Groundbreaking of the WAL (Warehouse Artist Lofts) formerly Capitol Lofts

301 Capitol Mall Six Years Later

 

301 Capitol Mall former Towers site

It’s hard to believe how much has not changed at the former Towers site… it's been six years today since the job to construct two 53-story residential towers at Third Street and Capitol Mall was halted. Even if the two 600-foot towers estimated to cost $750 million project had been built, with the regions record home foreclosure rate over the last 4 years, today I imagine it would sit more than half empty like the L Street Lofts which only sold 22 of the 92-units. My contact at CalPERS says there are no plans to develop the site in the near future.

Just think, if 17 more condominiums would have sold to reach the bank requirement of 400 units, money from CalPERS and Deutsche Bank would have continued to invest in the project.

Sacramento Courthouse Delayed Indefinitely

Judicial oversight committee makes recommendations because of potential loss of funds designated for court construction.

SAN FRANCISCO—The Court Facilities Working Group voted today to recommend that four additional courthouse construction projects in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Fresno, and Nevada City be delayed indefinitely if the Legislature directs that court construction funds be used to finance the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse in Long Beach.

The recommendations—which Justice Hill hopes will go before the Judicial Council in January 2013—include: a new criminal courthouse for downtown Sacramento, a replacement for the overburdened courthouse in Huntington Park for the Southeast Court District in Los Angeles, and renovation projects planned for downtown courthouses in Fresno and Nevada City. The draft
recommendations include a special direction for the Sacramento project: a recommendation that site acquisition proceed for that project, a $10 million commitment to the developer of the Railyards that would allow the project to proceed as planned when funding becomes available.

During the meeting, courts whose projects were slated for deferral gave presentations and answered questions from the working group. Using the same process that ultimately delayed seven projects last fall, the working group will post the draft recommendations on the California Courts website
for two weeks for public comment, then submit finalized recommendations to the Judicial Council for review early next year.

Sacramento - New Sacramento Criminal Courthouse - Draft Recommendations: Indefinitely delay, but move forward on site acquisition. http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/CFWG-121312.pdf

http://www.courts.ca.gov/20171.htm

Blue Trees Art

The Blue Trees art installation in Seattle earlier this year - Courtesy of Konstantin Dimopoulos

Sactown magazine is reporting that on On Oct. 9, Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos will begin coloring about 20 sycamore trees on both sides of 13th street between J and K streets in downtown Sacramento, flanked by the convention center and the Sheraton Grand Hotel. Using eco-friendly, bright, ultramarine blue pigment, the artist will make a bold urban design statement while hoping to draw attention to global deforestation issues.

 

The Tree Foundation quickly partnered with the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau and Sactown magazine to help organize and fund the event. In only about a week’s time, the team raised approximately $25,000 from community groups and leaders to make the project a reality.

 

With the help of volunteers, Dimopoulos will paint the trees over the course of five days (Oct. 9-13). The paint is expected to last until the bark begins to shed in spring, so the trees will remain blue for approximately six months.

Space Shuttle Flyover

 

This is Space Shuttle Endeavour's last fight over downtown Sacramento before before going on display in Los Angeles at the new Samuel Oschin display pavilion. Photo by Derek Hocking in Old Sacramento.

Old Postcards and Photos

 

A view of the K Street Mall under construction on December 3, 1969, with 10th Street in the middle of the photograph, seen under the Fox Theater sign on right.



1950's Sutters Fort

 

Old Sacramento

 

Al & Bud's Platter - now Pancake Circus 1961

 

I have now seen much of anything to post for a while, so here are some cool old photos I found on the web.

16 Powerhouse



16 Powerhouse - 1601 16th Street, Sacramento 95814

16 Powerhouse has an improved new design for the East End Gateway Site 4 directly across from Fremont Park off 16th Street between P St & Powerhouse Alley. This project has a proposed construction date for spring 2013, thus far, no info has been released stating how much it will cost or if the same developer who made the original design is also behind this proposal.

This project is being labeled as a green & sustainable net zero mixed use development featuring grey water and storm water recycling, solar hot water system, solar PV, Vertical Farm, R30 wall insulation, R50 ceiling insulation, Superior building envelope, Variable Refrigerant HVAC system, and LED lighting. The building includes 45 luxury rental apartments built to condo spec for when the market might be right for it. In addition, approx. 7,700 sq. ft. of ground floor restaurant & retail space, 45 parking spaces, onsite waste management, building management system to monitor energy usage, orientation to optimize daylight and natural ventilation, and automatic solar shades.

16 Powerhouse also has a Facebook page here.  Below is an image of what was originally proposed for the site by CADA