Bibo Coffee Co. on Record Street, a homey hangout for students, faculty and local artists, as well as the COED Lodge and Sundance motels have already closed. Students are now saying goodbye to other places between UNR and Interstate 80 such as Jimmy John’s, the Union bar, Textbook Brokers and old Reno houses on Center and Lake Street.
The southern part of the University of Nevada, Reno campus just past Manzanita Lake is getting a makeover, but with new advancements come the loss of the businesses and buildings with distinct character and history.
The eye-catching bright orange Sundance Motel is already permanently closed, with vacant and “No Trespassing” signs on every door inside. (Artwork: Jillian Briare)
The whole area is being replaced as part of UNR’s Gateway Precinct, which according the university’s website language “will be a vibrant retail- and academic-oriented neighborhood center developed primarily by the University. It will extend campus life south of the current campus, in the area between Ninth Street and I-80.”
The school and Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) plan to build a new bus station, parking garage, as well as business school and life sciences building in the blocks between Eighth Street, Ninth Street, Lake Street and Virginia.
The parking garage is the first structure to be constructed starting in early 2021, and will cost an estimated $29.5 million, according to current plans. UNR officials have said that as Reno expands north, the university is expanding south to meet in the middle, creating structures and vendors that benefit the student population and the city as a whole.
A house previously on the corner of Center Street was recently set on planks to be relocated. It is one of a dozen houses built in the area between the 1890s and 1970s. (Artwork: Jillian Briare)
The Jimmy John’s at 58 E Ninth St is scheduled to move across the freeway to a location on 7th Street, near the current Walgreens.
Other construction projects have affected other businesses as well. Bibo Coffee Co.’s Record Street location closed in October to make way for a new student living complex as a part of a project run by the Capstone Development company.
Above a video by another student reporter Robert Quaintance on the bar know as the U closing down.