State Street Plaza offices filling

A 17,000-square-foot building that was the first speculative office and retail development project in many years in downtown Reno is continuing to fill.

Innerwest Advertising and Public Relations and IW Strategies LLC, a public affairs consulting company, have moved into 4,400 square feet of office space on the second floor of the State Street Plaza building at 170 S. Virginia St.

The project is developed by MTK Limited LLC, a Reno company.

Dan Morgan, president and chief executive officer of Innerwest Advertising, said the company decided to return to a downtown location from Caughlin Ranch because of the renewed energy and activity in the downtown office sector.

The company was headquartered downtown for 23 years after its inception in 1982.

With the lease to Innerwest and IW Strategies, about 6,000 square feet of office space remain on the second floor of the building a 3,800-square-foot space that overlooks the historic Washoe County Courthouse and a 2,000-square-foot location.

Mike Perkins, who is handling leasing for MTK Limited, says law firms and other professional firms are targeted as possible tenants.

The ground floor of the building has been occupied by three restaurants La Famiglia Ristorante, Fairly Grounded Too and Fuego for the past year.

Perkins said a new parking meter system installed downtown, which allows payment options such as debit cards or use of cell phones, has proven helpful to the building's tenants because it reduces customers' concerns about parking.