A working rendering of the Waterfront at the Marina property.
SPARKS, Nev. — With new companies, new jobs and, in turn, more people consistently flooding into Reno-Sparks, a slew of apartment buildings are popping up in the region in an effort to catch up with the housing demand.
One such property being built in Sparks is preparing to make a splash as a one-of-a-kind community.
Hugging the shoreline of the Sparks Marina, Watefront at the Marina — a project by Guardian Capital and LandCap Investment Partners — will become the only apartment homesite on the edge of the water in Reno-Sparks when it opens its doors in 2019.
Waterfront at the Marina will stand five stories high and feature 209 one- and two-bedroom apartments. The units will be released in two phases, with 115 made available in February 2019 and 94 more released in May, said Heather Floyd, community director of the project located at 375 Harbour Cove Drive in Sparks.
“There’s no other place in the (Reno-Sparks) area where you’d have the views that you have here,” said Floyd, swooping her hand toward the 65-acre, man-made lake a stone’s throw away.
According to the housing community’s website, units will range in size from 712 square feet (1 bed, 1 bath) to 1,362 sq. ft. (2 bed, 2 bath). Rent prices for the former range from $1,449 to $1,678; for the latter, it will cost between $2,275 and $2,503 a month.
‘We hid the eyesore’
Along with sitting alongside the marina, Floyd said the luxury apartment building is especially unique in that it wraps around an abandoned multi-story parking garage — one that has been an eyesore for over a decade — that overlooks the marina.
The parking garage was constructed in 2006 by a developer with big plans for the site. Two years later, however, the recession hit, sinking the development into bankruptcy. The garage has sat empty ever since.
“It’s a win-win,” Floyd shrugged. “We hid the eyesore. And now our customers have covered, reserved parking spaces with controlled access, which is what everybody is looking for.”
In other words, residents will be able to park on the same floor as their unit — a style often seen in southern California, Floyd added.
That’s not the only SoCal-influence rippling through the Waterfront at the Marina. The community will feature a rooftop lounge; a state-of-the-art, 24-hour fitness studio with the latest equipment and tech; onsite yoga and fitness classes; a private dog park; and a pool and hot tub straddling the shoreline.
The units, meanwhile, are replete with energy-efficient kitchen appliances, quartz countertops, custom European cabinets, upscale flooring, and individual washer and dryer units. Not to mention, panoramic views of either the Sparks Marina, Mount Rose or the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Catering to a higher-end lifestyle
Floyd pointed out that many of the companies — predominantly of the high-tech and high-wage variety — migrating into the Reno-Sparks region are from SoCal and the Bay Area.
“We have people that are relocating and they don’t necessarily want to change their lifestyle,” Floyd said. “That is why, I think, Waterfront is so unique to the area. Because a lot of what we’re offering is kind of what they’re used to in those more expensive areas like southern California and the Bay Area.
“So we have a lot of people that are choosing Waterfront because they don’t want to give up their lifestyle that they live, but they still want to relocate to Reno for their new job offer that they’ve accepted.”
The SoCal developer also owns the three-story Marina Town Centre mixed-use building just south of the Waterfront property as well as the 240-unit Marina Village apartments across the street. According to previous reports, both the existing apartments and the retail space will get facelifts to look more like the Waterfront apartments.
Current occupants of the Marina Town Centre include Lighthouse Cofffee, Edward R. Jones office and LandCap’s Northern Nevada main office.
