The $98,000,000 airbnb

Gondola Vista is a new 20 unit townhouse project under the Heavenly gondola at South Lake. It is specifically designed for the luxury vacation rental market, and the mix of 4, 5, and 6 bedroom units can be yours for a cool $98,000,000 or an average of a scooch below $5M each. The LoopNet listing is HERE.

The nights I checked were in the $800-1000 per night range. With an 80% mortgage, principal and interest would run $20,000 per month per unit. I can’t see any world where this is a good investment, but I can be schooled.

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The $250 Property Check Up

The Reno Planning Commission is set to vote on the proposed Development Code Update this Wednesday. Approval by Council is scheduled for 8 December, and the Updated code will go into effect sometime in January depending on appeals. There is a lot of good in the Update, but also a lot of confusing layers of complexity. For a limited time, I am available to review your property and prepare a report on what the Update will mean to your development potential for $250 per parcel.

If you have properties in the Midtown, Wells, Plumas or Newlands Neighborhoods, a lot has changed (more changes to Wells next year!). If you own MF14 properties in Wells below Vassar, you may have a golden pass to MF30. And if you own MF zoned land anywhere in Reno, density bonuses may help you and your holdings achieve better returns.

Some Easter Eggs in the Update:

• 5 storey 75′ height extended to 1.5 blocks from S Virginia Street.
• Parking reductions in proximity to S Virginia and 4th Street.
• Parking reductions in proximity to the Downtown MU districts.
• Density bonuses in MF districts based on unit size.
• “Free” zoning amendments for a limited time if you think they have it wrong.

Email me your property address and/or APN and your authorization to proceed to prepare a report for $250, and get a report within a couple days. Knowledge is everything!

Mike

macnv@charter.net

NW Dirt

If you have been driving around NW Reno, you will notice that there is a lot of dirt being moved. Here’s what all the dust is about:

1. Mountain View Mixed Residential (aka the Poltergeist Project) will be 283 apartment units (approved), and 66 townhouses and 49 single family small-lot homes (in review). At least the Townhouse and SFRs are slated to be a DR Horton Project.

2. Village Northwest will be 48 triplex condo units from Jenuine Communities. This basic design is all over the South Meadows and is not my favorite, but seems popular with both the builders and buyers.

3. Brae Retreat aka Somersett Village 1A by Desert Wind Homes will be a pearl necklace of 62 single family homes above The Village and Town Center. It is not on the DWH website yet, but has been showing up in their print ads for the last couple weeks.

4. Summerset Reno Assisted Living and Memory Care will a two building complex with a total of 163 beds. I can’t remember how many memory care facilities have been proposed in NV Reno, but the one at Mae Ann and Grandpoint by the post office has been cancelled.

5. The Vue on 4th Street or some variation of that, 164 high end apartments from the developer of Somersett.

6. Verdi Business Park, (not to be confused with the existing Verdi Business Park) is a 100,000 SF flexspace development hiding in plain sight that deservingly managed to avoid public scrutiny and interference. Whatever you need, you can accommodate it here (maybe even live work!). I salute the developers for a great project and professional management of the public process.

RED Reno Rents

Asking rental rates have just been posted for the first release of the RED Reno project, FKA Park Lane. The Emory building is one of the big ones that wraps around a parking structure. I am sure it will be very nice. Back of the envelope estimate, rents are 35% higher than the highest rents for comparable product anywhere else in the region. How many RICCOH’s (Rich Californian’s Coming Over the Hill) can they find to buy into this level of pricing? What will the “real” pricing end up and how will that impact surrounding projects?

Interesting video links (and possible copyright violations?) if you Google search “red reno”!

Ward 1

The race or at least discussion about the Reno Ward 1 Council seat is getting down and dirty.

One of the principals of Marmot Properties had THIS to say.

Local historian Alicia Barber had THIS response.

Washoe Residents For Appropriate Planning details the Developer/ Construction Industry contributions to the Ward 1 Candidate’s campaigns. $10,050 Brekhus. $136,880 Drakulich.

Any questions?

Santerrible

What Verdi really really needs is 1491 more stucco shit boxes destroying the last remnants of what makes Verdi Verdi. The Santerra Development filed their first salvo today. THIS is the application summary. The fill submittal is available HERE. Go to the Project Info drop down menu and select Attachments.

The Mortensen Garson Plan, as crappy as it is, was always written in stone by the Hardesty legal decision. The rejection of the Stan Lucas project (at least temporarily) gives some hope the Reno may be coming to their senses and reevaluating growth in areas they cannot adequately service. I’m sure there is a traffic study for Santerra stating it will generate 6 total car trips and that the Garson Road interchange is completely adequate to service the new development plus the 400 or so planned Meridian 120 S units. A wildlife underpass half a mile detour away is adequate for bicycle traffic.

OK UMVs (Unwashed Masses of Verdi), where do we stand?

Peg’s Bails from Downtown

Peg’s Glorified Ham and Eggs’ “temporarily closed” downtown Reno location looks like it is closed for good and on the rental market. Good-bye, one more Reno institution.

Urban Density

Reno is all about it until it is proposed and then they are not.  It is a ReImagine Reno Master Plan policy NOT to subdivide existing lots, yet maximum density is achieved on the smallest of lots.  In the Wells CC zoning district, a typical 7000 SF lot will yield a maximum of 5 1-bedroom units based on parking and trash enclosure requirements.  2 smaller lots can harvest 7 1-bedroom units and be parked to code. (MF30 zoning would allow 4 under current code).

 

 

 

Not so bad, 7 1-bedroom units.  An early duplex proposal for this site garnered a comment from planning that “this is EXACTLY what we don’t want to see in the Wells District”).

We in the planning and design industry need to stop getting the mixed messages of what Reno “wants”.  The current proposed Planning Code Update does not do enough to provide direction and in many cases will further stymie urban infill development.

Homeless “Super Shelter” Proposed

In her editorial in the RGJ, Councilperson Jardon let slip that Reno is in negotiations with the State of Nevada to purchase the Governor’s Bowl Park for a for a 7.43 acre “super shelter” for the homeless/unhoused.  In not unrelated news, the adjacent property owner is suing the City of Reno to stop a proposed (under construction) “temporary” big top tent city shelter on TMWA property in front of his holdings.

Good for you Mr. Peterson!  Reno trying to justify their illegal land use activities under the guise of “emergency powers” is specious at best given their call for “transparency” in all dealings.

Verdi Executive Boat and RV Storage

Hey, the UMVs (Unwashed Masses of Verdi) look like they will get “executive” RV storage!  The Special Use Permit application for the 641 covered unit Verdi Boat and RV Storage is currently under review.  It is located just West of Gold Ranch and will include over 386,000 SF of open, covered storage spaces.

Sometimes you just hold your nose and come out in favor of or at least not against a project.  There is no sewer this far out west, so there isn’t much of a prospect for other types of development.  Maybe the competition will force Witt Storage to reconsider their proposed 499 unit facility (500 would trigger a Special Use Permit) on Somersett Ridge Parkway where public services and infrastructure exist and consider a more appropriate land use.