A permit has been filed by University of Nevada Reno Innevation Center (located at 450 Sinclair downtown) to upgrade the old Southside School Annex, located at 190 East Liberty.
The permit reads:
COMMERCIAL REMODEL & ADDITION - REMODEL. ELECTRICAL MECHANICAL A 3,850 GROSS SQUARE FOOT REMODEL OF AN EXISTING GYMNASIUM (A-3) SPACE. SCOPE OF WORK INCLUDES REMOVAL OF NON-LOAD BEARING WALLS, INSTALLATION OF NEW NON-LOAD BEARING WALLS, INSTALLATION OF AN ADA LIFT, REMOVAL/REPLACEMENT OF HVAC SYSTEM, REMOVAL/REPLACEMENT/AUGMENTATION OF EXISTING ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS (POWER/LIGHTING).
Sounds like quite the retrofit of this beautiful old building. Southside School Annex was leased to UNR in 2019.
You can find information about this historic building here.
According to Grace Chou, Ph.D. and director of the Innevations Center, Sierra Journeys will remain in the building and be UNR's tenant. Sierra Journeys is an amazing science program for kids that has positively impacted more than 190,000 children with their mission to deliver science-based education programs to develop critical thinking skills and inspire natural resource stewardship.
Breadware, an 'Internet of Things' or IoT engineering and development start-up, will also move into Southside and call their coworking spaces home. Breadware started in Santa Barbara in 2015, then moved to Reno in 2017 to be a part of the growing tech community. You can read their success stories here.
In addition, The Innevation Center is expanding their maker space with new equipment and machinery.
Also, Tesla is planning to expand their robotics program for middle and high schoolers at Southside as well.
Sounds like this historic building is going to turn into quite the tech hub!