Past pages, Feb. 7, 2011: 12-building industrial project sold; promoters roll dice on concerts

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week in 2021, we will feature snippets of stories that published a decade ago to provide readers a 10-year perspective of business news in the region. This week’s stories first published in the Feb. 7, 2011, edition of the NNBW.

12-building industrial project sold

A California company is ready to begin sprucing up a 12-building industrial complex on Glendale Avenue just east of McCarran after acquiring the buildings for $8.8 million.

The transaction, believed to the region’s largest commercial estate deal of the young year, reflects the new owner’s belief that Reno and other Western markets are ready to rebound fast as the recession loosens its grip.

“We like markets that are out of favor,” said Rusty Turner of Turner Development Corp. “We think these communities are going to come roaring back.”

Turner Development Corp., headquartered at Newport Beach, plans to market the project as industrial condominium spaces ranging from 6,000 to 31,000 square feet.

— Page 1, by John Seelmeyer

Promoters roll dice on concert acts

Casino floors aren’t the only places in Northern Nevada where gambling occurs; concert promoters roll the dice every time they book a show.

And with casino entertainment directors’ changing tastes and fickle consumer spending, making a buck on a performance has gotten more difficult, promoters say.

Concert promoters’ costs are many: performance guarantees, renting a venue, paying for labor to set up and dismantle the show, hotel rooms for the band, and promotional materials.

They hope to recover heavy upfront expenditures through ticket sales, but the challenging economic climate the past few years has made booking shows even more of a game of chance, says Billy Drewitz, owner of Late-Nite Productions in South Lake Tahoe.

“It is definitely a gamble — but that is kind of part of the allure of it,” Drewitz says.

— Page 1, by Rob Sabo

As residential market limits mobility, effects felt through economy

Taking a look at sales data compiled by the Reno-Sparks Association of Realtors during the past couple of years, RSAR Past President Ken Amundsen concludes that only a third of all home sellers are in a position to buy another home.

A third of the sales in the Reno-Sparks market involve bank-owned properties. Banks almost certainly aren’t going to take the proceeds of a sale and buy another house, and people who have lost a home to foreclosure aren’t likely to have either the cash or the courage to jump back into the housing market.

Another third of the sales in the market involve short sales, Amundsen says. Those sellers probably have damaged their credit enough that they won’t be in the market for a new home for several years.

And the remaining third of the sales? They involve good old-fashioned transactions in which sellers have some equity and probably will buy another home.

— Page 1, by John Seelmeyer