More In and Out with Jacobs Entertainment
Recap of our weekly reporting plus bonus content, including comments from the community.
Will Jacobs Entertainment try to acquire the quickly decaying Bonanza Inn or won’t it? The headlines have been vacillating for over a year now.
The latest is that it won’t.
The Reno Housing Authority was once interested but after an apparent agreement with the City of Reno for funding the purchase, last year City Manager Doug Thornley abruptly backed out.
This all means the Bonanza Inn, rotting more by the day while empty, will be up for auction probably later this month, while the type of easy access cheap rooms it provided are sorely lacking for the local credit underclass.
What Jacobs Entertainment did do this week is buy up the oldest house on its block (coincidentally from one of the same owners as the Bonanza Inn), the Benham-Belz House at 347 West Street, massively overpaying and wanting to resell it for a symbolic dollar as long as another buyer promises to relocate the structure.
That doesn’t bode well for that bit of quaint and charming local history.
“I’m so surprised!!! Not! Reno history up for sale and Jacob's group owns the bulldozer!” Sonny St Andry lamented on our Facebook page.
“UNR and Jacobs Ent have literally and figuratively bulldozed so much of Reno's history. Super neat.” Johnny Supencheck chimed in sarcastically, not forgetting historical campus homes of yesteryear were recently moved or destroyed to make way for more parking.
“Terrible! The old homes downtown are a treasure. My cousin Hildegard Herz had a home on Virginia St. up until her death in ‘79. Walking into it was like stepping back in time a hundred years. Reno should do more to preserve these homes-they’re an incredible asset,” SagebrushSeren1 wrote on X.
“Shotty records of historical preservation is an understatement, they've relentlessly and thoughtlessly demolished everything including the Gateway District with still nothing to show for it, but an exacerbated housing crisis, and dirt lots, gigantic UNR parking garages, and a giant student housing building called "HERE" .. and a 8 million dollar downgraded remodeling of the sands. I hope he fails and leaves town,” glynnfinite wrote on Instagram as part of overwhelming local disappointment in this latest development.
Recap of this Week’s Reporting
The Resistant Little Old House Bought Out in Jacobs Entertainment Expansion
Katie Coling Keeps Planning Ahead, While Navigating Local Activism and Solutions for a Better World
Jr. Staying Along the Train Tracks in Reno
Strength in Adversity: Reno-Tahoe's Mexican-American Community
Our Town Reno Cold Cases, part 1: Ryan
Connelly
The Elevating Families Program at Catholic Charities
Reno-Sparks Tenants Union will be demonstrating on Saturday, February 17th, from Noon to 1 pm outside J Resort on W. 4th St and N. Arlington Ave. At 1 pm, they will be giving a guided walking tour of the NEON LINE. Come for the protest, stay for the tour of vacant lots.