Construction crews put finishing touches on the Midtown Lofts and Sincair Bungalows housing project in Midtown Reno.
Blake Smith envisions the Midtown Lofts and Sinclair Bungalows as bringing something new with the old in Reno’s Midtown.
Smith’s firm, S3 Development Company, is overseeing the development of Midtown Lofts and Sinclair Bungalows, a mix of new and remodeled residences located on the southeast corner of Sinclair and Stewart streets.
The project includes six town homes, three bungalows built from the ground up and two original Victorian-style single-family homes built around the mid-20th century that were remodeled.
“These residences are very open and low-maintenance buildings,” Smith said. “This concept hasn’t been developed here yet and will provide a cutting-edge approach to living in Reno.”
The residences were designed with rustic, yet modern decor to coincide with the ever-changing revitalization of the Midtown district.
Smith indicated that with Reno-Sparks’ current housing crunch, creative solutions should be explored. S3 studied other cities that experienced similar housing issues that the Truckee Meadows is dealing with now.
“San Francisco and Portland have had some of the same problems we’ve had here, and had to figure out ways to utilize land more efficiently,” Smith said.
The Midtown Lofts and Sinclair Bungalows project, with each residence just several feet apart, resemble something seen in older Bay Area neighborhoods.
The bungalows and town homes were built from the ground up while the Victorian homes, built sometime in the mid-20th century, were remodeled. Construction crews were putting the finishing touches on a few of the residences and they should be ready for viewing within the next week. Home staging and sales have already begun for the remaining units.
Marmot Properties of Reno will be the listing agents for the new residences. The residences are priced around $500,000 per unit, although residents won’t be assessed homeowner association dues.
The lofts and bungalows range in size from 1,544 to 1,995 square feet and feature fenced-in landscaping, an outdoor living covered rooftop deck, along with parking or garage access.
The project is the first housing development in the Midtown district in the last 2-3 years.
S3 wanted to get the project completed by this past summer but a competitive construction labor market and other issues with older neighborhood infrastructure set the project back.
For instance, while connecting the residence with existing sewer lines, crews discovers outdated piping laid in the 1920s that had to be replaced. Another time, the street had to be completely torn up to remove or replace existing underground power lines or street-level poles that got in the way.
Mike McGonagle with MAC Associates, Inc., designed the Midtown Lofts and Sinclair Bungalows while Troy and Travis Means of Homecrafters served as builder.
S3 Development is developing several single-family and multifamily projects in the region, including “Lyfe at the Marina,” a 280-unit apartment complex in Sparks, plus a new apartment complex near the intersection of West Fourth Street and McCarran Boulevard where the blighted Wildflower Village hotel and retail center once stood.
