New auto row

The newest addition to the cluster of auto dealerships setting up shop make that "lot" on the farthest reaches of South Virginia Street could be the centerpiece that will anchor an auto row on what was recently open ranchland.

Reno officials are moving, however, to get design standards in place that will create a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-used development along the street.

Reno Auto Center, which has yet to post a sign while awaiting permit approval, plans to break ground on a four-acre campus of auto showrooms come spring.

Four glass-sided temples will house Acura, Infiniti, Ferrari and Lotus automobiles, plus a cafe, a lounge and a Starbucks coffee shop.

Ranging from 2,000 to 27,000 square feet each, the buildings were designed by Lloyd W.Martin Engineering and Design of Torrance, Calif.

CFA, Inc.

of Reno will handle the civil engineering, as well as the special permit process required of auto dealerships in that location.

"There's no other place to be, if you think about it," says Mike Koppelman, general manager, who owns Reno Auto Center in partnership with a Californian."Kietzke looks old, and it's full."

Plus, Koppelman says,"South Virginia is the higher-end part of town."He points to nearby Holcomb Road, lined with multi-million dollar mansions.

In October, a six-acre Saab and Mitsubishi dealership opened on South Virginia.While Saab is a new line in the market, the Mitsubishi dealership relocated two months ago from Kietzke Lane, says Patrick Allison, general sales manager.

"We don't like being on the strip with all the dealerships," he says.

Rather than being under the aegis of dealership row,"We want to show customers individual attention." Breaking the ice for the new car dealerships is an existing cluster of used-car dealerships.Auto Warehouse, for instance, has done business on South Virginia for about five years, says Manager Dennis Gingrich.

"South Meadows is where it's happening," says CJ Coultre, Internet sales manager at Harry's Quality Cars on South Virginia Street near the South Meadows freeway exit.

Joe Scalia, owner of Payless Car Sales, says,"This is the shape of things to come."

The two-acre lot, part of a national franchise, opened two years ago.He says area growth patterns will shape an "urban shopping lane." Once a swath of small family ranches, South Virginia Street is undergoing such rapid colonization that it has gotten ahead of city plans to create the South Virginia Street Transit Oriented Development Corridor Plan, one of five transit-corridor overlays being penciled onto the city map.

While asphalt lots encrusted with gleaming metal may be beautiful for an auto dealer to behold, planners see the potential for blight.

To prevent that, the city hopes to roll out plans, complete with zoning ordinances, to create a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use cityscape.

Common zoning requirements include aesthetic considerations, says Julee Olander, assistant planner with Reno community development.

Buildings are set back a certain distance from the street.

Parking goes behind the buildings while shady pedestrian walkways go in front.

And, build-out should cover most of the lot size with no outside storage of merchandise.

That's where the traditional auto dealership layout, with carpets of cars fronting the road, runs contrary to the city's thoughts about design.

"In future, auto dealerships may be primarily showrooms,"Olander predicts."They may store the cars somewhere else."

But, for the most part, the dealership owners say they have not heard of the city's plans to make the entire span of Virginia Street into a transit-oriented corridor.

The plans will be presented to neighborhood groups this month, to Washoe County in February, to the Reno Planning Commission in March, to City Council in April, and to regional planning officials in May.

Existing development would be grandfathered in, but new projects would have to comply with the new zoning requirements.

And, businesses that want to expand existing facilities will also have to comply with the new plans.

When developers of parcels along South Virginia say the proposal wouldn't work for them, Olander tells them to get their plans in early.

Businesses that will require a special-use permit, include sellers of cars, trucks, RVs, boats and trailers.

Other uses requiring a permit will be gas stations,motels and storage units.