What was old shall be new

Three years ago, a letter writer vented his spleen to a Reno newspaper when he asked, "Can anyone responsible for the Mapes Hotel destruction explain why such an excellently designed and built hotel the only building that merited the title "class" was destroyed while the ugly Kings Inn Casino still stands?"

Funny, but Mayor Bob Cashell was thinking the same thing about the long-vacated hotel-casino building.

In fact, the property, located at the southwest corner of Third and West Streets, was atop Cashell's "hit list" of decaying and blighted buildings he wanted to see disappear.

He finally gets his wish as the Kings Inn joins a host of other former hotel/casino properties in the downtown Reno core that will be transformed into higher-end condominiums.

By late 2007 or early 2008, the DeNovo condominiums should be ready for occupancy.

It will have expansive views of Peavine Mountain, the Sierra, and downtown Reno.

Immediately to the south will be the train trench, to the west, the Sands Regency Hotel and Casino, and to the north, facilities that are part of the El Dorado and Silver Legacy Hotels as well as Saint Mary's Medical Center.

A seven-story building supported on concrete columns, the new owner intends to add eight more stories to the structure.When completed, it will have 175,000 square feet of living area, a full-time valet parking service, a gymnasium with locker rooms, two levels of below-grade parking, wine lockers, a common outdoor deck and pool, a bar and lounge and a library.

"There will be 129 condo units when the conversion is complete," says James Molder, senior project manager for Reno-based Cathexes, the architects selected by owner/developer North River Development, LLC., out of the Bay Area.

"We're pleased they selected us,"Molder says."They evidently liked our work."

Adding eight stories to the structure will not pose much of a challenge, he says.

"Structurally, this building is in great shape even though it looks terrible from the street level,"Molder says."Our tests have determined it has excellent load-bearing capacity.We will need to expand the size of some of the footings, but the builders of this back in the 1970s did a really solid job."

The former Kings Inn had become a haven for homeless people but city officials and prospective developers were powerless to raze the structure because it had been tied up in a California federal bankruptcy court for years.When the train trench project was about to begin, members of the Reno City Council had wanted to demolish the Kings Inn but the legal issues were in the way.

"We have not yet decided who the general contractor will be on this project,"Molder says."There are three firms from this area and three from outside the region.A decision should be made within a few weeks."

Along with the 129 condo units, which will range in size from 675 square feet to upwards of 3,000 square feet in the six penthouse units, there will be 11,500 square feet of retail space.

Essentially, the entire structure will be demolished except for the concrete columns.

The skin of the building will be completely rebuilt including operable windows and metal panels.

Construction will use a shear wall and steel truss system.

There will also be approximately one-third of the required parking stalls available in a mechanical stacking system.

Molder says most likely the unit owners using the mechanical stacking system will be those who are from out of town but want to have a vehicle available when they do visit Reno.

"Some who work in the downtown core may also want to leave their car in the stacked parking system and just walk to and from work," he adds.

While the new building, which will be stair stepped, will employ the use of "green" materials, it will not meet the strict standards of the national Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

"We will implement some LEED standards through the use of exposed concrete, recycled carpet, energy efficient lighting and solar panels to heat much of the hot water in the building," says Molder.

While no prices have been set for the units, those close to the project estimate the smaller one bedroom units may be priced from $200,000 and the two-bedroom units higher, depending on square footage.

Penthouse units will likely top the $1 million asking price.