We've been following the development of Reno City Center as it evolves from the former Harrah's casino to a non-gaming complex.
As of last Wednesday, Reno City Center has opened up 390 hotel rooms in the complex's East Tower.
The tower will be called Reno Suites Hotel. It will offer daily, weekly, and monthly options.
This is different from the west tower, where Reno Suites Apartments being built for longer stays.
We expect a surge of people trying to get out of the house this summer kicking off during the river festival in May. What we have been hearing from the community, the local business owners, and the city, is there is going to be a room shortage," said CAI Investments CEO Chris Beavor.
Ninety of the rooms will be reserved for workers who are renovating the west tower into apartments. Another 300 will be used for customers. "We have a back bay elevator that's programmed to go to certain floors for those employees coming from the construction. No one will even see them," said Beavor.
What the public will see is extra tax revenue from the hotel. When Harrah's shut down, the city lost 900 rooms. "It could be 2 to 3 officers jobs if you cut out that tax base," said Beavor.
The new rooms have the best amenities collected from Harrah's, like the best furniture and new mattresses.
Upgrades have been made to televisions, the phone system, and internet. In 12 months however, the tower will be shut down just in time for the West tower's apartments to open up and the development of the new Kimpton Hotel.
"Reno City Center will be complete in February. At that time, we will hopefully be about 10 months into the Kimpton Hotel with the opening on the horizon. We will keep the east tower open as long as we can. There will only be a small gap in the time," said Beavor.
The east tower will then hopefully be converted into apartments a year later.
The hotel's grand opening will be on February 12th, 2021 with a food truck and vendor discounts.
