Lodging options at TRI Center expanding

The opening of a new Courtyard by Marriott extended stay hotel inside the footprint of Tahoe Reno Industrial Center helps increase lodging options at the massive industrial park, but Storey County officials say even more housing options are needed.

Officials say there are several more hotels in the planning stages.

Austin Osborne, Storey County manager, told NNBW during a recent interview that the new 127-room hotel increases lodging options at TRI Center, but it’s really just the start of a much larger and years-long effort to bring residential development to Storey County.

“We kind of see this as the first step in Storey County repivoting to meet residential housing needs in the region,” Osborne said. “The extended stays are a great fit for folks moving to the region and getting adjusted, and they are a great resource for folks who are here for a construction or development project. We look forward to more coming – we could easily get to 1,000 (extended stay) units within a short period of time.”

Residential development in proximity to Tahoe Reno Industrial Center — especially development that avoids the often snarled traffic on Interstate 80 — could prove appealing to the park’s workforce, Osborne said.

“If you are driving to TRI Center from Reno-Sparks, it takes about 40 minutes on I-80. If you drive south along Highway 50, it takes about the same time, but you have a nice undivided open highway that goes right into the area that we are master-planning for this residential growth,” he said.

The repositioning by Storey County of being open for business for residential development is in response to the growth at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, where business has been booming for years. Heavy construction is taking place throughout the park to bring multiple data center campuses and new manufacturing facilities online.

The continued expansion of the industrial park has brought thousands of additional vehicles to TRI Center on a daily basis either for construction or for employment. According to the Nevada Department of Transportation, traffic counts to Tahoe Reno Industrial Center have exploded since 2013, when just 5,100 cars per day entered USA Parkway from Interstate 80.

By 2022, that number had swelled to 24,600 vehicles per day, a 382 percent increase in under a decade.

On the park’s southern boundary, the extension of USA Parkway to Highway 50 opened in 2017, and 2,600 vehicles per day accessed the industrial park from its new southern entrance. By 2022, that number had jumped 96 percent to 5,100 vehicles per day, NDOT reports.

That ramp-up in traffic has led to an increasing need for more overnight accommodations and temporary residences for construction and contract workers who could benefit from not having to leave the park every night for hotels in Fernley, Sparks, Reno or Carson City. Currently, there are 250 hotel rooms in the park and 150 spaces in the Comstock Meadows RV Park near the corners of USA Parkway and E. Sydney Drive. The RV park sold in February 2024 for $7.5 million.

Galaxy Hotels Group of Frisco, Texas, is the developer of the new Courtyard by Marriott Reno Sparks at TRI Center. The four-story property located at 505 USA Parkway is Galaxy Hotels sixth hotel in Nevada.

Scott Nadel, executive leadership team, Galaxy Hotels Group, said in a statement to NNBW that the development and opening of the property builds on the company’s momentum as a leading hotel operator in the Silver State.
“Constructing the Courtyard by Marriott Reno Sparks down the street from Tesla’s Gigafactory Nevada in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center aligns with our strategic expansion of Galaxy Hotels’ diverse hotel portfolio,” Nadel said. “Our company is investing in the continued economic growth of the TRI Center by supporting the unique area’s growing demand for excellent guest experiences.”
In addition to the Marriott property, there’s a Studio 6 motel on USA Parkway and a MyTRI Suites on Venice Drive. An additional 250 to 350 hotel rooms are in the planning stages at TRI Center, county officials said.
Guests can stay in hotel rooms for 28 days before being required to change rooms. It’s the same at the RV park, Osborne noted.
The industrial park’s development agreement with Storey County stipulates that there can’t be any residential housing inside the boundaries of Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, and for good reason, Osborne said.
“You don’t want residential uses in the park – it’s heavy industry,” he said. “It’s not a mixed-use community or a neighborhood.”

That newly entitled residential land would be added to land at Painted Rock and Interstate 80 that’s already been master-planned for large-scale residential use, Osborne said. Although both sites are currently raw land, there are existing utilities, highways and infrastructure nearby. Each site also has relatively easy-to-build topography, Osborne added, and developers would benefit from Storey County’s experience with fast-tracking projects.
“Typically, getting the proper land entitlements is the first hurdle developers face,” Osborne told NNBW. “Storey County guarantees a seven-day permit to begin mass grading, and 30-days to secure a building permit for even the largest buildings at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.
“We want to bring that same level of service for residential and other uses,” he added. “Our commissioners have completely gone through all our development, subdivision and water-rights codes and deregulated everywhere we could to make it easier for a developer to get their tentative and final map approvals.”
Residential developers in Storey County will be able to create mixed-use communities and build on site accessory dwelling so multiple families could live in the same home and share the burden of rent, Osborne said.
“There are all kinds of mechanisms that our commissioners have put into our codes that would make it as easy as possible for a developer to come in, get a project moving forward, and get it financed.”
Due to the streamlined building process, residential developers could realize significant savings and pass those savings on to homeowners in the form of homes that are significantly less expensive than market costs in Greater Reno-Sparks or outlying communities, Osborne added.
“There is more land to work with, and you have a much more friendly development code to work in. That translates directly into affordability for people like those who work at the industrial center,” he said.
Residential housing options in Storey County are limited. The Rainbow Bend subdivision at Lockwood lies within Storey County limits and has about a third of the county’s residents, Osborne said. Virginia City Highlands, Virginia City and Gold Hill are within the county, and the Mark Twain Estates area at the base of Six Mile Canyon holds about 500 residents.
Storey County is focused on adding new residential housing options in response to the needs of TRI Center’s constantly growing workforce, Osborne said.
“A lot of work, time and thought has been put into this,” he said. “We really see this as kind of a pivot within the county. We will still have that industrial focus and be friendly to companies and businesses, but we will become a more complete community by addressing some of the needs we have with affordability and increasing housing inventory in the region. If we can get more homes on the market (in Storey County), it will help with affordability throughout Northern Nevada.”