Reno: Urban Market Moving Forward

The Reno Redevelopment Agency meeting today (January 30, 2008) focused on two major subjects:  The so-called "Urban Market" and the relocation of Fire Station #1.  We'll get to that, and more, here.

First, the urban market.  After a fairly detailed proposal from RDA head Mark Lewis, some words of support from Roberta Ross and Steven Nightingale, and some concerns about the northbound lane on West Street from the guy from Plaza Resort Club (who's name I can't remember right now, apologies!), the council voted to approve the lease with Chaim Freeman, owner of the River Walk condominiums across the street.

Reno Urban Market Ground Plan

A few things are notable about this project.  One is that the initial cash outlay to get the market up and running is substantially less than a million dollars - a rarity in these times for anything downtown.  But $515,000 in startup costs from a mix of RDA funds, CDBG, and other sources will get the thing going - and ongoing lease expenses will be shy of $150k yearly - which is expected to be made back from sublet revenue.

Also notable is the schedule.  This blog is happy to eat its words from back in September when we suggested that the market would not be materializing any time soon.  In fact, this schedule is intended to put the market open with most of the kinks worked out in time for the Artown festival in July.  July of 2008.  This year.

The mix of tenants seems just right - butcher, baker, candlestick maker (hard to avoid the cliche, sorry), produce vendor, cheese vendor, wine shop, radio stations broadcasting from the market, and a whole host of assorted side-vendors which as has been mentioned many other places, will likely end up spilling out onto the street for a street market on the weekends.

Finally, there are a few issues with getting the project built - legally - due to city ordinances trying to clean up downtown in past years.  Included in this are the cap on package liquor licenses (currently set at 14, though there are 22 active licenses operating today), which would preclude the wine shop, and the "Safe Scape Ordinance" which dictates that there is to be no outdoor merchandise, and that shop windows are to be uncluttered presumably as to create better visibility between the inside of the shop and outside. 

All laudable goals, but perhaps a one-size-fits-all solution which has run its course.  Council may consider creating a "Market District" which would bypass these existing blanket ordinances.  The Urban Blog agrees with city staff that these ordinances should be reevaluated and probably replaced with more prescriptive codes and guidelines that would not seek to arbitrarily cap or prohibit potentially positive uses that share similarities with potentially negative uses.  In this vein, it was mentioned that Long's Drugs, "may look again at Reno" if they too can get exemptions to the Safe Scape ordinance - suggesting there was more wrong with that project than just the slot machines.

While still maintaining concerns for the Green Room, The Urban Blog wholeheartedly endorses this project and can't wait to see it come online - and will be investigating the matter of the Green Room separately.  Also noted here are Mayor Cashell's objections to the antique clock from Park Lane Mall ending up in the West Street Median - to paraphrase him, "It has to go on Virginia Street."  That matter was not decided at today's meeting.

Next up - relocating the downtown fire station & fire department administrative staff from its current location to make way for the baseball stadium.  The fire admin staff will end up temporarily at some location yet to be determined - most likely at 410 Ryland.  Council, especially Jessica Sferazza, was interested in finding other cheaper locations not requiring an ongoing lease - but voted to approve the lease on the Ryland Street property on the condition that no other property in consideration can be made to work.

As for the fire station - the council had several options to consider, most intriguing to all from the onset, was option "1A".  The "temporary" stations being considered in the original plan are apparently robust enough to serve as fire stations for 20 years, which means the city essentially gets two new fire stations (one at Valley Road and East Fourth, one at Grand Sierra fronting Mill Street) for a third the price of a new downtown permanent HQ station, which could mean, if baseball is still willing to loan the city the full $10 million amount originally agreed to, half that amount could be used to acquire property for a new fire station to be built some years later while still building the temporary stations inside of 6 months.  Quite an accomplishment if it's true, and should do a lot to allay fears of a long term hit to the city's public safety.

Finally, later in the evening, in the regular city council meeting proceedings continued from earlier, Councilman Aiazzi, seemingly the lone voice on the council concerned for the fate of the Holland Project, urged discussion of that project's City-sponsored accommodations, which the project hasn't been able to use since they were evicted in the summer, to be placed on the agenda of the last council meeting in February.  This would essentially be the "do-or-die" moment for Holland's city support in the previously offered and then taken away venue, something the project seems long past counting on, but which would still enable them to program their events and build some momentum to help them find a new more permanent performance venue space.  As pointed out here earlier, Holland Project now has offices and a meeting space on Cheney Street, and appears to have not given up on their goal of helping bring together the all-ages community in Reno.

All in all, quite a day of meetings.  Other items not covered here include the Wells Ave neighborhood plan, the less prominent Country Club Acres neighborhood plan, and well as some lengthy discussion and presentations regarding a project called "Redfield Row" which is trying to build a very nice townhome development at the corner of Mt Rose Street and Watt Street, but which is facing some staunch opposition from a neighbor.

Good to see momentum continuing to build in downtown Reno.  We'll be on the lookout for any new developments.

Comments

[Bob]

As owner of RenoUrbanMarket.com, I would welcome a physical location to compliment the virtual site.

As Reno grows, residents would ultimately benefit from purchasing from local merchants and at the same time, lower our carbon footprint by reducing the need to freight as many goods into our region from outside sources.

I think Reno Urban Market is a good idea - although I question if the City of Reno should be using its citizen’s funds instead of private money.