CommRow

CommRow
Former names	Fitzgeralds Casino & Hotel
General information
Address	255 North Virginia Street
Town or city	Reno, Nevada
Country	United States
Opening	1976 (as Fitzgeralds) October 1, 2011 (as CommRow)
Design and construction
Owner	L3 Development (Fernando Leal)
Website
commrow.com

CommRow is an urban adventure destination in Reno, Nevada, that opened on October 1, 2011. It was previously Fitzgeralds Casino & Hotel, until closing in 2008. CommRow has no casino, and is centered around extreme sports, with a 164-foot outdoor rock climbing wall and an indoor bouldering park.^[1]

The hotel portion of CommRow is planned to reopen starting in spring of 2012 as HANG Hotel.

Facilities

CommRow is a series of individual, private enterprise businesses under one roof. The 1st floor is "TheROW", a series of food outlets and bars, including Italian Beefs, TarTars, Mediterranean, and more. Bars and lounges are also part of this mix. Part of theROW is Centric Cabarat, a 150 person entertainment venue. On the 2nd floor is BaseCamp, home to the 164' climbing wall affixed to the exterior, east facing facade and rising 16 stories to the building's crest. Leal said the building's construction was solid, and firm enough to support such a venture. The wall was built by International leaders Entre-Prises Climbing Walls and built to cater to a variety of climbers. Inside guests find two 15' boulders to climb on. Two extended balconies would be constructed attached to the facades, one being for the platform of the climbing wall and the other for "V15" a bar. The 2nd floor also includes an all natural juice bar called UP.

The third floor contains Cargo, a 350 person entertainment venue hosting concerts. CommRow plans to open in three phases, the first being the first three floors of the building, which opened on October 1st, 2011. The 2nd phase is the addition of a hotel, using the Fitzgeralds' former rooms, renovations would cover floors 4-8. About 136 rooms will open on April 1, 2012 for "HANG" Hotel, the hotel component. The final phase is "The Adventure Deck" taking the top floor of the CommRow parking garage (across the street) and adding outdoor bouldering, BMX and skate parks, and a seasonal restaurant along with a potential Zip line down to the RETRAC trench. Planning and development for this is underway but a completion could come before Fall 2012.

History

The old logo for Fitzgeralds

Lincoln Fitzgerald, owner of the Nevada Club casino, began construction on a new 16-story, 347-room hotel and casino in 1974.^[2] Fitzgeralds opened in May 1976, at a total cost of $16 million.^[2]

After Fitzgerald's death in 1981, his widow, Meta, sold the property in 1986 to the Lincoln Management Company for $26.25 million.^[2]

The Fitzgeralds Reno was the last of 4 properties owned by Fitzgeralds Gaming to be sold after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2000. Prior to this, sister properties were located in Las Vegas, Tunica, Mississippi, and Black Hawk, Colorado.

In 2005 Monarch Casino & Resort, owner of the Atlantis casino, attempted to acquire Fitzgeralds. In April 2007, L3 Development, a development firm based out of Chicago, Illinois, announced its intention to purchase the property and convert it into a boutique hotel.^[3]

On November 1, 2007, ownership of the Fitzgeralds officially transferred to a joint partnership between L3 Development and RAC II LLC, marking the first time in decades that the property was under private ownership.

On October 1, 2008 it was announced that Fitzgeralds would close down on November 30, 2008, putting out of work about 470 employees as the new ownership re-evaluates options for the 16 story hotel-casino. Many locals consider the closure as the continued demise of Reno gaming and are wary anything will be done with the building in short order. It sits dark for two and a half years.

Conversion to CommRow

On November 1, 2010, building owner Fernando Leal hatched a plan to convert the Fitzgeralds into an "urban adventure resort", complete with the world's tallest rock climbing wall. Only a pipe dream from the beginning, Leal told only a few in the community and the secret was kept for much of the resort's development. Original business partner Rob Cashell left the project in 2009 citing disagreements.

On February 7, 2011 the project was announced to the public. 'CommRow' would take the Fitzgeralds and convert it from a gaming facility to a non-smoking, non-gaming, pet-friendly mixed use development. The city council approved all measures, including the climbing wall.

CommRow has been praised among city and state leaders as boosting Downtown Reno's offerings beyond gaming and helping to change Reno's brand image. Fernando Leal is also responsible for the planning, development and construction of the Montage Reno condominiums across the street from CommRow. He said CommRow is aggregating all of what he wanted to do in Reno prior to the recession and calls it a "post enduring" the great recession.

Notes

1. ^ "Development: CommRow's soft opening pushed back". Reno Gazette-Journal. 15 September 2011. http://www.rgj.com/article/20110915/BIZ/110915024/Development-CommRow-s-soft-opening-pushed-back?odyssey=nav%7Chead. Retrieved 28 September 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Kling, Dwayne (2010). The Rise Of The Biggest Little City: An Encyclopedic History Of Reno Gaming. University of Nevada Press. pp. 50. ISBN 0874178290. http://books.google.com/books?id=ok2zw7T2S6oC&lpg=PA50&pg=PA50. 
3. ^ "Chicago development company agrees to buy aging Reno casino". April 7, 2007. http://www.realcities.com/mld/realcities/business/companies/17043963.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-12. 

External links

• CommRow

Coordinates: 39°31′41″N 119°48′50″W / 39.527959°N 119.813897°W / 39.527959; -119.813897