By Luke Keck
The Whitney Peak Hotel’s newest attraction, a multi-use ballroom and meeting space known simply as The Third Floor, officially opened to the public last month.
The Third Floor sells itself as a mix of casual style and luxury. Illuminated by intricately designed chandeliers, Warhol-style paintings of famous figures ranging from Beethoven to the Compton, Calif. born rapper Eazy-E adorn scraped brick walls.
According to Niki Gross, the managing director of the Whitney Peak Hotel, the new and modern style of The Third Floor are more so a reflection of the Whitney Peak itself, rather than a space that is trying to ke
ep up with the rapid changes in Reno’s character.
“Reno aside…we just kind of have a vision for who we are,” Gross explained, continuing by saying that “the hotel’s already kind of leaning towards that urban style, we feel like Reno’s kind of heading in that direction and trying to urbanize a little bit more [too].”
As the city’s leadership and community try to shed the gambling town stereotype that has long been associated with Reno, businesses like the Whitney Peak are helping to lead the charge. The antithesis of the sprawling casinos that pepper the city, the Whitney Peak is the city’s largest non-smoking, no gambling hotel.
Located directly next to the Reno Arch, the city’s most iconic identifier, the Whitney Peak and its Third Floor are leading the charge in Reno’s change of identity.
