At a Glance

Sector:  Higher Ed / Innovation

Location:  Reno, NV

Delivery:  Public-Private Partnership

Scale:  128,000 SF Academic Facility + Hotel

Certification: LEED Gold

Result: Delivered On-Schedule and On-Budget | P3 Bulletin 2024 Best Higher Education Project

The Situation

The University of Nevada, Reno was at a pivotal moment. Its College of Business, the university's largest and fastest-growing degree program, was ready for the next step, but its current facility couldn't keep pace. The program needed more space, better resources, and an environment that could compete with the best programs in the country.

But the opportunity extended beyond a single building. The university wanted to strengthen its connection to downtown Reno and create a gateway that reflected the institution's growing role in the region. That vision required more than a new academic facility. It required rethinking how the university and the city came together.

University President Brian Sandoval, the former governor of Nevada, was determined to make it happen. He saw the university as an engine for economic development in Reno, and he wanted a project that would make a statement, not just for the College of Business, but for the city and the state.

A project of this scale and ambition called for a different approach than the university's traditional delivery process. The scope, the timeline, and the complexity of what President Sandoval envisioned required a dedicated development partner who could lead the effort from concept through delivery.

How We Got Involved

The university had put out an RFP looking for development teams who could reimagine the block, with the College of Business as one component and an open brief for complementary commercial development. We responded with a vision that paired the academic building with a university hotel, intended to transform the most visually prominent block on the campus edge into a gateway connecting the university to the city and the outside world.

The university selected our team, and from that point the question was not just what to build, but how fast it could happen.

The Process

The approach we used on this project was built around one core principle: if the university's leadership wanted to move quickly and have a real impact, they had to be directly involved in the process.

We established what we called the Executive Design Review, a structured series of working sessions held every two to three weeks in Reno. President Sandoval attended, along with the provost, the dean, the CFO, and the other key decision makers. Over the course of two to three hours, with lunch served, we would walk through the project together, presenting options, discussing tradeoffs, and making decisions in real time.

The format was straightforward. Here are your options, A, B, or C. The group would discuss, debate, and decide. Sometimes the answer was B. Sometimes it was something between B and C. The important thing was that the people with the authority to make decisions were in the room, engaged with the work, and ready to move forward.

That process allowed us to move through design and planning at a pace the university had never experienced. From the day they told us they had a need to the day we broke ground, one year had passed. The university had previously estimated that this phase would take three to five years. 

What Made It Work

Speed was a byproduct of the process, not the goal. What made the project work was the alignment that the process created and the quality of the partnership behind it.

This was not a single-purpose project. The College of Business needed a world-class home. The university needed a facility that signaled where it was headed as an institution. And the city of Reno needed to see that its university could be a real catalyst for the revitalization it has been working toward for years. Our approach was built to address all three from the start. Every decision throughout the process was made with all of those dimensions in mind.

It helped enormously that university President Brian Sandoval was a true champion for the project. He understood what it could mean for the university and for Reno, and he was willing to invest his time and be in the room when decisions needed to be made. That kind of client leadership, paired with a process designed to put it to work, is what allowed this project to move at the pace it did and deliver the results it did.

The Result

The Mathewson Gateway was delivered on schedule and on budget, a notable achievement for a project of this scale and complexity. Named in 2024 after a significant gift from alumnus John Tulloch, the five-story, 128,000 square foot building features a 300-seat auditorium, advanced technology labs, a Bloomberg finance suite and trading floor with the only Bloomberg terminals in the entire Nevada System of Higher Education, case-method teaching spaces, a student commons, and a landscaped courtyard with outdoor plazas. The building also houses the Ozmen Center for Entrepreneurship, the E.L. Cord Foundation Student Success Center, and the Nevada Business Career Center, bringing key student and community-facing programs under one roof for the first time.

The project also made a significant impact on the local economy. More than 70 percent of the project value was contracted to Northern Nevada firms, with 23 local subcontractors and more than 1,500 workers involved in the two-year construction effort. The building has been received as one of the most architecturally significant in the state. It has also quickly become the most in-demand space on campus, with classes filling its largest instructional spaces from the day it opened and the auditorium consistently booked for guest lectures, student events, and community business functions.

Recognition

The University of Nevada, Reno Mathewson Gateway Project has received the following awards:

• P3 Bulletin — Best Education and Higher Education Project (2024).

• P3 Bulletin — Social Impact Award, for the project's transformative impact on the local community (2024).

• Over 70% of project value was committed to Northern Nevada firms, with more than 1,500 workers and 75 companies involved.

In their evaluation, the P3 Awards judges noted that achieving commercial and financial close within 12 months demonstrated exceptional project management and stakeholder coordination, and commended the project's sustainability focus and significant impact on the community.

The Bigger Picture

The Mathewson Gateway is doing exactly what the University of Nevada, Reno hoped it would. The building has become a new front door to the university and a visible anchor for the broader Gateway District, an initiative the university has been building toward for nearly two decades to connect its campus more directly to downtown Reno and the wider community. With the District now extending into adjacent development, including new housing for faculty, staff, and graduate students, the area around the building is becoming a true mixed-use part of the city rather than an underused edge of campus.

The timing of all of this has aligned with one of the most significant periods of growth in the university's history. In fall 2025, the University of Nevada, Reno reached record enrollment of more than 24,000 students, with first-year enrollment up nearly nine percent over the prior year and the Honors College nearly tripling in size since 2019. The university is also on the path to formal designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, a strategic goal years in the making. The Mathewson Gateway is the physical expression of an institution in motion, one that has set its sights on becoming a leader among the country's top public land-grant universities.

What we helped deliver was more than an academic facility. It was the beginning of a transformation for the university, for the surrounding district, and for the relationship between a campus and its city. Projects like this are why we do this work. The chance to help an institution reach for something it could not previously achieve on its own, and to see what happens when ambitious vision and thoughtful execution come together to reshape how a university connects with its community.