Jacobs Entertainment commits additional $128 million to expand Reno’s J Resort

Jacobs Entertainment will invest an additional $128 million into J Resort and its surrounding development in downtown Reno, marking the next phase of a sweeping redevelopment project that CEO Jeff Jacobs says is halfway through a 20-year master plan.

The expansion includes a new grand entrance to the hotel-casino, a 400-seat banquet hall featuring up to 50 European sports cars—including five Ferraris—and the construction of outdoor festival grounds capable of hosting up to 15,000 people. The venue’s inaugural event, the Drifters Music Festival, is scheduled for May 10–11.

“We are in about year 10 of a 20-year overnight success story. We are about halfway complete,” Jacobs said. “Including this $128 million that we will spend, we will be at over half a billion dollars invested.”

The development also features Glow Gardens, a 300-seat special events venue incorporating restored historic buildings such as the Nystrom House and the Chapel of the Bells, alongside a newly built atrium and wedding chapel. A 57-unit affordable workplace housing project called The Breeze is set to repurpose the shuttered Bonanza Inn hotel.

Future plans include a Las Vegas-style showroom for up to 4,000 attendees, which will open onto the festival grounds during warmer months, a rooftop pool, an indoor-outdoor spa, and potentially new hotel towers that could raise J Resort’s capacity to 2,000 rooms—contingent on market demand.

“It’s not what it was and it’s not what it will be — we are sort of at the 50-yard line. Our whole approach is the same as Steve Wynn’s – if you build something really nice, the people at the top end of the market will want to see it, and if they want to see it, everyone else will too, ” Jacobs told NNBW.

Jacobs Entertainment, which also owns the nearby Gold Dust West casino, began its push into downtown Reno in 2017 with the acquisition of the former Sands Regency. Since then, the company has amassed more than 100 acres across over 80 parcels in the West Fourth and West Second Street corridors.

The company recently completed a 60-unit market-rate apartment building at Arlington Avenue and West Second Street and plans to develop a 65-unit affordable housing complex to replace the Sarrazin Arms apartments.

Both projects are awaiting Tax Incremental Financing approval, which Jacobs said will generate approximately $25 million of the $40 to $50 million required. “We will direct real estate taxes for the next 10 years to create those two affordable housing projects,” Jacobs said.

The redevelopment effort continues Jacobs Entertainment’s long-term strategy to reshape Reno’s urban core into what the CEO calls an "art-entertainment-themed resort."

“We have shared the next four years of our master plan,” Jacobs said. “We will be the nicest casino in the market.”