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Deadline Nears For Offers To Move Old Homes Blocking UNR Expansion

Victorian homes on Reno's Center Street sit on land UNR wants to use for a campus expansion that would include new buildings and direct access to downtown.
Alicia Barber

Victorian homes on Reno's Center Street sit on land UNR wants to use for a campus expansion that would include new buildings and direct access to downtown.

A bit of Nevada’s past stands in the way of UNR’s future.

The University of Nevada, Reno owns a dozen old homes, including some dating to the 1890s, that sit on land needed for a campus expansion.

UNR has set a June 7 deadline for proposals from those interested in purchasing and moving the homes, and university President Marc Johnson says prospective buyers have been in touch.

“We’ve actually had interested parties come with contractors with them so they can get an assessment of what it would cost to actually move and reset the houses,” he told State of Nevada.

The university is looking to use the land as part of a southward expansion of the campus called the Gateway District that would connect with downtown Reno. A major business school building is planned for the area as well as science and parking structures.

"People are on the one hand very protective of older spaces, which I understand but they are also very supportive of having a growing vibrant university in the town," Johnson said.

Johnson said the university hopes to find new locations for the homes, but demolition remains an option. He said the homes can't be repurposed because they won't accommodate the kind of classroom and office space that the university needs for the growing student population. 

The nonprofit group Preserve Nevada recently put the houses atop its list of the most endangered places in the state.

“The Gateway District homes are some of the best surviving examples of Victorian architecture in Reno,” the group said in a statement. It’s encouraging the homes be preserved, in part, because they “enhance the university’s connection with the history of its city.”

Former Senator - and UNR alum- Richard Bryan is part of the group. Johnson said he is respectful of Bryan's position but he disagrees that the homes must be preserved.

The university would like the land cleared this year, and Johnson said he hopes Gateway District construction can start in two years.

Marc Johnson, president, UNR 

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