On January 12, the developers of a potential new hotel and casino project in Reno, Nevada held a virtual “town hall” meeting with a few dozen officials and community residents, in order to start gauging feedback on the project, which was first proposed back in November.
San Diego-based Elevation Entertainment is looking to build its Firecreek Crossing Resort and Casino on a long-vacant 20-acre site near the intersection of Kietzke Lane and South Virginia Street, one of the highest-trafficked areas in the city.
Elevation CEO Ryan Stone said during the meeting that the space “feels like a site that’s just been blighted and abandoned for so long,” and joked that it was “the doughnut hole of Reno.”
The renderings Elevation submitted last year for Firecreek Crossing feature over a million square feet of facilities, including a 13-story hotel tower, a casino and meeting space.
In his remarks, Stone said that the casino “really is designed for Reno with Reno in mind,” and noted that the city is “on fire,” thanks to projects like “ RED in Midtown in the neon lights district and all the other infill developments that are going on.”
During the comments section, some residents asked about the possibility of building a pedestrian bridge across South Virginia Street to allow for quicker access to the nearby Reno-Sparks Convention Center. Elevation representatives confirmed that there were no plans for a bridge at the moment, but said that it could be added to the final designs if the demand is such.
Traffic congestion was another point of concern, as initial traffic reports have estimated that the casino could generate over 11,000 additional trips in the area.
The expansion of gaming into residential areas was noted by some residents as well, however the developers remarked that that is a bit of a tough argument in a small city with a lot of casinos already spread throughout.
There will be several additional meetings in the future for some of the issues to be addressed, starting with the next virtual meeting, which is scheduled for January 24. The matter will also likely be discussed by the Reno Planning Commission as soon as March and the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Commission as soon as May.
If fully approved, the hotel-casino will probably take about four years to complete—two years to break ground and two years of construction.
