What's Up Downtown: Updated timelines for several Reno developments (Voices)

RENO, Nev. — Downtown Reno is building a future with more activity than it has experienced in ages — with or without a pandemic, the plans for a multitude of developments are moving forward as intended.

We are most excited about Reno City Center by CAI Investments because it will bring much needed enhancement to urban life in the core of downtown. This live, work, play renovation project will transform the former Harrah’s casino property into a hub for downtown life and economic activity.

The timeline for the west tower, which will include apartments, retail and public green space, has been updated to 14 months, so it will be a little over a year until that highly visible area experiences a complete metamorphosis.

Along with City Center, the ReTRAC Plaza, slated to be beautified by July 2021, will bring new life and vibrancy to the area immediately surrounding our world-famous Reno Arch.

Keystone Commons, a large super-block retail and housing development at the corner of Keystone & I-80, has recently secured their project funding and has started moving tractors and dirt getting ready to go vertical with a parking garage and four-story apartment building with 305 units.

Major brands the developer has confirmed leases with include In-N-Out Burger, Starbucks and Firehouse Subs. This project will create much-needed liveliness in the western portion of downtown, along with the nearby massive Reno Neon Line also in development.

The large multi-use project known as T3, located directly west of Greater Nevada Field, seems to have recently gained some new momentum. Permits have been submitted to begin preparing the site for a five-story apartment complex and a five-story parking garage.

They also plan to include retail and open space in this project. With a projected completion in 2023, there could still be a lot of changes, and it is encouraging news that they are moving forward with a prominent downtown site in need of development.

The Mod at Riverwalk Apartments was completed earlier this year as a motel remodel that turned the former Reno Riviera weekly motel into an upscale micro-unit living facility. The same developer is now doubling down with a new building project on the same block.

Mod2 (tentative name) will be five stories with 69 multi-family units. There is also potential for another residential project at the old Greyhound bus station site, and the developer is seeking an abandonment of Stevenson Street to create a public greenway that would join the two blocks together.

There are a couple of townhouse developments at various stages of completion. CasaBella Townhomes on the corner of First and Bell streets is looking beautiful and nearly finished. Construction has begun on Pine Street Townhomes located off Sinclair Street between Ryland and Pine — this project will include forty-nine multi-family units.

With the University of Nevada, Reno expanding its sphere of influence, student housing has become a trending industry in downtown.

Canyon Flats will soon be ready to open for students to move in starting in January, and directly across Center Street, construction is expected to begin soon at 661 Lake — which recently expanded their plans to include a 13-story tower of market rate apartments, along with their six-story student housing complex.

With more students living downtown, there will be a stronger demand for student-focused amenities and services.

Tolles Development Company is working on a 7,000-square-foot retail center at 705 N. Virginia St. on three parcels that border the freeway off-ramp and have been a blank canvas for many years

There are some other properties to keep an eye on in the Downtown Reno Partnership’s Target Area for Revitalization #1, including 210 N. Sierra, the Whitney Peak Hotel expansion on the west side of their hotel, the old Vino’s building, and of course, the ReTRAC Plaza Beautification Project.

We would like to thank and give a shout-out to the Downtown Makeover blog (check out their great work at downtownmakeover.com) for curating a lot of this information and for often being the first to know about all the hot new developments in Reno.

More information on these and future developments can also be found on our downtown development map located at downtownreno.org/about-downtown-reno.

“What’s Up Downtown” is a monthly Voices column in the NNBW authored by Alex Stettinski, executive director of the Downtown Reno Partnership. Reach him for comment at astettinski@downtownreno.org.