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Downtown Reno Development Feed
The place to go for downtown Reno news

• JP MORGAN ACQUIRES JP MORGAN - THE DEEPER STORY
  

  10/4/08 - GSR ACQUIRED BY JP MORGAN - THE DEEPER STORY: This isn't super surprising news, I had reported a while back that JP Morgan had taken financial control of Grand Sierra Resort, but now it looks like one of its subsidiaries will be taking official ownership over it, according to RGJ. Right before the credit crunch happened, there were 3 or 4 buyers vying for the resort. I'm not sure what happened with those deals, or if they weren't able to happen because of the credit crunch.
  A while back, in July, I got two emails from two different shareholders apparently from one of the companies looking to acquire GSR. They were both surprised that in a previous post, I had named Nevada Land II LLC as a company interested in acquiring GSR, because these two shareholders thought THEIR company was the only one putting in a bid to buy it. That's why they contacted me via this site. After a little investigative reporting on all our parts, we discovered there were at least 4 parties interested in buying GSR, and that JP Morgan had given Tom Schrade an ultimatum to sell the property within 60 days 'or else.' Hmmm a coincidence that now it's almost exactly 60 days later? I wonder if this new breaking news is the 'or else' part and NONE of the interested buyers were able to come up with financing to buy it, including Nevada Land II LLC, who was rumored as having difficulty coming up with the cash to buy GSR. We knew at that time Schrade was on his way out, whether he sold the property to a private party or, as this article states, JP Morgan acquiring it. One of the shareholders learned that Nevada Land II LLC was interested in more of a partnership with GSR (probably acquiring a portion of their 145 acres), and the other buyers wanted to purchase GSR in its entirety,
  So now JP Morgan owns it. This to me means one of three things, based on the information I received from those shareholders...either none of the parties on the table were able to come up with financing due to the credit crunch, so JP Morgan pulled the plug on all of them and acquired it, OR, JP Morgan acquiring it is part of a transition to one of these buyers, OR, these shareholders were actually from JP Morgan's subsidiary, Credit Markets Real Estate Corp, who ended up acquiring it.
  I know these two shareholders aren't full of hot air, because they sent me the quarterly report from their company that listed GSR as a property their company is/was aggressively pursuing.
  In any case, so what now? As rosy and positive as that RGJ article is, I doubt JP Morgan has any interest in running and operating a casino for an extended period of time. I don't believe anything that spews out of GSR's mouth at this point, because there was ANOTHER GSR article in RGJ when I broke the news Nevada Land II was interested in acquiring GSR, in which Tom Schrade said the water park was still being built, yet he knew GSR was soon going to change hands. Back in that post on this site, I had used the analogy that it would be like me selling a house, and promising to surrounding neighbors that the new owners will spend gobs of money improving the property. You just can't make promises like that, especially when you don't know who the new owners will be, which Schrade didn't at the time.
  So, say goodbye to our indoor waterpark? Probably, unless a private corp comes in and snatches the property up. I doubt GSR will receive any major property upgrades while JP Morgan owns it. I can't imagine the number of lawsuits from the owners of those hotel-condos.
  

• Fitzgeralds to Close November 25
  I was really excited back in November 2007 when it was announced L3 Development acquired Fitzgeralds, because it made perfect sense at some point in the future they would do something special to the Fitz because of its proximity to the Montage. It looks like L3 Development is setting those plans in motion by closing the Fitz on November 25, 2008 as part of its transition to a non-gaming centric boutique hotel. 475 employees were notified this morning, and will remain employed until Fitzgeralds closes. They will have resources on hand to assist with new employment opportunities. The 351 room hotel has an interesting history, starting in 1976 and then spending years in bankruptcy. When it was purchased by L3 Development in November 2007, it was the first time in years private hands owned it. Being bank/conservatorship owned, you can imagine the maintenance nightmare L3 Development inherited when they bought the building. Since then they’ve put in $3 million improvements to Fitzgeralds and the acquisitions of adjacent properties. Rob A. Cashell Jr. stated this has been an extremely difficult decision for the management team. “We recognize that Fitzgeralds is a place embedded in deep history, nostalgia and significance for downtown Reno,” he said. “Many of our team members have been with Fitzgeralds for many years and each one has contributed heavily toward what made Fitzgeralds a success in its day.” “These type of decisions are painfully difficult,” said Cashell. “However, there is momentum building in the revitalization of downtown Reno and we believe that the Fitzgeralds and associated properties are critical components to continuing the redevelopment started by The Montage, and most recently by the covering of two blocks of the railway corridor by the City of Reno.” At present, L3 Development is nearing completion of the former Golden Phoenix Hotel and Casino into The Montage, a 380-unit luxury residential and commercial development. The Montage is scheduled to open late-October 2008.  “Taking into consideration the completion of The Montage and the initiation of the Retrac Plaza, it is now time for us to turn our focus on the transformation of the Fitzgerald’s collective parcel,” said Fernando Leal, managing partner of L3. “There is never a good time for people to lose their jobs, but we sincerely believe that now is the time to shift to a different business model and that the ultimate result will be a net gain in jobs and economic vitality for the community.” he added. I'll be having a sit down one-on-one again with Fernando, probably next week, to discuss the plans for the Fitz. Stay tuned.
• East Downtown Construction Progress Gallery
  

  9/27/08 - DOWNTOWN CONSTRUCTION PICTURES: EAST DOWNTOWN: I took a stroll around east downtown today, taking some great overhead shots of the baseball stadium being built, progress on Townhomes at Holcomb Place, 4th Street Transit Station site work, some downtown shots, and State Street Center project. Click here for the pictures.
  

• Various Tidbits
  Construction is continuing at full speed ahead at the Baseball stadium. I'll be going and grabbing some pictures this afternoon. Also, construction continues at the State Street Project, and site work has started for both the 4th Street Transit Station and the Hyatt Summerfield going in on 2nd street across from the Ballpark. Construction is in full swing at the Townhomes at Holcomb Place again after a bit of a lull, and construction continues on the LEED certified office building going in on Center Street across from 8 on Center. The Montage is looking very sleek with its exterior lighting now functional, large white columns installed on 2nd and Sierra Streets, and more landscaping planted. I'll get pics of all this today, but I wanted to give everyone a general construction update as well.
• Reno Aces - Baseball Team Name
  9/23/08 - NEWSFLASH: The Triple-A baseball team will be named the Reno Aces.
  
• Central Reno in Pictures
  

  9/15/08 - CENTRAL RENO WALK - Justin W, who regularly contributes to this blog in the form of pictures, comments and scoops, recently went out on a stroll around central Reno, including Virginia Lake, Idlewild Park, downtown Reno, Old Southwest, Wells Avenue, and Rancho San Rafael Park. Virginia Lake is looking really nice with a pier, gardens, walking paths, and Virginia Lake Crossing compliments the area perfectly. I can see why they sold 19 units last month. In this age of sprawling cookie-cutter subdivisions outside of the McCarran loop, it's great to see so much diversity in architecture, art and style, and reminds me why I chose an older fixer-upper with great bones in the bungalow area of Wells Avenue. We have a really beautiful mature city core with some amazing parks for this city's size. Click here for the pictures. Thanks for letting me post these Justin!
  

• Downtown Construction Update
  Pics of State Street project, Townhomes at Holcomb Place (n