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RDA accepts Grand Sierra Resort feasibility review and orders deeper TIF gap analysis
Summary
Renos redevelopment agency accepted a consultantled economic and market review of the Grand Sierra Resort( GSR ) arena proposal and directed staff to pursue a detailed financing gap and deal analysis, including scenarios that would require extending the RDA 2 district.
The Reno Redevelopment Agency voted unanimously on March 12 to accept a market and feasibility study for the Grand Sierra Resortproposal to build a 10,000-seat arena and associated hotel, parking and housing, and to advance a deeper analysis of whether and how tax-increment financing (TIF) could make the project financially viable.
The agency heard a presentation from Hunden Partners that summarized likely economic impacts across a 30-year horizon, and recommended next steps to test financing scenarios and public assistance options. "If that incremental property tax is not created, the project will not pencil without assistance," Hunden project manager Will Cooper told the board, describing the firms role in modeling demand and revenue.
The study estimated the full project could generate roughly $4 billion in net new economic activity and about $342 million in incremental property tax over 30 years, while also creating hundreds of permanent jobs and thousands of construction jobs. But consultants and staff told the board those headline numbers are not the same as the narrow financing gap that developers say they need to close to begin construction.
Because the project spans multiple phases, agency staff said they will complete a formal gap analysis tied to a Phase 1 arena-and-parking scenario and run alternate scenarios that assume either the current RDA 2 sunset date or an extension. "This is about whether the project pencils and if it doesnt, by how much," Revitalization Manager Brian McCardell said. "Well test the deal with and without an RDA extension and then bring back options for participation and terms."
Board members and council members who sit on the RDA asked for more detail on how any TIF participation would be structured and for explicit community benefit conditions the agency should seek in deal terms, such as workforce housing commitments, river-path or park improvements and protections for existing businesses. Several council members also urged the RDA to require stronger pro forma detail from the applicant and to negotiate safeguards so costs to city ratepayers or general-fund revenues would not increase.
The board did not approve financing for the project or any abatement or deal terms. Instead it approved the consultants report and directed staff to begin a discrete deal analysis and gap calculation to return to the RDA and council. McCardell said the work would include both a Phase 1-only financing model and a full-build scenario and that staff expected to return with the more detailed analysis in weeks to months, not years.
The vote to accept the study was unanimous.
Why it matters: The proposal is one of the largest private redevelopment projects under consideration in downtown Reno. The RDAs review will determine whether the agency will be asked to use a portion of future local property-tax growth to make the private project feasible. That choice would affect the trade-off between short-term project subsidies and long-term future tax revenues collected for the city and other taxing agencies.
