Basin Street widens offerings with Reno acquisition

Basin Street Properties made its mark in Reno buying downtown buildings, sprucing them up and filling large expanses of vacant space with new tenants.

But company’s $8.5 million acquisition of the fully occupied Thomas Creek Business Center in the South Meadows doesn’t mark a change in direction as much as a widening of the company’s product offerings in Reno.

Par Tolles, president of Reno-based Basin Street Properties, says the acquisition of the 40,760-square-foot property near the corner of Gateway Drive and South Meadows Parkway reflects a desire by the company to assemble a portfolio of office properties that will meet the varied needs of potential tenants.

The company’s cornerstone properties in downtown Reno include the major office buildings at 50 W. Liberty, 200 S. Virginia and 300 E. Second St. It also has extensive holdings in Sacramento and Sonoma County in California.

“We’ve hit a tipping point for Reno,” Tolles said after the South Meadows transaction was announced last week. “We see south Reno as a good opportunity to diversify.”

While the company’s strategy in Reno in the past was value-oriented — buying buildings with relatively high vacancy and working to build occupancy — Tolles said the acquisition of a fully leased building meets the desires of some of Basin Street’s investors who want a more conservative offering.

Major tenants of the Thomas Creek Business Center include Allied Nevada Gold Corp. and the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

But even a fully occupied building provides some upside, too.

As new and expanding companies need more office space, and as developers are reluctant to take on new projects because rents don’t yet support new construction, the nearly inevitable result will be rising rents and rising valuations for office buildings in the Reno area, Tolles said.

But Basin Street Properties isn’t alone in seeing the opportunity, and Tolles said good acquisitions are getting increasingly difficult to find.

Brokering the South Meadows transaction were Scott Shanks and Dominic Brunetti, principals with Dickson Commercial Group.