There’s a lot of moving and shaking going on in Victorian Square as construction is going on from dawn until dusk in an effort to transform Downtown Sparks into a modern area to live, work and play.
Many people spending time in Victorian Square may notice the new Galaxy Theatre up and running, and new local retailers are starting to move in. Sparks’ first and only wine bar, Engine 8 Urban Winery, just celebrated its soft opening and across from Engine 8, the Golden Rotisserie is fully open, serving flavorful slow-roasted and braised meat in Mexican-style dishes (it also has another restaurant in Truckee).
Behind the Golden Rotisserie on the corner of the Bridges apartment complex, Pinon Bottle is expected to open in May. A couple of other restaurants are currently in the process of potentially filling spaces in the retail complex, but nothing is confirmed yet.
Next to the movie theater, a 702-space underground parking garage is completely built out and open, making it the best place to park when cruising through the square. The City of Sparks put up 16 more parking signs pointing people towards the garage, but since it’s so hidden a lot of people are unaware that it’s there.
The most noticeable construction is happening on C Street behind Great Basin Brewery where the old parking garage used to be. This is being transformed into The Deco condo complex, set to be open a year from now, which will feature living spaces the size of a football field with 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, and penthouse suites along with 209 parking spaces. The ground level of The Deco will be all public parking with 100 spaces. It will also feature a clubhouse, gym, and other amenities for residents and their guests.
Silverwing Development, who is overseeing the project, is hoping to have the public parking available there by the end of the year.
“It’s tricky when people are working there and the public is walking through; we’re trying to get it safe so that people can drive in,” says Silverwing Development President J Carter Witt.
Between building The Deco and The Atrium complexes, Witt says that Silverwing is adding more parking than it had originally intended as to not take up any public spaces.
“We’re beefing up the parking design to be able to accommodate everybody,” Witt says.
The Bridges is now fully open, and 50 percent leased; the final bells and whistles should be wrapped up in May.
On the other side of Victorian Square by Centennial Plaza and the bus station, The Atrium is being built. It got delayed a little bit due to rain and inclement weather making it so that there was no safe place to store materials, but now that the weather is turning around Silverwing Development can get back to building.
Workers are pouring foundation and steel posts for the Atrium project across that will be complete with a garden area, clubhouse, gym, sky deck with a bar, and windows overlooking Victorian Square. However, the highlight will be a 5-story waterfall cascading down the middle with LED lights displaying an unusual eclectic pattern in the evenings.
“We have some other fun things going on in that building and it features a cubist architectural design,” Witt says. “We’re trying to make all (living complexes) distinctive and architecturally different,” he adds.
The Nugget Casino Resort’s outside 8500-seat amphitheater is also ready to open, with Toby Keith testing the acoustics for its first show on June 5.
Larry Fuller says
Toby keith is JUNE 15 not 5.
larry