‘Biggest Little City’ Is Rebuilding Itself Spurred On By Big Sister Las Vegas, Reno, Nevada Is Gambling On Bowling For Its Latest Growth Spurt

The locals joke that San Juan Capistrano may have its swallows, but Reno has the giant cranes.

Rather than birds, the cranes are construction contraptions. They are the most telling sign in Reno’s skyline that the Biggest Little City in the World is rebuilding itself with some $740 million in new construction this year.

“Reno is evolving,” says Ferenc Szony, president of the Reno Hilton and a spokesman for revitalization. “It’s not the same old product. It’s evolved and it’s new and is being kept up. We have to do that if we want to be competitive.”

The competition was spurred in part by big sister Las Vegas, which upped the ante with fabulous new hotel-casinos and top-notch eateries such as Spago and Coyote Cafe. Las Vegas reportedly is going after the regions that have always been Reno’s tourist base: Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and, of late, British Columbia.

But while Las Vegas is itself a mirage - a string of gambling playgrounds built on the hot sand - Reno is a real town (population 144,000) set alongside the Sierra Nevada. It has charming neighborhoods, a university, parks and museums, sites for cycling and skiing, and many civic activities - such as the annual Reno Rodeo - that would exist even without a profitable gaming industry.

Believe it or not, bowling was what really spurred Reno’s current renovation. The National Bowling Stadium opened in February, built with hotel-room tax revenue and downtown redevelopment funds. Its 80 lanes are for tournament players only, but it’s open to spectators.

This year alone, the American Bowling Congress will bring in some 100,000 bowlers from all over the United States for its five-month tournament. Each bowler will be in town only a few days, but for the duration of their stay these alley athletes are expected to roll $325,000 a day into the Reno economy.

The Women’s International Bowling Congress will hold its 1997 championship tourney at the stadium, and that group and the American Bowling Congress will hold their big tournaments in Reno every three years for the next 15 years.

“Bowling is bringing new people to town,” says Matt Bonaudi, spokesman for the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority. “Reno has to sell itself as something other than Las Vegas. Reno’s got to keep up, but can never do it on Las Vegas’ scale.”

And so, to provide rooms and recreation for the bowlers in their off-lanes hours - and, ultimately, tourists visiting from California and other Western states - Reno is building and renovating on a scale never before seen here. The city air is thick with sawdust and sounds of aggressive construction. Sparkling new construction shares the neighborhood with fading motels from an earlier era.

Here’s what’s under way in Reno these days:

Neighboring downtown hotel-casinos Circus Circus and the Eldorado are working on a joint project to add 1,720 guest rooms (the Eldorado’s 12-story tower, for example, will house 32 upscale suites, ranging in size from 720 square feet to 2,200 square feet, and a 12,000-square-foot casino and showroom).

The hotels also are collaborating on Silver Legacy, a resort with an 1890s silver-mining theme. The 180-foot-diameter dome, resembling an oil-storage tank, will contain an automated 120-foot mining rig.

“The Eldorado and Circus Circus are testing the waters, Las Vegas-style,” says Bonaudi. “I don’t know how many more things like this we’ll see in Reno, but this town doesn’t do something until it’s looked at it from every which way. We don’t see a $300 million investment in the ‘90s without being sure.”

Harrah’s Casino Hotel Reno, also downtown, is spending $29 million to build an adjoining Hampton Inn, with 408 guest rooms, and convention and retail space. Construction should be completed by Christmas.

Harrah’s also is home to the new 11,000-square-foot Planet Hollywood, part of a restaurant chain owned by movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone, in a former bank building.

Outside of downtown, the 148-acre Reno Hilton is in the midst of an $86 million renovation. Hilton took over the hotel in 1992 after it had been operated as the MGM-Grand Reno (beginning in 1978) and most recently as Bally’s Reno. There’s a new dining area ($4.95 all-you-can eat lunch) called the Grand Canyon Buffet, and a 28,000-square-foot Fun Quest amusement center. The $11 million SuperBook, with 27 big-big screens and individual color monitors, can seat nearly 200 sports bettors. (Amazingly, the Hilton’s revamped ventilation system cuts down considerably on the usual casino-smoke haze.)

There are big doin’s in nearby Sparks, as well. John Ascuaga’s Nugget has a new $9 million parking garage. The Silver Club will spend $20 million in the next year for 260 rooms and 8,000 square feet of casino space. And a $235 million investment will convert Sparks’ Victorian Square into a six-block entertainment area, with a movie complex, arena, restaurants and shops.

Reno and Sparks attracted about 4.5 million visitors in 1993, according to the convention and visitors bureau. With the new construction and attractions, the area is betting it could become the Biggest Little Tourist Destination in Nevada.

MEMO: For more information, contact the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority at (800) 367-7366.