Ballpark-area retail

The creation of the first new retail spaces built to capitalize on foot traffic headed to Aces Ballpark will begin this summer, says Scott Stranzl, vice president of leasing for Basin Street Properties.

Basin Street owns 300 E. Second St., the 15-story building just south of the new ballpark. Harrah's has housed its maintenance fleet on the ground floor but will be leaving in June as its lease expires.

Basin Street redesigned the ground floor space into 12,000 square feet of retail that can be subdivided into three or four spaces of 3,000 to 4,000 square feet.

"We knew their lease was coming up, so we have already gone through the architectural design to come up with a scheme of how to redesign the ground floor to attract retail users," Stranzl says. "It offers a great amenity because of the ballpark just opening up."

Stranzl estimates that Basin Street already has invested $3 million to $4 million in upgrades at 300 E.

Second St. The company, headquartered at Petaluma, Calif., replaced the building's generators and its

HVAC system, remodeled the lobby and elevators and painted the building's exterior. In addition, it added lights to the parking garage for increased safety and painted the garage as well.

The building has 977 parking spaces on the first 11 floors and 136,000 square feet of office space on the top four floors. The parking spaces have been offered at $5 each for Reno Aces games and is the closest parking to Aces Ballpark.

The 12th floor corridors and bathrooms have been completely remodeled, Stranzl says, and as tenants show interest in leasing space in the other three floors those also will be remodeled.

Basin Street also owns the nine-story Wells Fargo building at 200 S. Virginia St. and the 12-story Bank of America building at 50 W. Liberty St. It recently hired the office team from NAI Alliance Commercial Real Estate Services to lease space at the three sites. Leasing formerly was done by CB Richard Ellis.

"It was time for a change," Stranzl says. "It was time for some fresh eyes and some competitive advantage with the NAI team that we believe will give us complete exposure. We felt the team that Dominic Brunetti and Scott Shanks bring to the table would be better for us and give us a larger market presence."

The 243,000-square-foot Bank of America building is 87 percent leased, Stranzl says, which is up 47 percent from when Basin Street purchased the building more than three years ago. The 124,000-square-foot Wells Fargo building is 85 percent leased.

Basin Street also has made substantial investments at 50 W. Liberty St., upgrading the parking structure and the building's infrastructure and utilities to make the building more energy efficient for tenants.

To help lure tenants, Basin Street initiated a referral program through September that offers $500 to $1,000 for anyone who refers a business that signs a lease at one of its properties.

Stranzl says Basin Street still plans to construct a 124-room Marriott-branded hotel on vacant property adjacent to the ballpark, but timelines for the project have yet to be confirmed.