Peppermill plans will boost convention bus

The $230 million the Peppermill Hotel- Casino will spend on expansion is more than a statement about the future of Reno as a gaming destination.

It also reflects a big bet on the region's growth in the convention business.

At last month's announcement of the expansion of Peppermill, Bill Paganetti, one of its owners, spoke emphatically about how the success of the 27 casinos in the Reno-Sparks area has proved the critics wrong.

As if to thumb its nose at those who see Reno as a declining gaming destination, part of the expansion includes 14,000 square feet of casino space that would increase the total gaming floor to 94,000 square feet and turn it into the second largest casino in town after the Reno Hilton.

But the casino expansion is just one part of the overall plan.

And to some observers, the Peppermill's 90,000 square feet of convention space with a new 17-story curved glass hotel tower would help Reno to play its card as a meeting and convention destination even more aggressively.

The expansion will help the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority compete for meetings and conventions, says Rob Enriquez, RSCVA's executive director of sales.

"We as a destination continue to grow, and anytime we can show that we have additional meeting venues and additional rooms, it sends a powerful message to businesses and that allows us to go after larger events," adds Enriquez.

The Peppermill convention and entertainment center would include a 50,000-squarefoot, clear-span convention center that would have banquet seating for 3,000 or concert seating for 4,800.

Exhibition halls would have room for 300 trade-show booths.

The new hotel, meanwhile, would see an increase from the Peppermill's current 600 rooms to 1,625 rooms.

Ultimately, the hotel is approved for 2,200 rooms.

Given that Reno already is one of the more affordable convention cities in the country, any commitment to expand on the meeting and hotel facilities makes it easier to sell, says Enriquez.

More investments in similar infrastructure are on the horizon, including Station Casinos' proposed boutique casino hotel across the street from the Reno-Sparks Convention Center and Station's proposed casino near the Summit Sierra shopping center at Mount Rose Highway.

Stations' smaller casino hotel near the convention center will have breakout conference spaces for smaller sessions, says Lori Nelson, director of communications, that will complement the bigger convention centers of Peppermill and the RSCVA.

"It allows the executives from the larger shows to hold ancillary meetings," she says.

The Summit Sierra site will have bigger spaces, including 36,000 square feet of convention space in its first phase.

Both of the Station's locations and the expanded Peppermill could drive business and convention travel, says Richard H.Wells, president ofWells Gaming Research in Reno.

That, he says, is business "which we might not get otherwise." This Peppermill's expansion comes in the face of gaming revenue declines for three years in a row.

"The gaming market is still a very large market," says Wells."The county market is still over a billion dollars.

The local market is growing.

The population is growing at a healthy rate and that continues to increase the local market." He says the market has stabilized after difficult years following the Sept.

11 attacks and the advent of Indian gaming close to key California markets.

"We are now seeing month-to-month increases over the prior year,"Wells adds.

"What happens from here is another issue.

There is still some additional impact that could come from expanding tribal gaming in California and new casinos as well."