http://www.nnbw.bizNorthern Nevada's top weekly business headlinesCopyright 2009 Northern Nevada Business Weekly. All rights reserved.A big change in the way that the Reno-Tahoe region is marketed to potential visitors in northern California is on track for an autumn introduction. Details of the campaign still are being hammered out by the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority, which is working with executives from casinos, hotels, ski areas, golf courses, transportation agencies and others that have a stake in the health of the tourism industry. Mortar Advertising, a San Francisco agency selected from a field of five finalists six months ago, is updating what marketing gurus call the region's "brand promise" - the big idea that differentiates Reno and Lake Tahoe from its tourism competitors. As analysts at Mortar fine-tune research that's been developed by RSCVA in the past nine months, they're focusing on two groups of northern Californians: ? Folks who haven't been to northern Nevada for at least three years and need a reintroduction to the new-look Reno-Sparks. ? Potential first-time visitors to the region. Those groups present the biggest opportunity to grow visitor numbers quickly, says RSCVA marketing chief Michael Thomas. "These are our new visitors," he says. But they also require a different marketing message than the gaming-and-nightlife advertising that's provided the tourism theme for Reno for decades. The consumers who need to be introduced - or reintroduced - to Reno and Sparks are looking for fun and excitement, Thomas says, and they're looking for a getaway that's easy to get to and offers good value. But just as important is this: They're looking for an experience that is authentic - experiences such as the pecan punch at Louie's Basque Corner, Awful Awful burgers at The Nugget in downtown Reno or even Shakespeare on the shores of Lake Tahoe. "People don't know that these things exist," Thomas says. A challenge for marketers, he says, is that the groups that RSCVA and its partners want to woo typically don't put much faith in the claims of traditional advertising. To reach them, he says the campaign is likely to rely on public relations and social media that can generate some word-of-mouth buzz for northern Nevada. Equally important, the message needs to be believable and can't over-promise the region's attractions. While the creative aspects of the campaign have yet to be entirely worked out, Thomas says it's likely to look unlike previous advertising from the Biggest Little City. A blog post by Mortar's staff a few days ago gives some hints about the company's approach after employees visited northern Nevada: "We are smitten," they wrote in the blog. "It's the sublimely unspoiled, supremely authentic, ridiculously cool getaway we always wanted but thought we could never have, much like the unicorn we never got for our birthday. Part of us (a big part) wants to keep this goodness to ourselves, but where is the fun in that?" No matter how clever the creative may be, the RSCVA wants to make sure the campaign is closely tied to the reality of the marketplace. "It's going to be rooted in a great deal of research," says Thomas. The advertising agency is testing some of its concepts with consumers this summer after winning approval for its general direction from the RSCVA board of directors as well as the agency's marketing and sales committee. The market-segmentation study has cost $71,300 so far, and RSCVA expects will spend another $40,000 to test the marketing program.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NNBW1/~3/D-a45r9_rbc/ArticleRead.aspxhttp://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=13450Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=13450Renae Montgomery's first business venture is a smallish breakfast and lunch eatery that opens today in the Town and Country Plaza at Vassar Street and Kietzke Lane. Montgomery joins a host of other entrepreneurs who are capitalizing on low rents and an abundance of used restaurant equipment to open new eateries in the Truckee Meadows. Commercial real estate brokers say vacant restaurant spaces are beginning to fill. Montgomery's venture, The Breakfast and Lunch Nook, a 1,500-square-foot restaurant at 1555 Vassar St., opens where a former business in the location, Pita Hut, shut down in June after just a four-month run. The restaurant serves American-style breakfast and lunch items from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and can hold 34 patrons. Counselors from the northern Nevada chapter of SCORE helped Montgomery avoid pitfalls that might hamper her success by establishing relationships with vendors, setting menu items and providing restaurant know-how. Montgomery opened the restaurant using personal funding. She will employ three people: two cooks and one waitress. The interior of the building has been painted, and new signage was installed, but other aspects of remodeling, such as raising the counter height and installing fixed barstools, had to be put off for a while. "We just need to get the doors open," she says. The regional economy is still standing, albeit on wobbly legs, and Montgomery and others decided the time was right to open a new restaurant. "I always wanted to do this, and it became available," she says. "We are going to do well here." Though retail leasing has been stagnant for several quarters, some area real estate brokers have been successful leasing vacant restaurant space. Ken Mattison, vice president of the retail division of Grubb and Ellis, has landed several new tenants in the past few months. ?Cheeseburger International Inc. of Portola, Calif., will open a Cheeseburger Island Style at the former TGI Friday's location at South Virginia Street and Neil Road. The company, which operates restaurant locations in the Hawaiian Islands, Key West, Fla. and Las Vegas, will renovate the interior and exterior of the 6,667-square-foot site - a contractor has not yet been selected to do the work - and expects to open by late September. ? Jack's Restaurant and Cantina recently opened in Franktown Corners at Grove Street and Kietzke Lane. Felipe Estrada, owner of Jacks Caf? on Victorian Avenue in Sparks, and business partner Lilly Lopez leased the 5,072-square-foot space that formerly housed Micasa Too. ? Clary's Bar and Grill leased the former Foley's building at 2780 S. Virginia and should be open in August. ? Fiesta Mexicana 2, an expansion of the popular eatery in the North Valleys, leased 2,354 square feet in the Wildcreek Plaza at 2975 El Rancho Drive. ? Cadillac Ranch Saloon, a 6,000-square-foot restaurant at Plaza 800 shopping center at 2130 Oddie Blvd., is remodeling the interior of the space and hopes to open in late August. In addition to picking up used restaurant equipment at deep discounts, tenants are securing exceptionally favorable lease terms from landlords, Mattison says. "Smart people are taking advantage of the current economic situation," he says. "Prices are down and they have an opportunity to negotiate a more favorable lease rate or get other rent concessions to make deals that make sense for both parties." Mattison says most deals being inked typically are below asking rates by as much as 30 percent. Restaurant leasing has spiked, in part, he says, because so many spaces are being offered with fixtures, furnishings and equipment in place from failed restaurants, which conserves tenant capital requirements and shortens the time it takes to open for business. "It is worth more in place than in someone's garage, so there has been a good amount of negotiating going on to retain furnishings," he says. "We have been somewhat successful convincing landlords to keep the equipment in place and welcome new users with good concepts to the neighborhood." Kelly Bland, senior vice president of the retail properties group of NAI Alliance, also has had some success in leasing retail space in the formerly vacant first floor of the Palladio. Ole Bridge Pub, whose owners also operate several other bars in the area, leased 1,245 square feet facing the Truckee River at First and Sierra streets. A Subway franchise also signed a lease with Palladio LLC to take over the old Starbucks location. The entire first floor of the Palladio, which was built to house retail, had sat vacant after Starbucks closed that 1,550-square-foot location. Both eateries are expected to open in the next two months. Bland says both deals came about from business owners seeking to capitalize on increased foot traffic in the area with the opening of Aces Ballpark, as well as traffic from tourists, nearby office workers and moviegoers. "That downtown corridor at First and Sierra is kind of a hub of activity," he says. Bland notes that NAI Alliance has seen an uptick in inquiries for space to house small quick-service restaurants, particularly in the downtown core. "It is a good time for tenants to take advantage of reduced rental rates," he says.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NNBW1/~3/8-alg9BPOHY/ArticleRead.aspxhttp://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=13449Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=13449A $400,000 facelift by Metcalf Builders is under way at Southgate Shopping Center in Carson City, but the center's owners continue to struggle to fill space in the property. Leasing of the site of the old Walmart building on South Carson Street got more difficult after Sportsman's Warehouse, which was expected to be a cornerstone tenant, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March. Rob Rothe, owner of the former Walmart building, had an agreement in place with the national sporting goods retailer to lease 70,000 square feet of newly constructed space where a portion of the Walmart building once stood. Rothe, a Bellevue, Wash. businessman, already signed Burlington Coat Factory into an adjoining 50,000 square foot space - the remainder of the space occupied by the Walmart store before it was demolished. But the Sportman's Warehouse reorganization in federal bankruptcy court led to rejection of the lease - leaving a large hole to fill for Rothe, who had agreed to a 15-year tax revenue sharing plan with Carson City to recover some of the costs associated with renovating the site. Stu Utgaard, chairman and chief executive officer of Midvale, Utah-based Sportsman's Warehouse Holdings, said March 10 that the company would liquidate 23 stores and sell another 15, primarily its locations near the Canadian border, to UFA Co-operative Limited of Canada. The company's Reno store on Moana Lane is one of 29 locations unaffected by the bankruptcy filing. Utgaard now says Sportsman's Warehouse may eventually open a store in Carson City after it emerges from Chapter 11 reorganization, but the company will be restricted for some time in new business development. "We had to stop all new store expansions," Utgaard says. Under an operating covenant filed in Carson City in 2007, Rothe would have received up to $180,000 annually for 15 years if Sportsman's Warehouse realized a minimum of $15 million in taxable sales. The Carson City Redevelopment Authority previously had helped Rothe secure Burlington Coat Factory by providing $2 million to help with tenant improvements, says Joe McCarthy, director of the office of business development for Carson City. That money will be repaid through sales tax revenues in six years, he says. "It is very important that we maintain and grow our taxable sales activity in Carson City in order to keep up with the cost of proving services," McCarthy says. "Over a 15-year period we would have realized about $2.5 million with Sportsman's Warehouse, and with Burlington about $2 million. It is estimated that Burlington will generate approximately $300,000 to $400,000 a year in sales tax, and our return on investment is about six years." Forty percent of Carson City public services are funded through sales tax revenues. The loss of Sportsman's Warehouse is a blow to a city which already has seen departure of several other large soft-goods retailers. "We needed sales generators like Burlington and Sportsman's," McCarthy says. "We hated to lose Mervyn's and Gottschalks. "Sportsman's would have filled a niche for hunters and campers and outdoorsmen that we didn't have. This community was excited about it coming, and the economy basically ate up Sportsman's Warehouse." Rothe's City Management Services company also owns the Reno Town Mall at South Virginia Street and Peckham Lane. Burlington Coat Factory and the proposed space for Sportsman's Warehouse aren't the only upgrades happening at Southgate Shopping Center. Shelly Aldean, owner of the Glenbrook Company - one of five owners of building space in the center - hired Metcalf to renovate the facades of Glenbrook's holdings. Work is expected to be completed by early fall, Aldean says. A majority of the smaller inline spaces at the aging retail center remain vacant. "We have been struggling like every other shopping center in the area competing for retailers, and there are not a lot who are expanding," she says. "Shopping centers have to reinvent themselves every 10 years, so we are making the facades a little more trendy and try to be more consistent of the architecture of JC Penny's and the Burlington building." JC Penny's and Nevada State Bank also are located in Southgate Shopping Center.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NNBW1/~3/Wpp7ZuoEZAY/ArticleRead.aspxhttp://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=13448Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=13448Dan Jacuzzi isn't done buying residential real estate brokerages in northern Nevada. Jacuzzi, whose The Select Group rolled up 12 real estate offices in Reno and Tahoe late last year, then bought five at Lake Tahoe from Dickson Realty, continues to shop for more brokerages in the region, says one of his executives. Before The Select Group is done, it likely will run residential brokerages with about 300 agents in Reno and Sparks, says Fred McElroy, a managing broker for Coldwell Banker Select Real Estate in Reno. McElroy says The Select Group has offers pending to acquire several Reno-area brokerages that he described as "strong players" with significant forces of sales agents. Currently, the company has about 200 agents in its Reno offices and another 80 at Lake Tahoe. With 300 agents, Coldwell Banker Select Real Estate would be approaching the size of Dickson Realty, which recently reported 375 agents. The Select Group also includes residential brokerages operating under the Century 21 and ERA flag in the Sacramento area as well as a commercial real estate operation, a referral system, a mortgage company and a real estate school. Jacuzzi is positioning The Select Group to take advantage of a market rebound, McElroy says. "There are people who are struggling to make ends meet, and he's got a system that works," he says. That system includes innovative technology - an iPhone application that quickly delivers information about new listings, for instance - as well as structured approaches that boost the closing rate on short-sale transactions to twice the national average. Equally important, Jacuzzi has said, are the economies of scale that arise when overhead costs are spread across larger operations. The Select Group arrived in the Reno-Sparks market last fall with the acquisition of 12 offices - Coldwell Banker Incline Village, Century 21 Tahoe Pines at Stateline, Century 21 Goldcrest Properties in Reno, Century 21 Mountain Properties in Reno and Incline Village, and Coldwell Banker Village Realty's seven locations. It quickly consolidated those 12 offices into four. When the company bought Lake Tahoe offices from Dickson, it consolidated five locations into three. Ron Hoy, who previously owned Goldcrest Properties, is general manager of the Reno-Tahoe operations and a partner in The Select Group. Along with McElroy, who serves as broker and manager of the company's Galena office, other managers include Mark Sykes, broker manager of its McCarran office; Ken Amundson, broker manager of its Sparks office; and Michael Specchio, broker manager of its Fernley office.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NNBW1/~3/nGViIYPWGBI/ArticleRead.aspxhttp://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=13446Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=13446In the last couple of days before the Fuddruckers restaurant opened at Legends at Sparks Marina last week, there was little of the last-minute frenzy that generally accompanies efforts to get a restaurant into operation. Its owner, Luther Mack, may be 69 years old, and the restaurant may have come out of the ground in 90 days - probably a record for one of the hamburger chain's locations. But Mack also is a former Marine Corps drill sergeant who doesn't put up with excuses from contractors, employees or anyone else. Mack is looking to replicate the success he found in 35 years of developing the McDonald's franchise in the Reno-Sparks area. He built 11 restaurants in the fast-food chain before selling them in January. The McDonald's franchisee, Mack Associates, one of its executives and one of its former executives had pleaded guilty to charges that the restaurants knowingly hired illegal alien workers, but McDonald's executives said the sale of the stores wasn't related to the immigration charges. In his new role with Fuddruckers, Mack holds the development rights for northern Nevada. "I wouldn't want to compete with anyone else," he says. Two Fuddruckers stores operate in Las Vegas. The company estimates that the costs of opening an individual restaurant range from about $1 million to about $1.5 million. The 6,000-square-foot, 240-seat store that opened at Legends is larger than most in the 230-restaurant family dining chain headquartered at Austin, Texas. The restaurant's d?cor includes historical photos of Sparks as well as University of Nevada, Reno, themes. The Sparks location employs about 70. Mack, who didn't want to retire after selling the McDonald's locations, was alerted to the Fuddruckers opportunity by a longtime friend, comedian Bill Cosby, and Cosby's management team. Although Cosby appeared at the store's opening last week, he's not a partner in the restaurant. "The fastest way to ruin a friendship is by going into partnership," says Mack. "Partnerships don't work for me." Although he's experienced in the restaurant business, Fuddrucker's represents a late-career departure for Mack. "This isn't fast food," he says, noting, for instance, that the Fuddruckers location includes an in-store bakery. And while he's learning a new business and promising that he'll stay close to daily operations, Mack says he isn't motivated by the potential for profit. "I love the people. I love the community. I love to stay involved," he says. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NNBW1/~3/IMhHIE6ecjQ/ArticleRead.aspxhttp://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=13442Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.nnbw.biz/ArticleRead.aspx?storyID=13442