Carson City FISH Revitalization Project to have dorms, commercial building ready by Nevada Day
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Wed, 11/30/2022 - 7:07pm
Construction on the FISH Revitalization Project is currently underway in downtown Carson City at the site of the former Whistle Stop Inn.
The dormitories are slated to be move-in ready and completed by August, with a commercial building to open by October in time for Nevada Day, according to Jim Peckham, executive director of Friends in Service Helping, also known as FISH.
“Everything has been going smoothly so far,” said Peckham. “There are always challenges with construction, but we’re still on time to be finished by October.”
The dormitories are an extension of FISH’s program FastForward4Families, which takes individuals who are underemployed and often single parents and puts them through a technical training program at Western Nevada College while assisting them with rent and living expenses.
The dormitories will be available first to individuals within FISH’s program, either at a highly reduced cost or even free and secondly to currently enrolled WNC students. Any units left will be made available to any individual who is currently attending college, whether a regional school like the University of Nevada, Reno or online.
“These units will be very affordable for students,” Peckham said. “People say we need more affordable housing in our community, but what we want to do is make people less dependent on affordable housing.”
When individuals with skill sets and an interest in academic pursuits are given assistance in attaining a degree, it doesn’t only help themselves.
“There is an effect on them, their families and the community as a whole,” Peckham said.
According to Peckham, children who see their parents working toward a degree in FISH’s program have also become better students, which makes it more likely they, too, will attend college.
“We want to not only help individuals, but to break the cycle of generational poverty,” he said.
While FISH did not plan on including a commercial building to their dormitories, they learned it is a requirement to build within the downtown sector.
The top floor of the building will be for training and development and the middle floor will be leasable to businesses in the community.
“On the bottom floor we’re hoping to have a restaurant or eatery,” Peckham said. “We’ll be all set up for a commercial kitchen. It might be a restaurant, an ice cream parlor, a cafe…I think it would be great to have something that aligns with the city’s direction of creating a more walkable downtown.”
What the project needs now, Peckham said, is community donations.
“We have a lot of big donations from outside the community, but what we really need are some moderate donations from within the community,” Peckham said.
Any individual or organization that donates over $50,000 will be etched into stone outside of the building, said Peckham.
FISH is still actively fundraising for the last $2 million needed of the $16.3 million project. Any donation given would qualify for tax exemption.
Student tenants will be sought to fill the dorms beginning in the spring ahead of the project’s completion.
When finished, the dormitories will contain 36 units: 12 one bedroom units, and 24 two bedroom units.
During the spring, FISH will also begin searching for more individuals to join their program.
“They’ll have to have a good work history, academic skills and an interest in a technical trade that is relevant to regional employers,” Peckham said.
The dormitories will come with rules, like any other university housing.
“People will have to be doing well in the classroom, be well behaved on campus and in the dorms, or they could lose their ability to stay there,” Peckham said. “Which is pretty common when it comes to dormitories.”
Transportation will be provided from the dorms to WNC in the form of a new shuttle that has already been purchased and is awaiting its new job.
Go here to learn more about the FISH Revitalization Project.
