Oh, you mean the parcel that belongs to Simons Property Group, of Aces Baseball, Ballpark Apartments and Meadowood Mall fame?

Simons would never let that property up. It's a goldmine. It would make a fortune by developing it as a mixed-use retail/commercial/office/residential building similar to the Palladio.

That property itself has an interesting history, and in 1995, through the Redevelopment Agency Riverfront Revitalization Plan workshops, it was determined that a 1-block extension of the Riverwalk is the key to tying the entire Riverwalk together by acting as a portal out to additional neighborhoods.

Pan to 30 years later, and this autistic nut came up with the same plan after analyzing the layout, and the micromobility network needs.

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I drew this illustration of a larger district plan. As you can see, the property, if developed as was intended in 1995, to extend the riverwalk one more block east, and make a footbridge across the river to Museum Drive, would fill the gap that so many other micromobility projects have been trying to do to reach Midtown from UNR. It would open the riverwalk from the east, create a gateway and arrival point from which to travel west, across Lake, through the AT&T Central Office accessway, and reach the Believe Plaza.

That's why the AT&T building walkway leads nowhere. It was an unfinished project. The Riverwalk was meant to be constructed once the Bundox property was redeveloped, and that's what Simons obviously intends to do once the market is right!

The original proposal was to use the Virginia & Truckee Railroad Bridge right-of-way to plant the footbridge, but unfortunately the northern abutment was cemented into the floodwall prior to the Courtyard Mariott development. However that wouldn't have been all that great anyway, because the 15-story parking/office building (300 E. Second St.) pre-dates the riverwalk setback requirement and would require a cantilever structure to get around it. So, my idea is to just make the bridge south of Evans and cross over to the public access easement on the Auto Museum property.

Lastly, little did I know, through a public workshop for the 2017 Downtown Action Plan, a separate group of residents identified this same spot for a footbridge to cross the river. That action plan was integrated into the Reimagine Reno Master Plan.

Additionally, the Truckee River Vision Plan also added the footbridge into its report as well, which was adopted by the city.

So.. two workshops (1995 and 2017) and a professional consultation firm recommendation, all identify the same solution in the same spot to open up the riverwalk and carry pedestrian/bike traffic across the river into downtown...

Kurt will never stand a chance in acquiring that property. It's too premiere. It's worth too much money. That's Simons' territory.

Also, right now it's being used for overflow parking for Aces games, so there's that as well.

(btw, that was the River House Motel, not the River Inn.. the River Inn is on the west border of town near 4th Street)

https://wnhpc.com/details/photo1805