In a speedy flip-flop, Station Casinos has recommitted to the Reno market. Its two parcels in that city (one opposite the convention center) popped up on a real estate-listing site Sept. 5. Less than a week later, Station had yanked them back down, saying through back channels that it was still planning on building in the Biggest Little City in the World. (But when? This soap opera has been running a long time.) The smaller of the two sites is eight acres near the aforementioned convention center. That’s destined for a “portable” license—the only one in Nevada—whereby Station could build a casino without hotel rooms. The idea was once mooted for the Castaways site and Station went so far as to commission a design but it literally never got off the drawing board. Then there’s an 88-acre site on Mount Rose Highway that was dibbed for a $500 million casino-resort.
Station’s recantation of its real estate play was not without caveats. It wrote the Reno Gazette-Journal, “The 88-acre Mt. Rose site has been on the market since late last year. In regards to the attractive and strategically located convention center site, Station Casinos is currently weighing all options, including developing the property ourselves.” Even when the economy was good Station had a weak trigger finger on new development, so we’ll believe this when the shovels go into the ground. If the Mount Rose site happens, Station plans 20,908 square feet of casino, “a sportsbook, sports bar and mobile wagering kiosks … a five-screen cinema, 12-lane bowling alley and four restaurants.”
