Meet the UNR alumni who are transforming the neighborhood

Mike Higdon | Reno Gazette-Journal

Two men changed the rules on North Virginia Street so that, in a few years, the neighborhood's aging bungalows will make way for new student housing and restaurants.

"We opened the gates for all of this construction," Garry Hill-Thomas, co-CEO of Pink Hill Properties, said of four student housing projects going up across from the University of Nevada, Reno at Virginia Street and College Drive.

Hill-Thomas and partner Kevinn Pinkney, both former Nevada athletes, are developing the Towers at Pink Hill student housing.

But before they could start construction, they spent two years working with the city of Reno to change the area's zoning from single-family houses to multi-family and mixed use.

Because of that change, their Towers at Pink Hill project, the University Studies Abroad Consortium building, a separate student housing project called Identity Reno and another unnamed project by Dr. Murray Rosenthal are underway.

Identity Reno, a 325-bed student apartment, announced today it is 80 percent pre-leased.

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On the south side: University of Nevada's population boom brings another student housing proposal south of campus

On the east side: Reno student housing co. adding second complex for UNR students

When Hill-Thomas and Pinkney attended the university, they helped take the Nevada basketball team to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2003-04. RGJ sports reporter Chris Murray called their year the best basketball team in Wolf Pack history.

While in school, they lived in the dormitories and in older houses in the neighborhood. Hill-Thomas said the houses were not in the best condition. Many of them still include out-of-code electrical fuses, years of college student damage and landlord neglect.

"When I was a student, we didn't have a lot of nice options," he said. "Especially food options."

The neighborhood's food options have improved since Hill-Thomas and Pinkney graduated, but the housing didn't change much.

Since then, Hill-Thomas returned to UNR to get his master's degree in business administration. Both of them played professional basketball — Hill-Thomas for the Reno Bighorns and Pinkney for the Boston Celtics. Both are still involved in professional sports today.

They opened Tahoe Keys Cafe in South Lake Tahoe to gain experience in business and food management. Hill-Thomas said he always knew he wanted to go into business but didn't set out to become a property developer specifically.

Now they've come back to build Towers at Pink Hill student apartments with three restaurants on the ground floor and room for 53 students above. Their property is small compared to others but it'll be the first private development to include restaurants.

They ultimately want to provide a better university experience for future students. They want to help create a sense of community closeness and walkability to central campus that they saw on other, more mature campuses.

"I like improving something, fixing it, changing it, making it beautiful," Hill-Thomas said.

That vision helped guide the amenities and architecture in Towers at Pink Hill. Each room includes laundry facilities, private bedrooms and common areas.

Other alumni won't recognize the campus in a few years because of all the development, Hill-Thomas said.

"Maybe Vegas needs to catch up now," he joked.

Mike Higdon is the city life reporter at the RGJ and can be found on Instagram @MillennialMike, on Facebook at Mike Higdon, Reno Life and on Twitter @MikeHigdon.