Actually, it’s not just "something." This thing is huge, the largest development to hit the Reno-Sparks area since, perhaps, 1978 -- and it’s progressing as we write.
First of all, the Sparks Marina is an 80-acre lake in east Sparks, just off I-80 at the Sparks Blvd. exit. It has a nearly two-mile walking path all around it, plus a sandy beach and diving platform, food concession, bathhouse with showers, commercial building, dog park, boat rentals, and even a local sailing club (with great wind that kicks up in the late afternoon from the west). The lake is stocked with trout and you can fish from piers and human- or electric-powered boats. The lake began its life as the Helms Gravel Pit, but during the massive flooding on Jan. 1, 1997, the pit filled with water.
Legends at the Sparks Marina is a mixed-use retail, entertainment, and resort project on the east end of the lake; it’s being built by by RED Development, headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., and Scottsdale, Ariz., for $500 million.
Overall, Legends will encompass upwards of 1.35 million square feet spread over 145 acres. Ground was broken in October 2007 and the first establishments are scheduled to open in fall 2008; the build-out will be completed by late 2009. Altogether, Legends is projected to cost $1.3 billion.
So far, the line-up of stores and attractions is as follows. The 248,000-square-foot Scheels All-Sports store will showcase "the world's largest selection of sports, sportswear, and footwear." This is a big-box sporting-goods superstore, similar to Bass Pro Shops at Silverton in Las Vegas and Cabela’s, which opened a couple months ago at Boomtown in Reno. The footwear selection will reportedly be the largest in Nevada; there will also be shop, bike, ski, whitewater, and fishing shops, plus giant aquariums, an operating Ferris wheel, shooting galleries, and simulators for golf, tennis, hockey, and more.
T-Rex: A Prehistoric Family Adventure will be a 15,000-square-foot "destination restaurant" from the founder of the Rainforest Café. Animatronic dinosaurs will occupy theatrical settings, such as geysers, waterfalls, and ice caves. Dinosaur digs for fossils, paleontology docents, and a dinosaur gift shop will also be on site.
Dave and Buster's is a chain restaurant with a big midway and entertainment area, complete with video and arcade games, pool tables, and shuffleboard.
The Saddle Ranch Chop House will be a western-style steakhouse, with an outdoor patio with stone campfire pits, a mechanical bull ring, and karaoke.
Other stores, restaurants, and entertainment venues believed to be in the Legends roster include Brooks Brothers, BCBG, Max Azria, and Lane Bryant; Stanford & Sons Comedy Club, Corona Cantina, Yard House, Bikers, Blues and Barbecues, Hot Dog Hall of Fame, Hash House a Go Go, Chili's Grill and Bar, SegaWorld Sports Grille, and Louisiana Kitchen; Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, Adidas; Sunglass Station, Harry and David Camping World; and a Target and Greatland Super Wal-Mart. It’s also rumored that a Nordstrom’s Rack and Fry’s Electronics could be in the mix.
Recently announced is the first IMAX movie screen to come to northern Nevada. Kansas City-based Dickinson Theatres plans to open its 13-screen movie theater in time for the 2009 holiday season. There will be 3,000 seats in 12 traditional and one IMAX screens, all with digital 3-D capabilities; the IMAX theater will seat 525, and the complex will have nearly 3,000 seats total.
Finally, a 14-acre $800 million 1,000-room high-end Olympia Gaming hotel-casino-convention center is planned for Legends. Groundbreaking is scheduled for the next month or two and completion in late 2009 or early 2010.
