Mill Street makeover

One of the oldest tilt-up industrial complexes in Reno is seeing new life, and it’s already resulted in nearly full occupancy from a spate of new tenants.

Ryan Massie, managing partner of Sacramento-based Massie & Co., purchased two outdated and largely vacant flex industrial buildings, along with a two-story office building, spread across four parcels along Mill Street before its junction with Terminal Way. The three buildings were erected in 1969, and due to their low ceilings and lack of docking bays and semi-truck maneuverability, the two 52,000-square-foot industrial properties were pretty much functionally obsolete for the needs of modern industrial tenants.

The two-story office building, meanwhile, had sat nearly vacant for decades. Apart from housing a now-closed Bank of America branch and another business, the 100,000-square-foot building had been mostly dark since 1987, Massie said. To give you an idea of just how dated parts of the interior were, some of the office space was divided into smoking and non-smoking areas, Massie noted.

“It was a time capsule,” he said with a laugh.

Ryan Massie

 

Massie & Co.’s roots run deep in the Sacramento region, but the Mill Street project is just the second redevelopment project in Northern Nevada for the company. The firm has had a regional office on Glendale Avenue for the past seven years, and Ryan Massie makes the trip over the Sierra about once a week.

Massie & Co., purchased the Mill Street property in 2020. Back in 2006, it purchased a 180,000-square-foot building in South Meadows. Repositioning older assets is a core line of business for Massie, its managing partner told NNBW.

“Development has really changed for local builders,” Massie said. “Unless you are an institutional builder and erecting hundreds of thousands of square feet, repurposing infill projects is the new style of development.

“I thought there was tremendous opportunity (at Mill Street) because of the location; it’s right next to the Spaghetti Bowl and it backs up to the GSR,” he added. “The (building) coverage on the property is also very unique – you typically don’t see it so high. The location was perfect, and with that coverage and favorable zoning, I thought we could make something really great here.”

Repositioning the Mill Street project included changing building usage from flex industrial to retail and research and development space, Massie said. Massie and Co., has already completed extensive exterior remodel work in the first phase of its redevelopment plans for the Mill Street project. The company engaged FormGrey Studio of Reno as its architect.

“I told them I wanted something new and fresh that was totally different,” Massie said. “I wanted it to be unique.

“There is a lot of potential and opportunity to repurpose a lot of (older) buildings,” he added. “There are some really exciting things you can do with them.”

Rhys Williams, project manager for FormGrey Studio, said the design for the buildings was a true partnership between architect and developer.

“These old and forgotten warehouse buildings have so much potential if the team works together,” Williams said. “The key to a successful redevelopment project is cueing in on the subtle details embedded in the original design. Once those details are discovered, it’s easier to work with the architecture than struggle against it.

“In the case of the Mill Street project, the lines of the building told us what to do,” Williams added. “The deep corrugation adds depth and contrast to what was a flat concrete desert. Redevelopment doesn’t need to be complicated and expensive. A few subtle moves can add a lot of life back into a project while still honoring its past.”

The first building fronting Terminal Way housed UTV Addiction and A Doggies Dream canine boarding facility, but the latter tenant vacated the site. A new tenant has already leased the 7,200 square feet end space and is expected to move in in the first quarter of 2024, Massie said. There’s just 26,000 square feet of vacancy left among the renovated buildings, and Massie said he’s working through several letters of intent from tenants interested in leasing the space.

Massie & Co., divested the office property, but Massie declined to disclose details about the buyer and future plans for the property except for the fact that exterior remodel work will complement the industrial portion of the Mill Street project.

Modernizing the Mill Street buildings required extensive work on the parking lots to increase maneuverability and functionality for vehicles and pedestrians. The roofs of the buildings had to be completely removed and replaced, and there also was some settling on one building, which required foundational shoring.

Repaving work on the parking lots began last week, and Massie & Co., expects to wrap up all major construction activities by year’s end.

“The challenges were endless,” Massie said. “One of the hardest things is that you don’t have the plans that modern day projects have. A lot of it was just figuring out what was there and doing a lot of problem solving.”

Massie said his company likely will divest the remaining Mill Street assets once occupancy is fully stabilized and will continue looking for other properties to repurpose and reposition. Massie & Co., has already acquired another office building encompassing nearly 15,000 square feet, and Williams at FormGrey is working on renderings for the asset.

“This is our niche, and we are very good at it,” Massie said.