New details emerge on Keystoen Casino/Hotel
May 25, 2007
Aha! After months of land acquisitions and a push to change zoning in the area, a new gaming company, Scodara, wants to build a 600-room hotel-casino at Keystone Avenue and Fifth Street, the Reno City Council learned Thursday in a planning workshop. Wow 600 rooms, that pretty much entails a nice-sized tower yes? To compare, Eldorado has 816. Councilman Dave Aiazzi and Mayor Bob Cashell said they would welcome a new casino on the block, because several former “crack houses” there are being demolished.
Downtown Walk in Pictures
May 25, 2007
Click to see pics of Wild River Grille, new State Street Commercial Center, and more
Farmers Market Coming to Reno
May 24, 2007
The City of Reno entered into exclusive agreement with the Nevada Certified Farmers Market Association to bring an urban market to downtown Reno. Unlike the Sparks farmers market, this would be a more permanent fixture in downtown, and include a couple indoor restaurants, spaces for artists to sell things as well, and of course, groceries. This could be BETTER than a regular ole grocery store, and provide the much needed grocery source for current and future downtown residents. The Farmers Market is on the fast track, and should be open by this summer. There would be a common kitchen for farmers to prepare foods, and the Nevada Certified Farmers Market Association mention everything from fresh fish and salmon (yum) to produce, to jellies, produce, meats, etc. Last I was told, at least two locations were being considered, one being the Freight House area and the other being the bottom floor of Riverwalk Towers.
More Canopy Madness
May 23, 2007
Two of the three developers being considered would like a ‘clean slate’ regarding the design of the canopy when they start the retail building aspect of the 10 North Virginia project, or at the very least have some say in the design. They would like the canopy design to conform to the retail building design (which I thought was already designed by Sheean Van Woert) and not vice versa. Of course the council agreed, and it was hinted any further design work on the canopy would be postponed until a developer is chosen in two months. The discussion became so involved council members almost forgot they were simply motioning to accept the three finalists for the project. What does this mean for the design work already done by Sheean Van Woert? Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on that work. Sure, there’s a good chance the reason two of the three developers would like a say in the canopy is so they can enhance it…but we have a canopy design approved by the public at meetings, approved by the design subcommittee, and given the green light by the council, and fits the budget allocated. I would love to get my readers’ opinions on this. At least there was some mild comic relief in listening to the ‘President of the United States’ talk about the evils of newspapers and how newspaper racks are ruining downtown. The council as a whole today was unusually witty and energetic, making for quite an entertaining city council meeting.
Next two days full of meetings
May 23, 2007
There’s a Redevelopment Agency meeting at 2:00 today to discuss and hopefully select a developer to move forward with the retail building for 10 North Virginia. The meeting will be in City Council Chambers downtown. Also today/tomorrow are the meetings I posted in the center column of this page under ‘essential meetings’ Tab. Between the 9:00 a.m. ’special’ meeting and the 2:00 p.m. ’special meeting’, the Council/Redevelopment Board looks to spend all day focusing on the Transit Oriented Districts of South Virginia and 4th Street.
