Tag: construction

The old Long John Silver's building has been through a lot of ups and downs lately. After over 20 years of selling fast food fish, the franchise owners decided in 2007 to close the doors and leave town, supposedly over a dispute about grease traps.

The building sat empty for two years, until finally a new tenant started moving in, the Sugarplum Bakery, which was relocating from Genoa to Carson. It opened last June, but only lasted about three weeks before closing their doors too. The bakery later relocated to Minden, but the Long John Silver building still sat empty.

Over the last few weeks I've seen activity around the building, so I thought there might be a new tenant in the works. And indeed, early this morning I drove by to find a sign had gone up for Lily's China Bistro. I've never heard of it before, but that could be good news, a new business owner trying to make a go of it.

This is right next door to the old Burger King, which is still in the process of being converted to Super Burrito, another local business that already has three stores in Reno. So if the national franchises are leaving and locals moving in, that could be a good trend towards bringing Carson City's economy back to life.

Crews are on site right now at the old Burger King in Carson City, installing signs for the new Super Burrito that is moving into the building.

I pass by the new auto dealerships on South Carson Street every day, but it's tricky to pull over and get a good photo of them. The construction on both has come quite a long way since my last report, and I'd say that both of them will be ready to open this spring.

The new Dick Campagni Toyota is fronted by an impressive white wall, which completely lights up at night. Quite a centerpiece, and a way to get attention from people driving by.

Construction on the Toyota dealership started first, so it is further along. Already the light poles in the parking lot have gone up, and only a little bit of work on the exterior remains.

Space up front has been set aside to display the latest models, where everyone can get a good look at them.

A little ways to the south is the new Michael Hohl dealership. This is actually two dealerships in one, with two completely separate buildings and parking lots. First is the Honda dealership.

And right next door is Michael Hohl Subaru.

These two dealerships aren't quite as visually striking as Toyota, but I doubt people make too many buying decisions based on what the dealership looks like. What surprises me is that Michael Hohl would build brand-new dealerships for the Honda and Subaru lines, but keep GMC and Chevrolet in the old facilities at Koontz and Carson. It was strange enough when they closed the old Valley Chevrolet at the north end of town and consolidated everything into the South Carson dealership. Now to give the shiny new stores over to Honda and Subaru, while Chevy is stuck in the old place. Looks like they're putting more faith in the imports in the coming decade.

A lot of people have been calling this "auto row", because so many car dealerships are squeezed into one stretch of highway. But I wonder if all the car dealers wouldn't have been better off with going through with the plans to build a big consolidated auto mall in Douglas County like they had been planning a few years ago. When the final phase of the freeway is done, in 4 or 5 or 10 years, this stretch of road will be bypassed. But I guess car sales aren't like fast food; they don't need to be close to a freeway to attract out-of-towners. As long as the locals know where to shop for a new car, they'll be okay.

And who was going to turn down millions of dollars in redevelopment money from the city to build in Carson? That's throwing away free money. And to hear City Hall talk, the sales taxes from these dealerships are the only thing keeping Carson City solvent.

Now all we need in Carson is a Tesla dealer.

Yep, it's a hole, with water. The urban pond at Fuji Park has been dug and filled, and it turns out it's a little underwhelming. Not to mention in the most out-of-the-way corner of the park possible. I guess it's meant for people to fish in, and it will probably be great for that, but it would have been nice to see it closer to the grassy area so you could go for a stroll around it with your dog.

They're not done yet, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt and see what they can do by next spring to pretty it up.

There's been ongoing road construction on South Carson Street in front of the casino Fandango, with lane closures and heavy equipment and lots of work crews. At first I thought they were just putting in new, longer turn lanes, but over the last few days a full understanding of what they are doing started to coalesce. And after today, there can be no doubt. They are installing a new traffic signal at the Casino Fandango.

This signal will serve the casino, hotel, and movie theater to the west, as well as Eagle Station Lane. With all the development at the casino over the last few years, I guess putting a signal at this intersection was inevitable. It will also make access in and out of the Eagle Station and Southgate shopping centers easier, although there it was less necessary because you could go to either Koontz or Clearview to reach a stoplight.

I'm sure this will only serve to increase congestion in the area, with three stoplights close together like this. But traffic on Eagle Station and at the casino isn't as heavy as it is at Clearview or Koontz, so maybe this light will be green a lot more than the other two are.

Some of the biggest construction projects in town right now are the two new car dealerships being built along South Carson. Both the Dick Campagni Toyota and the Michael Hohl Subaru broke ground earlier this year, and are racing against the winter to get as much work done as they can before the snows hit. Dick Campagni had a head start of a couple of months, so they're in better shape. The parking lot is completely paved already, and the roof is on the building. Work has even started on the stucco exterior.

Michael Hohl, however, is still working with cinder block and steel, surround by a sea of dirt. Their construction site is bigger too, and they're putting up two buildings instead of just one.

Both of these dealerships are scheduled to open next year.

This project has been talked about for what seems like decades now, and it's one that you never thought you'd see actually done. But now it is. Stewart Street is one of the main north-south thoroughfares through downtown, but for years it hit a dead end at Hwy 50, making it less useful than it could be. There were talks about extending it so it would keep going north from Hwy 50, but it would have to plow through a dense neighborhood. So it seemed so far off.

Recently they came up with a plan to plow through the neighborhood with minimal disruption, using existing streets where possible. Most of the work involved cutting a curve connecting Stewart to Moody street, and putting in a light where it meets Roop. So now you can stay on Stewart and go all the way to Roop, and find yourself out by the cemetery.

News Carson City has a video on the opening.

The opening of this new road paves the way for the Roop widening project, which is going to begin next year. Roop will be widened and reconfigured between Robinson and Beverly, extending the widening project that was begun a few years ago. The new Stewart Street will be used as a detour to route traffic around the construction. Roop will be four lanes all the way to Robinson now, up from two lanes. And Bike Carson also managed to influence the city to add bike lanes to this stretch of Roop, so that's a big win for them.

I know it's been years since any real progress has been seen on the Ormsby House. I trust that they've been working on the inside, because sometimes you see trucks parked outside, and the doors are open during the day and closed at night, so something must be going on in there. But you don't get to see any actual progress on it.

That's why it was so shocking this week to see actual tractors on site! They're starting to grade the dirt on the south side of the hotel, under the portecochere where the valet parking and loading zone will be.

I think we're approaching 10 years since the owners of the Ormsby House originally bought it. Although it took them a while to appraise the situation and decide to do a major renovation. It was September of 2000, I believe, when the doors closed for the last time. And while you could say it would be nice for them to be done and reopen in September of 2010, making the renovation a nice round decade, I don't think it's going to happen.

I have honestly never seen a construction project this surreal. There was a year or two at the beginning where it seemed like nothing was happening. But ever since around 2002 or 2003, when they started renovating the exterior in earnest, I don't think construction has stopped on the Ormsby House. Certainly not long enough for it to ever be considered an "abandoned" project. There's always a small crew on site, maybe just one or two people, but the construction never stops. It's just progressing at the most snail's pace you can ever imagine.

And I don't mean to blame the construction company. MBI, from what I can tell, is very capable and they have started and finished dozens of other projects since the Ormsby House began. I'd say the blame has to be placed squarely on the owners, who must be dribbling money into the construction fund a hundred dollars at a time. Like they're waiting for their Social Security checks to come in. Or they have a tip jar in the library that they're funding the project with.

So will the Ormsby House ever open? Probably. It's inexorably creeping towards completion, and even at this pace the end will be reached eventually. But will any of us be alive to see it? Doubtful.

I've been following this renovation project on Nevada Street all summer. News Carson City says it's being remodeled to house an accounting firm. He also says part of the cost was paid by city redevelopment funds, even though the developer probably could have afforded it all on their own.

Whatever the politics behind it, this project is really sprucing up a shabby old building, and it's looking great so far!

The summer construction season is fully underway. Here's a look at some of the big projects down that way:

Auto Dealerships

The "Auto Row" dream is finally coming true, apparently, with two new car dealership being built on some of the last empty land along South Carson Street. Dick Campagni is building a new Toyota dealership, and it has gone vertical in a big way.

Just down the street, Michael Hohl Subaru is still doing foundation work, but there should be something visible on the site soon.

Auto dealership construction I suppose would be easier than most development, because it just consists of a smallish building and a really big parking lot.

Southgate Mall

I guess the best time to renovate your strip mall is when you have no tenants to disrupt. Southgate Mall is having its facades rebuilt, and only the GNC Nutrition store is open for business. Every thing else is empty, just like retail spaces all over town.

Carson Lanes

The Carson Lanes bowling alley is coming along very nicely with their project to rip out one third of their lanes and replace them with retail and office space. Every rumor I've heard says a Johnny Rockets restaurant is going in this space. I can't wait!

Terrible Herbst

And finally, the new Chevron Gas and Terrible's convenience store is being built next to the Carson-Tahoe Quail shopping center. This brand-new center still only has one tenant, but I did see a work crew in one of the interiors so maybe there will be a second tenant soon. At least there will be another gas station in South Carson. The only gas south of Fairview currently is a single Arco station, plus Costco.