News 10-4-08 GSR

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Posted by: Trucker - 10/4/2008 2:32:17 PM
I have been a regular visitor to Reno over the last 22 years and have to say there have been many mistakes made in the promotion and design of the city. Look at towns like Austin Texas, there is a center, a main draw to go downtown, 6th street. Bar after bar and club sit side by side and the area is packed every Friday and Sat. night. And they don't have the addition of casinos. Reno had that, and they are slowly letting it slip away. At one time the majority of the casinos sat shoulder to shoulder (Harold's, Nevada Club, Horseshoe) in the area from the river to the tracks. A visitor could walk from venue to venue. Allowing older casinos to close and be torn down has lead to the the bleak environment of today. Also not allowing new ones to open with out a hotel has hurt you. I lived in San Jose Ca, and saw this happen in my town. What they did is improve on what they had and highlight historic properties. The implosion of the Mapes is classic Reno development. Here you had a classic hotel that could have been the jewel of the river. But no, a slab sites there now. Look at the De Anza in San Jose (www.hoteldeanza.com) or the Driskill in Austin (driskillhotel.com‎). Both these hotels had been sparred and became true points of interest. Reno, you have everything going for you, an intimate downtown, a youth market to the north (UNR), and of course casinos. So, don't tear down the Kingman, make it the next San Joe Hotel (Austin) (www.sanjosehotel.com).

Posted by: Anon - 10/5/2008 12:01:25 PM
I at GSR when they were pulling the deal together to get the financing done to purchase the property from Hilton. Let me assure you all - our town, its image, and the future of the GSR development is better off without the original development team, and far more secure in the honest control of the bank. What we'll hear now is far more than the future plans they promoted to get individual condo buyers into that mess. They condo sales hype is gone, and now we'll see what reality for GSR truly is.