02/18/2026
I used to be a forgotten Lowe’s.
A big box at the edge of town.
Part of a retail wave that rolled through communities across America, drained our downtowns, and then left buildings like me behind. Empty. Echoing. Waiting.
For a while, I thought that was the end of my story.
Then Nettie walked through my doors.
Most people saw square footage and demolition costs. Some people saw storage units or maybe a data center. Nettie saw possibility. She saw light where drywall had yellowed. She saw workshops and art where there were aisles. He saw founders, artists, welders, coders, neighbors all coming together to laugh, learn, eat, drink, and build the future. She saw a life that could be.
She is one of the hardest working, biggest hearted, most creatively relentless people in real estate to have walked through my doors.
She walks out late at night after the crews are gone. Designing murals for my walls. Measuring where sculptures can fit. Making me look beautiful.
She and her friends were crazy enough to believe I could become something more than a relic of the big box era. They believed I could become a heart.
A heart for entrepreneurship.
A heart for creativity.
A heart for learning new skills.
A heart for people building futures they actually believe in.
And that is exactly what they are doing.
They are turning me from a forgotten Lowe’s into the Oddie District. A place for Reno and Sparks, Nevada can continue to gather and create a brighter future. Where ideas are tested. Where builders meet. Where community is rebuilt from the inside out.
Nettie and friends, thanks for bringing me back to life. I'm not a failed big box anymore... I'm becoming something special!
If you want to be part of this story, come see what we’re becoming. Schedule a tour at OddieDistrict.com
(photo shows Nettie wrapping up a tour as she shares her heart behind this project)
