– The West of Wells (WOW) neighborhood is well on its way to being declared a Conservation District. The community activism there is credited with lowering the overall crime rate by over 30%. They got a nice write up in a National Sheriff’s Organization newsletter. The West of Wells homepage is also a nice read, with some cool documents under the History and Preservation tab.
– The new YMCA Wellness Center at 100 N. Sierra Street is part way through its new paint job. New windows have been cut into the 3rd floor to let in some light into the facility (and views out). What do you think about the new color scheme? You can see what other people are saying over at the DTM Facebook page.
I kind of think the Sierra Spirit bus was the inspiration for the colors!
– Get ready for the publicity push for the opening of the Siena. The RGJ ran an "only in Print" article today that will appear on-line Tuesday. You can read page 1 and page 2 here now! The initial press coverage and media walk-through is Tuesday morning, so expect to get inundated with smarmy praise. I’m not so sure that the new "S" logo is any improvement over the sort of elegant old Siena logo, and I’m a bit disturbed by the Italian Flying Donuts From Mars light fixtures shown in the RGJ story. I wont judge (publicly!) until they finally open on (or about, per the article) on April 21. But the new logo and "Casino" signage visible from downtown is less than impressive.
– REreno has some news about a second round of local developer defaults.
– The Fitz Garage came up at last week’s RAAB meeting. With a slip of the lip, the city’s rep mentioned that a deal has been reached to sell the land lease to L3 (generic for Nando) for "a bit over $2.5M. But the earliest possible closing date mentioned was July, and the city is always overly optimistic. Can you open a hotel without parking? That would be a tough one, though maybe the ancillary functions could open up. As of last week, the permit for the wall has been issued, but no permits for the interior renovation of the Fitz have even been applied for. I guess I would term CommRow as a "fluid" situation. Their Facebook page is eerily dead, even from the faithful.
Stewart
What do you mean “less than impressive” new signage at the Siena? Get on board, man. The jive is that this is going to be a FIVE STAR, WORLD CLASS, operation catering to the HIGH END gaming customer.
Can’t wait to see the fleet of jets standing by to fly in this high end gaming royalty to the Siena instead of Las Vegas or Macau.
Sully
Mike, all I could manage to get from your page 1 copy was that there was a $4 million face lift. What was that? New carpet and some expensive light fixtures? There was no where near enough time since the new owner took over to do much more than a quick cosmetic change. Either that or I should think about going back into business, as the construction rates here must be astronomical.
Comeback Kid
Don’t hold your breath on the Fitzgerald opening anytime soon. Didn’t you see in the facebook article ‘He (Nando) and his partner are investing their own money in the project’? That might be because no one wants to finance this debacle.
I do love that the article states the fact now that ‘Nando is becoming an outdoorsman a rock wall seems to make sense. Good luck with that.
Doesn’t anybody with any business sense see the absurdity of a rock wall and non gaming hotel downtown in Reno???? Yet it continues to go forward. I imagine it will look fine downtown fenced off when the project goes bust.
Reno reminds me of when i visit my friends in Brazil. They love their country, the natural resource, the open spaces, beauty, etc. They’re just not blessed with a government that can take advantage of theses resources for the betterment of the people.
Pest Control
I love the ReReno movement. My home town of Kansas City, just went throw a huge re-gentrification process, and it has paid off handsomely.
Kenny
Trying to cash in on a fringe sport, much like the Reno River Festival did with kayaking. Climbers are even more cash-poor than boaters. Good luck with that idea.
Is this the first step towards closing off Virginia from autos and making it a pedestrian mall?
Marinergal
The only problem with closing off Virginia Street and making it a pedestrian mall is…….why would pedestrians go there? To sample the run down liquor stores, tee shirt shops, tattoo parlors and scary bars that abound on Virginia Street?
Charles
Has it been about 5 years now that the condition of Virginia Street in downtown Reno has been a topic on this blog? Is it the Downtown Makeover Dude that is always saying give it time…give it time…..
In the last 5 years what has been done to improve Virginia Street? Virginia Street from the river north to 6th Street has not had crap done to it to make it better in the past 5 years. Still an ugly urine soaked panhandler infested decaying stinkhole (literally).
Pedestrian mall? Puh-lease.
GreenNV
I’m certainly no defender of North Virginia Street – it is truly a civic embarrassment. Urine and feces soaked mono-ped beggars, tattoo shops and crappy T-shirt and Betty Boop memorabilia stores I will grant you. But for the life of me, I don’t recall there being a single bar (not to mention a scary one) or liquor/convenience store anywhere between the river and the freeway on NVA. It is the “cleanest” stretch of street in the city!
Norton
Charles…..
Give it time. Give it time. When it comes to downtown Reno you have to think in terms of decades. It has only been 36 years now that the city has been working on a plan for the Kings Inn.
Give it time. Give it time.
Scobee
I was driving on Va. Street the other day (doors locked and windows up) and observed a group of street residents passing around some bottles of wine in the burned out remnants of the decaying motel across the street from the Circus Circus. One of them was urinating on the wall.
Does that count as a bar? A wine bar?
GreenNV
Skobee, not to pick nits, but those properties are not “burned out”. I don’t condone the activities you witnessed by any means, but these (weekly) motels were closed, barricaded, and set to be be demoed as the first phase of the Tessera project. So they are blight and an eyesore and a problem, sure. But “burned out” is exagerating the level of blight there.
Crowley
Speaking of the Siena, and downtown, and urine, I see that Cheap Reno Hotels is advertising rooms at the Siena for $49 a night. I guess this refers to the former Siena, and not the new Five Star High End Siena?
Donna
To many of the patrons of the Cal-Neva, just down the block from the Siena, $49 a night might be pretty high end. When dinner consists of the $1.49 hot dog and a beer at the Cal-Neva, $49 is big time.