Little room for ReTrac relocations

Andrea Pelter breathes a little easier these days.

Her company, Reno Iron, may have found a place in north Reno where it can relocate after its current property is purchased as part of the city's ReTrac project.

Like other industrial companies that will be forced to move this summer as the ReTrac work picks up steam, Reno Iron learned a harsh reality of the Reno real estate market: There's little land available for new industrial uses.

And available land may prove to be pricey especially for companies that have been in the same downtown location for decades.

"There is virtually nothing on the market," said Deborah Sasz-Vonarx, a broker with Commercial Properties of Nevada.

"He who holds the land, wins."

Reno Iron, which has been in operation in the city for 96 years, will required to move from its trackside location near Keystone Avenue late this summer a job that's not as easy as it looks.

Pelter, the president of Reno Iron, noted the company needs 36-foot-high clearance for its crane and also needs rail service attributes that aren't easy to find in the best of times.

"We kept looking and kept hoping," she said.

In recent days, the outlook brightened as the company found a promising fiveacre parcel along Parr Boulevard in north Reno.

The pressures under which Pelter and her team found themselves are increasingly common as the ReTrac relocation deadlines near.

"In the last 60 days, it has almost become a frenzy," said J.

Michael Hoeck, an associate in the industrial properties group of Colliers International.

One company, he said, has looked at 200 properties in recent months, and even has considered buying an existing business just to get the building and land Some industrial companies who are tenants, rather than owners of property, feel particularly squeezed because they haven't been part of the ongoing discussions between property owners and the city, Hoeck said.

Sticker shock is yet another issue.

It's not unusual, Hoeck said, for industrial users currently in the ReTrac area to discover that their new rents will be double what they're currently paying.

Steve Frady, public information officer for the city, said Reno officials are aware of the squeeze faced by some relocating industrial firms as well as the rest of the 52 companies that will be displaced by the train trench.

City officials are trying to help by providing as much notice as possible to affected companies, giving them more time to find new quarters.

"It's a concern of the city," Frady said.

"We're trying to help."

Pelter and the 50 employees of Reno Iron won't let the challenges get in the way of their work.

"We're doing very well," Pelter said.

"We're very proud of our work.We'll keep going."