Seeking an edge, Basin Street rolls out discounts program

With about 150 tenants that employ 2,100 workers in the office and retail buildings it owns in Reno, Basin Street Properties figures it has created a market of potential consumers.

Now it's working to link the consumers who work in its buildings with restaurants, retailers and the like who are renting space from Basin Street Properties around town.

Scott Stranzl, vice president of leasing, says the company believes the program is unique among commercial property owners nationwide.

Basin Street's 700,000 square feet of space in Reno include three big downtown office buildings at 300 E. Second, 200 S. Virginia and 50 W. Liberty as well as the Coliseum Meadows retail center and the flex center known as Mill@McCarran.

The company's new Tenant Advantage Program seeks to differentiate Basin Street Properties' office and retail space from the competition, Stranzl says, while it also seeks to build a sense of community among the company's tenants.

For instance, Taqueria La Michocana, a Mexican restaurant at Coliseum Meadows, offers a 10 percent discount for people who work in any of Basin Street's buildings.

Batteries Plus, a retailer in the retail center, provides a 15 percent discount to participants in the Basin Street program.

The program is available at no cost to Basin Street tenants and their employees.

The Reno-based company, which owns a 44-building portfolio in California and Nevada, also has rolled out the Tenant Advantage Program in its properties in Sacramento and the Santa Rosa areas.

Stranzl says the program also is drawing interest from businesses that aren't tenants of Basin Street Properties but want to attract the company's tenants. Two downtown fitness facilities, Saint Mary's Center for Health & Fitness and KOR Fitness, have signed on to provide discount memberships to Basin Street tenants.