Hot off the press from this mornings paper. Is this the beginning of a new "Downtown Reno"
Hava Good One,
Richard

Station Casinos Inc. announced plans Friday to build a boutique hotel-casino across South Virginia Street from the Reno-Sparks Convention Center ­— choosing a hotly debated parcel for its second local project announced this year.

“We will do a very nice room product, a slightly larger room than what you typically find in the market,” said Station Executive Vice President/Chief Development Officer Scott Nielson. “We are very excited about the Northern Nevada market. We saw this opportunity and decided to take advantage of it.”

Las Vegas-based Station also owns land on the southern two corners of Mount Rose Highway and U.S. 395, and plans to build a hotel-casino on the southwest corner before going ahead with the smaller property near the convention center, officials said.

Station plans from 200 to 500 rooms for the eight-acre parcel, Nielson said.

“With 500, you would really have to stack them,” he said.

The project will be significantly smaller than other Station hotel-casinos in Southern Nevada, some of which have a 60-acre footprint, he said.

Station will lease the land from Reno developer Roger Elton, and only will buy the land if the company is able to get a special-use permit to build the project, Nielson said.

The other Station project to the south is a partnership with the Summit Sierra mall, under construction on the northwest corner of U.S. 395 and Mount Rose Highway. That hotel-casino also needs a special-use permit.

In addition to 13 properties in Southern Nevada — some hotel-casinos and some stand-alone casinos — Station manages the Thunder Valley Casino outside Sacramento for the United Auburn Indian Community.

Tourism officials said adding a hotel near the recently expanded and remodeled Reno-Sparks Convention Center will help bring bigger events to the city.

“It is a huge positive for us as a destination,” said Rob Enriquez, executive sales director for the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority.

Enriquez and the rest of the sales team will be able to use the Station properties as a selling point when speaking with convention planners, he said.

“It allows us to continue to take Reno-Tahoe in the direction of establishing itself as a premier meeting and event destination,” he said.

Even potential Station competitors agreed.

“It will help bring a critical mass to the area around the convention center,” said John Farahi, chief executive of the company that owns the Atlantis Casino Resort, just north of the center.

“It would make our area that much more of a focal point for gaming and entertainment so the convention center will be more fully utilized.”

Earlier this year, city and development officials wrangled over allowing a casino on the land and whether a hotel would be required.

The Reno City Council finally approved a zoning change in April that would allow a casino on the property.

Elton asked for the zoning change, as he planned to use the unrestricted gaming license from the Reno Turf Club, which the city condemned as a part of Reno’s downtown train trench project.

“We believed the Reno Turf Club would have been a better fit there, adding hotel rooms later on, but that is not what the City Council wanted,” Elton said Friday.

“To meet the desires of the City Council, we went out and sought a first-class casino-hotel developer. Station will do a bang-up job.”