GSR Arena’s public-money request passes redevelopment board via a 5-2 vote

Break out the shovels.

The Grand Sierra Resort’s request for tax-increment financing passed Wednesday by a 5-2 vote of the Reno Redevelopment Agency Board, paving the way for a groundbreaking on a $435 million arena that has been described as “transformational” for the region and Nevada athletics, which plans to play its men’s basketball games in the state-of-the-art 10,000-capacity starting in fall 2027.

The TIF approval was the final major hurdle required for a groundbreaking on the project that was first announced almost 600 days ago in September 2023. A groundbreaking is now expected next month with the project scheduled to be completed in summer of 2027. GSR Arena has already gained a conditional use permit from the Reno City Planning Commission to get permits for construction of the 295,000-square-foot arena; a 45,000-square-foot ice rink; and parking garage with 2,800 spaces.

Wednesday’s 5-hour meeting kicked off with 2 hours, 20 minutes of public comment from 51 members of the community, including 50 who were in favor of the project getting tax money. Those supporting the project included Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez; Nevada basketball coach Steve Alford; Wolf Pack player Amire Robinson; construction workers; business owners; local educators; Reno Ice/hockey families; UNR students and teachers; GSR employees; and Wolf Pack fans. There were 639 online comments with 606 in favor, 30 against and three who voiced concerns.

“I think Reno deserves a venue like this and deserves this national attention,” Nevarez said.

Added Alford on GSR owner Alex Meruelo: “With Alex and his team, we have a lottery pick.”

The lone dissenter was McDonald Carano attorney Josh Hicks, who is representing six other local gaming properties.

“This would be an unprecedented use of TIF for a private arena,” Hicks said.

Among the speakers during the meeting were Reno’s revitalization manager Bryan McArdle; Meruelo; Andrew Diss, the chief strategy officer and senior vice president of Meruelo Gaming; Wolf Pack athletic director Stephanie Rempe; University of Nevada president Brian Sandoval; and Mike Thiessen of Hunden Partners, a firm that did an economic analysis of the project.

“This is my legacy,” Meruelo said. “It’s what I want to give back to Reno. I could invest here or I could invest in Vegas, and I’ve been asked many times, ‘Why don’t you put the money in Vegas where it’d be a better investment?’ And that’s a true statement. But I love Reno and want to be here, period.”

The Reno Redevelopment Agency Board panel that voted in favor of the project included all seven members of the Reno City Council, including Mayor Hillary Schieve and council members Kathleen Taylor, Naomi Duerr, Miguel Martinez, Meghan Ebert, Devon Reese and Brandi Anderson. The 5-2 vote included “yeses” from Schieve, Reese, Anderson, Duerr and Martinez with the “noes” from Taylor and Ebert.

“This is the most significant decision most of us will make during our time on council,” said Reese, adding Sandoval vouching for Meruelo made a big impact on him. Reese added that it is a gamble with “Meruelo’s money.”

Schieve repeatedly made the case for approving the project’s public money in an effort for Reno to stay “relevant” and seen as an “innovative” city. Taylor said her “no” vote was a result of talking to her constituents and how moving men’s basketball games out of Lawlor would hurt those surrounding businesses in addition to feedback from Wolf Pack Hall of Famers who were against moving the men’s basketball team off campus.

The board approved No. 2 of three options, which includes the GSR getting 90 percent of the city of Reno portion of the increased property tax — that’s 26 percent — from the time the project is completed through 2035. That’s projected at $61.3 million in property taxes that would be abated before the full amount of property tax goes to the city starting in 2036. Additionally, 10 percent of that TIF from 2025-35 would retained by the redevelopment agency ($6.8 million) and fire station 21’s lease would continue at market rate with the city or agency holding the option to purchase fire station 21 site in future. The city currently leases that land for $22,500 per month.

In his closing comments, Meruelo said he would also give 5 percent of his TIF abatement — roughly $3.4 million — to Ward 3 represented by Martinez for youth sports and recreation.

Phase one of the GSR’s planned $1 billion redevelopment includes the construction of the arena, an ice rink, an eight-story garage, a multi-story lakefront golf driving range and fan zone central plaza outside the arena. That phase is estimated at $785.7 million with the arena and parking garage expected to be completed first. Further phases could include 300 affordable housing units and a new 800-room hotel wing.

That arena is expected to be home not only to Nevada men’s basketball home games but also a minor-league hockey franchise (Meruelo owns an AHL team in Tucson that could relocate to Reno). The arena is expected to host 95 events annually and could upgrade the quality of entertainments options coming to Reno with an estimated addition of five major concerts and seven minor concerts.

Sandoval and Rempe were two of the most prominent voices in favor of the arena project and were among the speakers at Wednesday’s meeting. Before the vote, Rempe said GSR Arena was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity Nevada athletics couldn’t pass up.

“For us, it is about our opportunity as an athletics program to move forward,” Rempe said. “And this is something that allows us to do things that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. You’ve heard me say this forever — it’s about creating a college town and getting this community behind it, behind us. There’s nothing that brings a community together like sports, and it helps us move the needle. We need to perform at a high level, and that’s on the horizon, and I think this helps us.”

The Wolf Pack would sign a lease to play around 17 men’s basketball games per year at GSR Arena (the Wolf Pack women’s team would remain at the 41-year-old Lawlor Events Center). Rempe projected the Wolf Pack would create between $3 million and $5 million in additional revenue thanks to enhanced premium-seating options for Nevada’s top revenue creator, men’s basketball ticket sales. Rempe said the new arena also would improve the fan experience of those who attend Wolf Pack games.

“There’s a lot of things that it does for us,” Rempe said. “Some of the things are the day-to-day stuff that people struggle with when we play at Lawlor, whether it’s traffic or parking. There is the food and beverage experience that GSR will be aligned and be providing that will be exceptional. The in-game experience. Lawlor hasn’t been touched in so many years. And so having a state-of-the-art sound system, video boards, all of that in terms of the game experience.

“This experience between the suites and the club and the loge boxes and the floor seats and the different club experiences where people have access to, that is what our industry is going to all over the country. People are adding more premium spaces to their venues, and this does it right away, which allows us to have more tickets that have a premium experience that in the end generate a lot more revenue for us.”