The old family property gets a new look

As Ralph Casazza walks through the Shoppers Square center he owns, he crosses land that once was the family ranch the place where his father was born 110 years ago.

And he remembers the days when the ranchland slowly became part of the city.

Plumb Lane hadn't been paved all that long when Shoppers Square was built 40 years ago, and the city limits were just nudging at Moana Lane.

And now he watches as Shoppers Square which once was at the distant edge of the city's development is redeveloped as part of what many consider to be part of an aging downtown Reno.

When it's finished, some 220,000 square feet of space will be leased at the center owned by Casazza's Tore and Casa Ltd.

Currently, it includes about 128,000 square feet.

The first phase of the redevelopment a 10,000-square-foot addition to the existing 26,000-square-foot Marshall's store will be turned over to the offprice retailer next month.

Marshall's will spend about three months completing the interior of the store, including new fixtures, and will open in May.

Steel is rising, meanwhile, on the next phase of the redevelopment work a 10,000-square-foot cluster of shops that will include Radio Shack and Red Wing Shoes, among others.

Casazza and his son, Rick, say they're not far from announcing who will occupy a new anchor store about 55,000 to 60,000 square feet at the east edge of the rejuvenated center.When that building is completed, Shoppers Square's east boundary will be Kirman Street.

Also included in the redevelopment project is a second pod of about 10,000 square feet for shops and the removal of the 8,000-square-foot annex of shop spaces that currently abuts Plumb Lane.

The redevelopment of Shoppers Square doesn't reflect any current problems with the center.

Occupancy currently is higher than 95 percent, said Bernie Horn-Bostel, the center's manager.

And rarely in the center's history has the occupancy rate fallen much below 90 percent.

Along with Marshall's, major tenants of Shoppers Square today include Sheplers Western Wear store, Ben Franklin and Sav-On Drugs.

Sav-On is a lineal descendent of Skaggs Drugs, which was one of the first tenants in the center.

The other anchor when the center opened was Mayfair, a supermarket chain.

Sheplers, which counts the Shoppers Square location as one of its strong locations in a 19-store chain, welcomes the expansion.

"Anytime they do something to enhance the center, we benefit from it," said John Wilcox, a spokesman for the company based in Wichita, Kan.

Family ownership and a close watch on the center each day have been keys to the ongoing success of Shoppers Square, said Ralph Casazza.

The 76-year-old Cazassa works in a second-floor office at the back of the center, and his son's real estate office The Casazza Co.

Inc.

is just down the hall.

The family's long ownership of the property created some ironic moments during a drawn-out political debate over plans to renovate and expand the center.

A key element of the dispute was Casazza's desire to close Locust Street to allow extension of the center eastward.

The irony, said Rick Casazza, is this: The right-of-way to the street was given to the city in the first place by the family.

It was an expensive irony.

Ralph Casazza budgeted $150,000 for planning fees and government approval of the new redevelopment.

The cost ultimately rose to $500,000 and this on a project whose costs already were heavily weighted toward the front end.

But Casazzsa is a patient investor.

Some of the buildings east of the center that will be removed for the expansion project were purchased decades ago.

And his interest in redevelopment extends beyond the bounds of his property beyond the bounds, even, of the 140 acres at Plumb and South Virginia that once composed the family ranch.

He's been an active participant in the discussion of redevelopment of the South Virginia corridor and has more than a casual interest in plans if any that The Macerich Co.

might have for the Park Lane Mall it owns across the street.

At the same time, he doesn't wait for others to move, and the current project is only the largest of a series of improvement and expansion efforts at Shoppers Square.

The first major renovation came in 1977 when a second floor was added and the center was enclosed.

Ten years ago, the center underwent an $11 million facelift.

The ongoing efforts to upgrade the property are the source of great pride to Casazza.

"We're redeveloping this without any government money," said Casazza.

"We reinvest to keep it fresh."