1 East Liberty, known as the US Bank building, recently sold to a locally-lead investment group for an undisclosed price. The building is at the corner of Liberty and South Virginia streets.
This story was updated with additional information on May 24.
The office building at 1 East Liberty Street, a cornerstone in the renewal of downtown Reno, has been purchased by an investment group led by a Reno businessman, Resource Management & Development reported on May 17.
The six-story approximately 89,000-square-foot office building, commonly known as the U.S. Bank Building, was purchased for $18.3 million by 1 Liberty C2K LLC, an investment group established by Jeff Kirby, the owner of Resource Management & Development in Reno.
The seller was C2K Advisors LTD, which acquired the property in 2013. The Reno-based real estate development company is led by Blake Smith.
The C2K team invested $4.2 million in renovations, taking the building from 60 percent occupancy to 96 percent at the time of the sale, according to a press release from Dickson Commercial Group. The building features structured underground parking, modern high-end renovations and is located on the major intersection of Downtown Reno’s financial district.
“Before, the building had a cold institutional feel,” Smith said in a written statement. “We succeeded in creating a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly connection between Midtown and the River District.”
Kirby praised the renovation work.
“Blake Smith and his team established a vision for a bustling hub at the most important corner in Reno, the intersection of Downtown, Midtown and the Financial District,” Kirby said in a written statement. “They delivered on their promises, creating a strong cornerstone property that now has drawn buyers with fresh capital to the region.”
The building has a high occupancy. Tenants include Starbucks, U.S. Bank, Lewis Roca Rothberger Christie (LRRC), MEDNAX Services, Inc. and Pacific Workplaces.
“One of the reasons for the purchase is that it’s 96 percent occupied,” Carole Brill with Resource Management & Development, told the NNBW. “It’s a very stable building.”
“The acquisition, repositioning and disposition of 1 E. Liberty Street represents multiple northern Nevada economic indicators including occupier demand for Class A office space, the resurgence of the Downtown Reno work environment and national investor confidence in our real estate community,” said Dominic Brunetti with Dickson Commercial Group, Inc., who along with Scott Shanks, both with Dickson Commercial Group, represented the seller in the transaction.
New York-based UBS-AG financed the transaction.
