More than 10 years ago, I was having lunch at a local spot with Greg Mosier, dean of the College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno. The university was in the midst of a series of real estate moves to bridge the campus community and downtown.
UNR had purchased, or was purchasing, many of the old properties that it didn’t already own along Eighth and Ninth streets on the north side of Interstate 80, between Evans Avenue and Virginia Street.
We discussed a vision Mosier had for the future of Reno, the College of Business and the community. He described his clear vision of a new College of Business building that could be the true Reno gateway for business, community, hospitality and academics, all readily viewed and easily accessed from the freeway and downtown. This would give the university—previously tucked up on the hill—a formidable presence, overlooking the vibrant, ever-changing city. The College of Business was in the process of growing by 30% in a decade and would expand to become the UNR college with the highest undergraduate enrollment. It had outgrown the 1982 Ansari Business Building—with old elevators and classrooms, and low-slung hallways—years before. (I won’t miss the elevators jamming and sending the throngs into the stairwells, which are my preferred mode of climbing the four flights at the old building.)
There were many folks involved in the vision of extending the campus into the downtown corridor and beyond, especially UNR President Brian Sandoval (the state’s governor at the time of my lunch with Mosier). He was instrumental in bringing this to fruition. The dean’s description was the first I had heard about it in person, though.
The vision has many facets, but all include the university helping to renovate and clean up the areas leading into the gaming and entertainment corridors. The Ozmen Center, until now located in the old business building, has in many ways helped bring the university and the community together over this last decade—but its location brought challenges with proximity and parking for folks not familiar with the campus. Sandoval was instrumental in pushing this forward. This new building is a shining star and easy to navigate for all!
That day I met with Mosier, his vision was so clear and concise it was hard to imagine a new business building downtown not happening. He was describing the need for the building with such detail and passion that I knew it would come to fruition. The big obstacle was the money, estimated at the time at more than $100 million. (According to a 2024 Reno Gazette-Journal article, the budget turned out to be $153 million.) The dean was on a mission to make it happen. After all, the university already owned or was buying all of the property on the north side of the freeway between Evans Avenue and Virginia Street. The timing was good to get rolling.
With a creative public-private partnership to finance the project, the dean pushed through with his development team.
It has now become a reality. The new building is set to open in late August, in time for fall classes. It will include a wide-open set of co-working spaces, labs, classrooms, and offices and will include a trading lab with cutting-edge equipment to simulate real-time trading of assets like stocks, bonds and crypto. There are spacious, tiered classrooms, all hooked up with the latest high-definition screens and touchscreen tech. There are beautiful rotunda windows facing downtown to represent the merging and sharing, optimized for heat and cool in the winter and summer. The new Ozmen Center for Entrepreneurship will continue to be the hub for startup growth activity, both on campus and in the community. There is a new, 300-seat, high-tech auditorium with giant screens. Of course, there will be a café for food, frolic and collaboration. The new spacious setting is open, sunny and bright from every direction.
“We are excited how this new facility represents the community’s gateway to all the university offers to enhance education, economic development, and the quality of life in Nevada,” said Moser. “It is significant in showing our commitment to the local, state and regional business community.”
The new John Tulloch Business Building is the second part of the bigger vision for the University Mathewson Gateway Project, which, according to the university “will catalyze the invigoration of northern Reno between I-80 and Downtown Reno while expanding the university beyond its southern boundary, therefore creating a much-needed link between the university and the city of Reno via an urban university environment replete with a mix of academic and research uses.”
The new parking garage east of the business building opened last year, to much fanfare from those who have had to fight for parking on campus as a contact sport over the last decade.
After all of the years in the old building, there is a palpable buzz among the faculty and staff, as they’re all packed up and ready to move in. The ability to better serve the students and the community is what drives the excitement.
Respectfully, it has always been a pain for the community to get to the Ansari Business Building, in the middle of campus. Between the paid-parking inconvenience and the march to the old building, many meetings were late, moved or changed to make it easier for people not affiliated with UNR to meet and collaborate.
That all changes this month.