Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Alhambra Blvd. Housing

Mixed-use project at 324 Alhambra Blvd. Sacramento, CA
A mixed-use proposal has been submitted to the city along Alhambra Blvd. to build a six -story, 302 housing units with 344 parking spaces. The estimated construction costs for this proposal at 324 Alhambra Blvd. is estimated to be $71 million and it’s unknown when the project might start. Before construction begins, it looks as if all the current structures will be demolished except one home on C Street.

Mixed-use project at 324 Alhambra Blvd. Sacramento, CA

Monday, March 11, 2024

Kaiser Hospital Plans For Railyards

Kaiser Sacramento Railyards Medical Center

Earlier this month Kaiser filed plans with the city to develop a medical facility in the Railyards. The main hospital building proposed would have 310-bed in an eight story building in addition to a parking structure, five story support building and energy center. The eight story building would have 657,500 square feet and the total property size for the project would be 17.4 acres at 105 Bercut Drive. Kaiser has an aggressive deadline with plans to begin construction this year. The estimated budget is at least $1.5 billion. To see more renderings and learn more about the project, go to AgencyCounter and click on the yellow dot at the corner of 5th Street and Railyards Blvd.

It looks to me that the land around the car garage could be developed at a later date to expand and build another “L” shaped hospital… maybe when the Railyards are fully built out.

Kaiser Sacramento Railyards Medical Center

Kaiser Sacramento Railyards Medical Center

Kaiser Sacramento Railyards Medical Center

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Colliers Sacramento Office Snapshot: Q4 2023

It’s becoming pretty evident that the local office market is in a death kneel. In just a few months when the new State of California’s Richards Blvd. office complex opens, the delivery of 1.25 million square feet will lead to vacancies in both state-owned and leased offices as the state fills the new complex. In the current Colliers Q4 Sacramento office report, there are several office properties that are being considered for office conversion to housing, one location is at 1800 3rd Street, the vacant CalPERS building could convert to 141 apartment units. The State has three buildings on Capitol Mall totaling 1.08 million square feet of existing office space currently being evaluated for office to residential conversion.

Colliers fourth quarter report also shows the Sacramento office market recorded its sixth consecutive quarter of occupancy losses. For the year of 2023, there was a total net loss of -1,184,793 square feet of leased office space which is a slight improvement compared to 2022, but It appears the vacancies numbers are due to rise some more in 2024.





Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Colliers Sacramento Office Snapshot: Q3 2023

The third quarter of 2023 recorded more of the same across Sacramento’s office market. As stated in the Sacramento Colliers Office MarketReport, the shift toward hybrid work will lead to higher vacancy rates for a prolonged period and some office properties will need to be repurposed to alternative uses. The regional vacancy rate rose to its highest level since the end of 2012 as it approaches the all-time high of 21.7% from Q4 2011. Total occupancy losses since April 2020 have now surpassed 4.86 million square feet. With the State of California planning to vacate approximately 300,000 square feet of leased space in early 2024. It’s possible the market will set a new record-high vacancy rate by mid-2024 if current trends fail to change course.

The market report by Colliers also stated that some office owners will have to seriously consider converting properties to alternative uses to generate income. The State of California selected McCormack Baron Salazar as the lead developer to convert three state office buildings on Capital Mall in Downtown Sacramento into upwards of 400 affordable apartment units. Many local office buildings fail to meet the criteria for viable conversions to housing. A National Bureau of Economic Research report found only 33 buildings totaling 1.3 million square feet that could realistically be converted into apartments.

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

How Not To Add To A Historic Building

 Now that the former Capitol Annex is demolished, it’s puzzling to see that the state has not shown an official rendering of what will replace the old structure. Here are some images from 2022 of the proposed Capitol Annex replacement buildings.  Much larger, with a glass exterior, overpowering the historic 1860's Capitol, and diminishing the view of the architectural front. It also appears that all approaches to the historic 1860’s capitol are now below grade, changing the historic character of the building.




You could argue that the proposed rendering negatively impact the historic 1860’s capitol.

Constructing a new addition on or adjacent to a primary elevation of the building which negatively impacts the building's historic character.

Attaching a new addition in a manner that obscures, damages, or destroys character-defining features of the historic building.

Placing new construction too close to the historic building so that it negatively impacts the building's character, the site, or setting.

Constructing a new addition that is large as or larger than the historic building, which visually overwhelms it (i.e.; results in the diminution of loss of its historic character).

Adding new construction that results in the diminution or loss of the historic character of the building, including its design, materials, location, or setting.

Constructing a new building on a historic property or on an adjacent site that is much larger than the historic building.

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Housing Proposed at Former SacBee Building

The city is reviewing a proposal to demolish the former Sacramento Bee building at 2100 Q Street and develop a 538 apartment complex. Shopoff Realty Investments hopes to have it break ground in 2026 and open in 2028. The proposed project will consist of two mirrored wrap buildings, with 5 levels residential apartment and 5.5 levels of parking garage. A pedestrian paseo connecting the 22nd street in the north and the multi-family community in the south is proposed in between the two buildings.

There would be  approximately 3,400 SF leasing and mail on ground level at the corner of Q Street and 23rd Street (or 21st Street for building 2), approximately 3,893 SF amenity space on ground level connecting an on grade pool courtyard facing the paseo, 298 parking spaces, and courtyard facing R Street are proposed within each independently functioning building/community.

Wednesday, September 06, 2023

Metro Place - Proposal From Times Past

Metro Place was proposed at 9th & J Streets

Metro Place was proposed in 1999/2000
32-story office/apartment
$127 million in construction costs
114 apartments on the top 10 stories
262,000 square feet of offices
20,562 square feet of retail on the ground floor
1,044 parking spaces. The whole building would be more than 850,000 square feet.
Would have received a $11 million subsidy from the City of Sacramento plus the city's quarter block of land valued at $4.8 million. The whole city package came to $16.7 million. The project never received funding because at this time around the nation office markets were in the doldrums and demand was sluggish



Early rendering of Metro Place proposal without curved version

Early rendering of Metro Place proposal without curved version



Early rendering of Metro Place proposal without curved version

Early rendering of Metro Place proposal without curved version

Early rendering of Metro Place proposal without curved version

Early rendering of Metro Place proposal without curved version

Early rendering of Metro Place proposal without curved version









































































































































































Here's a link at the Biz Journal as to why is was not feasible...

Friday, April 26, 2002
Metro no place
A downtown Sacramento skyscraper with offices and apartments would have replaced a vacant lot -- if lenders hadn't been spooked

Dean Ingemanson's plan for a 32-story office/apartment building at the Metro Place site on 9th and J streets is defunct because it cannot secure financing in today's weak office market.

Shifting to a more feasible project, Ingemanson has signed a tentative agreement with a Southern California developer, CIM Group Inc., to build an apartment building of about five stories on the site.

Yet Ingemanson and others agree that if the hybrid tower had been built, it almost surely would have been commercially successful.

"The bottom line," Ingemanson said, "is that if I was able with a magic wand to get it built, it would have succeeded because of the low vacancy of class-A office space downtown and demand for downtown apartments."

On top of that, it would have been a stunning coup for the redevelopment officials who staunchly supported Ingemanson's dream of a mix of high-rise apartments with offices and ground-floor retail in downtown Sacramento. And it would have permanently removed one of the worst eyesores in the downtown area, a half-block long hole in the ground, walled off with a cheap plywood fence.

"I thought it was a great urban design project," said Andrew Plescia, the city's economic development director and a strong supporter. "It would have brought a lot of vitality and livability to downtown."

So what happened to this dandy redevelopment project that might have been a resounding commercial success?

The simple answer is that lenders wouldn't touch the $127 million venture. They were spooked by the national economic downturn, combined with a rising office vacancy nationally, especially in the Bay Area. It didn't matter that Sacramento itself is one of the nation's strongest office markets.

No magic wand, no money: Ingemanson's proposal called for a 32-story building to include 114 apartments on the top 10 stories, as well as about 262,000 square feet of offices and 20,562 square feet of retail on the ground floor, plus 1,044 parking spaces. The whole building would be more than 850,000 square feet -- almost as big as the nearby Downtown Plaza mall.

Metro Place would be built on the half block on the south side of J Street between 8th and 9th streets. Ingemanson controlled the western quarter block, while the city owns the eastern quarter.

In early 1999, Ingemanson purchased most of his portion out of bankruptcy court. He then proposed a partnership with the city to build the tower, and the city agreed to chip in an $11 million subsidy, plus the city's quarter block of land, valued at $4.8 million. The whole city package came to $16.7 million.

For redevelopment officials it was a dream come true. Metro Place, two blocks from City Hall, would have replaced a decade-old blight and replaced it with office workers who would shop downtown during the day and residents who would shop downtown after hours.

"It was a huge, wonderful step forward for the housing market downtown," said John Dangberg, executive director of the Capitol Area Development Authority and former redevelopment director for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

Renters were clearly very interested in the upper-story apartments. Despite high rents, the units would surely have leased, said Dangberg and others.

Office pundits agree that the office portion would eventually have paid off. Downtown Sacramento's office vacancy is 5 percent -- among the lowest in the nation.

Wrong time: But Ingemanson, looking for a loan of $70 million, showed up at the lenders' doors at the wrong time.

"The financial market is chasing stabilized, completed projects, and development projects are seen as higher risks," said Kevin Randles, a mortgage banker with the local office of L.J. Melody & Co., a Houston-based lender and subsidiary of CB Richard Ellis.

Around the nation, the office market is in the doldrums. Demand is sluggish and vacancies are up as a result of corporate America's slowdown during the past year. The Bay Area especially has seen horrendous vacancies and rental decreases as a result of high-tech's hard times.

Sacramento, less than 90 miles from the bay, is guilty by geographical association.

"Sacramento is the only big office market in the United State with single-digit vacancy rates," Randles said. "But we're seen as a sister city to the Bay Area, which is having a lot of trouble."

More here... http://www.bizjournals.com/sacrament...29/focus1.html