{"id":437,"date":"2026-02-24T14:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/?p=437"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:23:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:23:49","slug":"renos-grand-sierra-spending-nearly-15-million-to-overhaul-aqua-golf-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/renos-grand-sierra-spending-nearly-15-million-to-overhaul-aqua-golf-range\/","title":{"rendered":"Reno\u2019s Grand Sierra Spending Nearly $15 Million to Overhaul Aqua Golf Range"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Grand Sierra Resort has proposed investing $14.7 million to redevelop its golf driving range<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Grand Sierra is amid a two-stage expansion that is projected to cost approximately $1 billion<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Grand Sierra Resort wants to become the go-to destination for gaming and sports in the &#8220;Biggest Little City in the World.&#8221; It&#8217;s also betting big on luring golfers on Reno golf trips to stay and play at the property owned and operated by the Meruelo Group.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_377746\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-377746\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO wp-image-377746 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Grand Sierra Resort Driving Range Reno golf\" width=\"858\" height=\"572\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Grand-Bay-Driving-Range-view-of-person-completing-swing_q085_1920x1080-858x572-1.jpg\"><figcaption>A photo from the Grand Sierra Resort website shows the current Driving Range outside of the Reno casino. Grand Sierra has filed plans to invest almost $15 million to overhaul the aqua driving range into a facility resembling Topgolf. (Image: Grand Sierra Resort)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Billionaire Alex Meruelo continues to go all-in on the Grand Sierra. Last fall, the business magnate, whose portfolio includes the Sahara on the Las Vegas Strip, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-sierra-resort-breaks-ground-on-1-billion-expansion\/\">broke ground on a $1 billion expansion<\/a> of the Reno destination.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Assisted by more than $60 million in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/grand-sierra-resort-secures-tax-money-sports-arena\/\">local tax credits<\/a>, Meruelo is building the Reno Arena at the resort, a $435 million sports venue and community ice rink that will become the home of the Nevada Wolf Pack men&#8217;s basketball team. The 10,000-seat facility is also being designed to attract major events, from concerts to NCAA March Madness.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">With the arena construction progressing, Meruelo recently filed plans to begin overhauling the property&#8217;s &#8220;aqua driving range&#8221; where golfers hit at floating island greens.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>$15 Million Golf Range<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Grand Sierra Resort is seeking a construction permit to transform its dingy Grand Bay Driving Range into a facility resembling a Topgolf. The Grand Bay Driving Range currently has 38 hitting bays and eight island greens on a body of water located south of the resort&#8217;s outdoor pool complex.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Grand Sierra plans to invest $14.7 million to construct a three-story, 90-bay driving range structure equipped with food and beverage facilities. The project is being called &#8220;Splash Golf.&#8221;<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">&#8220;You&#8217;re familiar with Topgolf, but this is going to be hitting into water. We had to search pretty far for a company that had the technology to track balls over water, and we found one,&#8221; Shannon Keel, general manager of the Grand Sierra Resort, said during the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Reno Arena on Sept. 30.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Who doesn&#8217;t like hitting balls into water? Unless you&#8217;re on a golf course, of course,&#8221; Keel joked.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Reno is not home to an outdoor Topgolf facility, but Caesars Entertainment&#8217;s Silver Legacy offers indoor Topgolf Swing Suite simulators.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Grand Expansion<\/b><\/span><span class=\"s1\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Following the $435 million Reno Arena and $14.7 million Splash Golf projects, Meruelo plans to embark on a more than half-billion-dollar investment to build a new hotel tower at the Grand Sierra. Along with an unspecified number of hotel rooms, the subsequent expansion phase is to include additional retail space and affordable workforce housing.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When Meruelo announced his $1 billion plan to transform the Grand Sierra Resort in September 2023, the plan was marked as the largest private capital investment in the city&#8217;s history.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Meruelo isn&#8217;t the only one bullish on Reno. Jacobs Entertainment continues to invest heavily in its J Resort (formerly Sands Regency) and the development of the so-called Neon Line. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/renos-grand-sierra-spending-15-million-overhaul-golf-range\/\">Reno&#8217;s Grand Sierra Spending Nearly $15 Million to Overhaul Aqua Golf Range<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grand Sierra Resort has proposed investing $14.7 million to redevelop its golf driving range Grand Sierra is amid a two-stage expansion that is projected to cost approximately $1 billion The Grand Sierra Resort wants to become the go-to destination for gaming and sports in the &#8220;Biggest Little City in the World.&#8221; It&#8217;s also betting big&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions\/440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}