UNR plans, property owner anxieties " a glass half full

"Change brings uncertainty and anxiety," says John H.

Frederick, executive vice president and provost of the University of Nevada,Reno.

"But it also brings opportunity." The change is solidified in the long-awaited approval of UNR's master plan, a vision of the university's future that plots the institution's growth both in student body numbers and real estate acreage for the next few decades.

Student enrollment currently 11,600 is projected to double by 2030.

That kind of growth is going to require some real estate square footage for new classrooms, administrative buildings, labs, housing, parking.

In brief, the university is going to spread, and it's master-planned to go from its current 290 acres to cover an area bordered approximately by Interstate 80 on the south,McCarran on the north, Sierra to the west and Sutro to the east.

The university's expansion is a good thing for the area, says Shawn Minassian, president of the Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors and a Re/Max Realty Professionals agent.

Currently,much of the additional acreage the university is eyeing is privately owned, and, within that area are about 980 parcels, 461 of them single-family homes, says Brian Bonnenfant, a geographic information systems program manager for the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at UNR.

There in those homes resides the anxiety that Frederick sees as opportunity.

Anxiety over property values.

The university's land acquisition plan calls for purchasing the houses as they come on the market, says Frederick.

It'll be incremental.

It'll be at market value.And it will not be through eminent domain, he says, adding that in its 127 years as an institution, the university has never yet used its powers of eminent domain.

The university has been buying homes at the rate of about four to five a year, says Frederick.

It also owns property all over the state some homes, some ranch property.

It sells some; uses some.

Real estate is part of its business.As it begins to acquire the homes east of Evans Avenue, it will probably use those homes as student and faculty housing, says Frederick.Not much change from the area's current use.

Most of the houses are the kind a real estate ad would call cozy bungalows with a 1950s charm.Many sport one-car garages, and square footage under 1,000 on small lots.

Cars pack the streets; students walk to class from the rentals.

Says Minassian, one of the houses was on the market for about $190,000 last year.

If a buyer pays that price, the property is not going to pencil out as a positive in a rental.

Frederick agrees, but adds that the university is ready to shoulder the negative cash flow as part of its redevelopment plans.

The university's plans mean that property owners there have a guaranteed buyer, says Minassian.

That's a good thing, he adds, especially for an area where many of the houses are in need of major repairs.

There will be an indirect benefit, too, he predicts, to the property owners to the east of Sutro, a boost in their property values as the university edges toward them.

(UNR's master plan can be viewed on the Web at www.unr.edu/masterplan.)