Looking For Enlightenment
For some time now, I've been wondering to what use the large concrete plaza on the river between Virginia Street and Center Street (you know, where the Mapes Hotel used to be) is going to be put during the Summer, when it can't be used as an ice rink. Although it's nice to have a little more public space in a downtown area that is otherwise curiously bereft of public parks and open areas--the only other downtown park in Reno worth noting is Wingfield, and that one quite small--but the general public seems a little non-plused as to what exactly we are supposed to do with this large, empty expanse of concrete.
Well this morning at work I happened to glance out the window and see that one guy has found his own answer:
Well this morning at work I happened to glance out the window and see that one guy has found his own answer:
Yep, he's meditating. Honestly, it's the best use I've seen for this strange little park since the ice rink was taken down.
I know that plans have been bandied about for building permanent structures on the Center Street side of this lot to house restaurants and other businesses (I'm sure I heard somewhere that Tahoe's famous Gar Woods was going to open a new location there) and I've seen elaborate drawings depicting a planned cover for the little plaza, presumably to keep the ice rink from melting in the sun like it did all last winter. Does anyone know where these plans now stand?
posted by Yukon Sully | 11:10 AM
4 Comments:
I think the canopy thing is still on as soon as they get the funds which will be cool. However, the lack of grace makes a strange place to have summer concerts or other kinds of festival things. I have seen that guy there before I think--standing in the middle--but not mediating. I'm glad he's learned to relax. Maybe thats a blog entry for me and a link for you......hmmmm
On Feb 8th, the Redevelopment Agency met with REA who is doing the building. The primary items of interest in the minutes of that meeting are:
1) The proposed building which started at 3 stories and then went to 5 stories was reduced to 4 stories.
2) The developer announced that a "GarWoods" type restaurant would occupy the entire 4th floor. Garwoods wanted to raise the ceiling heights on the 4th floor which resulted in the elimination of the 5th floor.
3) An un-named other client was in final negotiations to take "2900 square feet of the first floor and all of the second and third floors". City of Reno has the balance of the first floor.
4) The developer "hoped" to have the builing finished and ready to turn over to the new occupants by March 2007.
5) The builder was working with the city to complete the design and construction of the plaza cover.
Link to PDF...
http://www.cityofreno.com/gov/boards/pdfs/board_pdfs/2006February08Redevelopment.PDF
After a lot of pie in the sky, the latest meeting in February seemed much more concrete than the earlier exchanges between REA and the City - but who knows :-)
Steve
Sully, now a question for you or your readers.
Has anyone heard anything at all about the possibility of a major downtown project - as yet unannounced publicly - that is proposed to encompass all of the blocks from 5th street north to the freeway and from South Virginia east to Lake Street?
An acquaintance who seemed to have inside information told me that he had seen a model mock-up of a proposal by a "consortium of entities" that he would not identify. According to the source, the proposal contains at least:
1) A new 26 story hotel casino,
2) New retail, including a department store,
3) Several condo buildings, and
4) A parking structure or structures.
I think it would be a wonderful addition to the area, but I have no idea whether it is pie-in-the-sky dreaming or if it is a solid proposal that is simply not yet public.
Has anyone heard any rumbles of anything similar to this type of multi-block multi-use project?
Steve
Hi Steve;
Maybe this is the $147 million project I heard about from a marketing guru over at Grand Sierra Resort...some project OTHER than the Waterfront in which the money is aleady secured and it's in the design phase....but I haven't seen anything come across the Council's table regarding this project.
I also know that Ryder Homes requested a multi-family code change for the northeast corner of Sinclair and Liberty. Hmmmmmm...
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