At the corner of Plumb Lane and South Virginia Street, the 150,000-square-foot shopping center will be "de-malled," according to developers, and redeveloped into a contemporary environment to accommodate Reno's growing needs, including retail space, a public market food hall and a specialty organic grocer!
The owner will invest around $34 million into new renovations. The Casazza family has owned the land for 115 years. They normally renovate the building every five years. Now they are preparing a complete rebuild.
So what will Shoppers Square look like?
The 150,000-square-foot shopping center will be "de-malled" by demolishing the center mall walking area and retail spots to the left of CVS. It will be rebuilt with large steel barn-like walls with skylight glass ceilings and walls. This area will be converted to more of a social space with many small, local food vendors that simulate an outdoor food truck environment.


"We're not trying to rebuild a shopping center," the developer  said. "Our culture has moved beyond shopping centers. People like street retail."  The CVS will move to anchor the old Sheplers space. A fourth regional brewery-distillery will open a taproom in the back of the new structure. The Marshall's lease runs out in a few weeks and will not renew, opening up the current CVS and Marshall's space for a large organic grocery store.

The exterior should also change dramatically. The current front entrance to CVS that holds Port of Subs, My Favorite Muffin and Saigon Diner will be completely removed.Each of the building facades will be rebuilt to look different from each other, too. "It doesn't want to be perfect or monochromatic," the developer said of the future not-mall. "It wants to be a collection of buildings."


"This refreshing new take on a shopping center will be a street-retail fusion of modern-architecture meeting the rich history of the Casazza family," said the developer. "We'll be bringing a cutting-edge design never seen before in Reno that will incorporate community-needs, all in one place. And the design will focus on 'place'--a focus on creating a great gathering place at the south end of Midtown."
"Bringing a communal environment to one of the region's busiest intersections would re-imagine the space and allow for residential connectivity within the heart of Reno," said the owner.

Construction will begin in fall 2018, with the goal of being finished in about two years. Efforts are projected to generate 100 construction jobs and several hundred permanent new jobs.

Kelly Richmond 
775-219-6413