EAST LANSING — The owners of One North Kitchen & Bar are buying Reno’s East, a longtime sports bar in East Lansing where Michigan State University basketball and football coaches have long recorded regular radio shows.
Reno’s East will close permanently at 3 p.m. Friday, owner Jessie Stipcak said. Reno’s North, a second location, will remain open and there are expansion plans in the works for it, she said.
The Reno’s East property will reopen sometime this fall as a third One North location, said Scott Berman, one of One North’s owners, joining the area chain’s current locations in Jackson and on Saginaw Highway in Delta Township.
One North announced plans for an East Lansing location that’s “coming soon” on its Facebook page Thursday, though few details were included.
The sale of the Reno’s restaurant, 1310 Abbot Road, is expected to be final this week, Berman said “but there will be a remodeling period.”
MSU coach’s shows will stay at the property
Reno’s East opened 31 years ago, in 1993. Stipcak started working at the East Lansing restaurant when she was a student at Michigan State University 28 years ago. She bought the business five years later.
“I started there as a part-time server when I was at Michigan State and loved it so much,” Stipcak said. “I remember working there the night of the NCAA championship game in 2000 and thinking, ‘This is the greatest day of my life.’ There was so much energy, so much fun. It really feels like home.”
Reno’s East has been a mainstay in East Lansing for decades and the place where MSU head coaches, including men’s basketball Coach Tom Izzo, have hosted regular radio shows for 18 years. Those radio shows are expected to continue at the property when it reopens as One North, Stipcak said.
“Scott’s a huge MSU sports enthusiast and that, I think, is a big reason why he really loved the place,” Stipcak said.
About 90% of Reno’s East staff will relocate to Reno’s North, 16460 Old U.S. 27, which Stipcak has owned since 2014.
“Many of them are coming with us,” she said.
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Reno’s North expansion planned
Stipcak said she’s been considering a consolidation of the two restaurants since the COVID-19 pandemic. She sold a third lcoation, Reno’s West, located on West Saginaw Highway in Delta Township, to One North ownership in late 2000. The property became One North’s first Lansing-area location.
“I came up with a plan where, when the time was right, we could all be under one roof,” Stipcak said. She said the money from the sale of Reno’s East will help finance a future expansion at Reno’s North. She has plans to add indoor pickleball courts on the property in the future.
Berman said the East Lansing One North location will likely employ 80 to 90 full- and part-time employees when it opens.
“We’re really excited and honored that Jessie thinks we can continue and write the next chapter for what is been an iconic location and brand,” Berman said.
Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Reno’s East, longtime MSU sports hangout, closing; sold to One North
