The military has used Camp Stead since World War II for many different purposes, but Nevada National Guard vacated the property on December 31, when it's 50-year lease expired. The National Guard signed the lease in 1968, paying $1 per year. It had been negotiating with the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority to sign a similar 30-year lease, but new FAA guidelines kept that from happening.
"Essentially, the land that it's on has been earmarked for aeronautical development and it's a non-aeronautical use which means that that rent has to change," Brian Kulpin, Reno-Tahoe International Airport Spokesperson said.
The Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to lease or sell land for fair market value if it is used for non-aeronautical use. The property is part of the Reno-Stead Airport, so the airport authority offered a $40,000 annual rent.
"The mission that we were using this facility for was no longer here and the 50-year lease was ending," Emerson Marcus, State Historian for the Nevada National Guard said. "So it just made sense to move on with this."
"It's tough for the guard to go up to $40,000 after a $1 lease and we understand that," Kulpin said. "They understand our side of it, the FAA's side. So it's really just a mutual parting of the ways on that side."
Camp Stead was the home of an officer candidate school for nearly five decades before it moved to southern Nevada in 2015.
"This became the place where officers commissioned in the Army National Guard," Marcus said. "So if you wanted to become an officer, you had to go through Camp Stead."
Once the school moved, the National Guard used the property for its Recruiting Sustainment Program, which is now at the Washoe County Armory.
"They drilled here, they learned what it meant to be a soldier before they went to basic training, which is very important because it's not easy sometimes to be thrown in front of a drill sergeant," Marcus said.
The National Guard still has a large presence at both of Reno's airports. The Air Guard has 60 acres at Reno-Tahoe and the Army Guard's armory is on 110 acres at Reno-Stead. Both are used for aviation and each property costs $1 per year.
"We've got a fantastic relationship with the Nevada National Guard and we have for a long, long time," Kulpin said.
Marcus says their facilities are getting somewhat crowded but says the National Guard will open a new armory in southern Nevada in 2021, with plans to expand the Washoe County Armory in 2023. The National Guard made the decision that the space at Camp Stead was not necessary anymore.
"We want to be good stewards of taxpayer money and right now we have the facilities and capabilities to complete the missions that we want to complete," Marcus said.
The property has five barracks, along with other buildings that were used for offices and a dining facility. Kulpin says the Reno-Stead Airport has 200 based aircraft, drone technology testing, and it works with NASA. All of those could be possibilities to replace the Camp Stead property but there are no plans on the horizon.
"We do have development plans for the Stead Airport," Kulpin said. "There's 5,000 acres up there so this five-acre piece could be a part of that in the future but it's way too early to talk about that now."
Camp Stead opened in 1942 as the Reno Army Air Base headquarters. After World War II, it became the first home for the Nevada Air National Guard. It was later used for the U.S. Air Force Air Command's Advanced Survival School. Marcus says he is sad to see an end of an era because of the property's historical significance.
"This place is not only a connection to Reno's World War II history but also a connection to it's aviation history," Marcus said. "These barracks housed pilots from World War II all the way through the 1960s, and then it became a place where Army officers came to commission."
