drive

A magical thing happens when a retail development grows organically, rather than either being forced or worse, assembling totally random venues out of desperation to get the project to occupancy. The perfect example of organic growth can be found in a quaint commercial development  on the corner of Riverside and Washington in the 700-block of Riverside Drive.

Sneak Peek at Siris Casino

Siri's Casino is coming along nicely. Between Siri's, Whitney Peak, and the Virginian all reopening, it will fill quite a few dark voids on Downtown Reno's casino strip.

Purely Rumor: Whitney Peak Hotel's New Restaurant

Fresh from the rumor mill and heard from multiple sources, I'm hearing Whitney Peak Hotel's new flagship restaurant, presumably located on the first floor, will be called Heritage, and Mark Estee is involved somehow. I'm hearing Josh Berreman from Chez Louie will be the chef, will be locally sourced comfort food, and have on-site butchuring similar to Campo. Exciting stuff, we'll see if it pans out!

ReCap Video for NadaGras

Check out the great video below showcasing all the fun that was had at NadaGras. You can even catch me groovin in front of the dj at around the 2:18 mark! Art, music, poetry, djs, dancing.

Center Lodge Downtown Sold

As a part of his adaptive reuse Hudson project, Brian Egan has brought in Center Lodge LLC, which has just closed on Center Lodge today, located on the corner of Pine and Center Street. This now makes the Hudson Project a multi-block project, in a part of downtown that needs a boost badly. A major transformation will be taking place this year to this building.

Brian Egan has already started renovating the older rental properties in this area, which you can read about and see here.

Upcoming Unique Events in the Biggest Little City

Thinking outside the box a bit, the Biggest Little City has some unique events coming up that you don't want to miss, starting with this tomorrow. I certainly won't be missing these!

News Bites: Your Dose of Awesomeness for Reno

Reno a finalist for Tesla Motor's proposed giga-factory which would employ over 6,000 peeps and comprise 10+ million square feet. A big factory!

Apple pulls permits for massive expansion of their server farm east of Reno. No word yet on the downtown component of the project.

Powning District is highlighted by Channel 4 news, and talks about the new businesses opening there.

Two new restaurants join the incredible new IMAX theater that opened at Legends.

Double Edge Fitness in Midtown featured on Channel 2 News.

CoffeeBar gets props in Reno News and Review this week. Have you been yet? Their food is as amazing as the coffee. A respectable replacement for Bibo for sure.

Restoring Downtown: The Hudson Project

I've been writing this blog for close to 9 years now. During that time, we've seen projects of all sizes sweep through downtown and midtown. The project graveyard includes Arterra, Wingfield Towers, Waterfront Towers, various forms of the Kings Inn being redeveloped, and many more that didn't make it. The ones that did make it, though perhaps premature, undeniably transformed downtown. Having the Sundowner, Golden Phoenix, and Comstock converted to condos in conjunction with the Palladio, provided just enough new living spaces to initiate a gradual increase in residents from 2007 through today.

At the same point in time, striking changes were occurring in the Wells Avenue Conservation District and Midtown, on a more organic level, stabilizing a neighborhood once though of as undesirable. Marmot Properties amassed dozens of properties in the neighborhood, spending millions acquiring and renovating the properties then renting them out fairly quickly. I've covered many of their renovations and you can check out some before-and-afters on their project page. Between downtown and the Wells Avenue Conservation District, however, was a neighborhood not seeing a lot of movement or development, with many properties such as the ones owned by Ryder Homes stuck in limbo. That's is all changing, however, with the Hudson Project....

In The News: Morris Burner Hotel

Have you seen the incredible rooms being assembled/painted at the Morris Hotel downtown? Check them out in this great Sagebrush article. This eclectic hotel with a lot of heart and soul could end up being one of the most unique places to stay in the West!

Reno Rebirth: Could Siegel Group Transform Downtown?

Check out this must-read column on RGJ's Reno Rebirth blog from good friend Abbi Holcomb Whitaker about Siegel Group's Stephen Siegel. As you may know from my own posts, Siegel Group recently acquired the Virginian Hotel Casino, and the Truckee River Lane Building, and has owned the Senator Hotel on 2nd and West Streets for a while now.

The company has an opportunitiy to seriously transform downtown when/if they invest in these properties. It's known they have serious renovation plans for the Truckee River Lane Building and Virginian, so I'm excited to see what this company produces!