Site 1: 16th and N SE Corner
Site 2: 16th and O NW Corner
Site 3: 16th and O SW Corner
Site 4: 16th and P NW Corner
~226 Rental and For-Sale Units ~25K Ground Floor Retail Space
Developers:
Site 1 and 4: Lambert Development
Site 2 and 3: Loftworks, LLC
Architects:
Site 1 and 4: Carrier Johnson
Site 2 and 3: FFA Design
These are not the most grand projects I will write about, but these development hold a special interest for me because they are very close to where I purchased my home. These developments were part of the reason I choose the area I did. They rank very high on my list of project I most want to see happen as soon as possible.
In short, The sites currently belong to the State of California through Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA). Through out the years site are prepared and turned out to developers for the development of housing in the central city.
For more info please go to http://www.cadanet.org/index.html.
An example of a CADA project is the Fremont Building at 16th and O, and Capitol Park Homes on 12th/14th and Q/P Streets In early 2003, CADA issued an RFQ for the four sites mentioned above, together they were named "The East End Gateway"(EEG). The names comes from the sites being east of the Capitol.
In June 2003, two development group were chosen. One small side note is that there were around 10-12 developers that put in proposals for the site. This was a tremendous showing for downtown housing.
For site 1 and 4, Lambert Development. Lambert Development is out of San Diego and was building very high-end condo's in downtown San Diego and the China Bason in SF. Very well respected firm.
For Site 2 and 3, Loftworks, LLC. Loftworks in the local team that included Michael J. Heller, Mark Friedman, Glenn Sorensen, and Walsh & Forster Construction. Their most notable piece of work is the East End Lofts at 16th and J which transformed the 80 year old former car dealership into a remarkable 4 story loft, office and retail project that a cornerstone in downtown. They are also currently bulding another mixed-use building next door with will hold 14 lofts, the HQ for O1 Communications, as well as Bistro 33 and a Deisgn within Reach (As seen on Trading Spaces) studio
Site 2 and 3 have been progressing, albeit slowly. I was able to attend a community meeting for these two sites. The plans called for 61 units, about 20,000- 21,000 square feet of retail. In back of one of the developments CADA is also building a ~176 car parking garage to help alleviate future parking problems. The two sites will also have about 8 for-sale 3-story townhouses that will be on the O Street side.
Tidbits I have heard is that originally they were going to keep the Antique Legacy building and just renovate it, but now I am hearding tearing it down and building space for a new 2 story lounge.
Excellent.
I'm glad to see that Loftworks is smart enough to see what young single professionals,(and that is who would be the likey renters of these lofts) want, because these lofts are going to be $$$ and these renters are going to want ammenities that come with city life along with city life rent. Great restaurants alone won't do it.
Link to renderings of Sites 2 and 3
http://www.ffadesign.com/popup/16ando.htm
The look of these buildings give Sacramento a funky and edgy loft district that is seen in many of the major cities accross the US, including SOMA in SF and SoHo in NY. Maybe we can change the name from EEG to ECap? or maybe the R Street area to SoCap? just kidding...
News regarding sites 1 and 4 have been far and few between. These two site will be for-sale condo's. Site 4 will be a 4 story building with 35 for sale units and 4200 square feet of retail facing 16th Street.
Site 1 is the more grand of the four sites. The plan here is a highrise of between 8-12 stories that will contain 130 for-sale units, and 6K Retail space. This site is on the same block as the East End Office Complex (I hate that building)
My feeling is that Lambert is somewhat worried about being able to sell it's product for a high enough price that is why they are slower than the other sites. Lambert should look at Sac Towers which sold for over $500 a square foot as an example of what can happen when marketed and designed properly
I feel these projects are going to create a lot of synergy, vibrancy and a really cool urban residential thoroughfare, with restaurants, shops, lofts, and lots of people on the street.
I think we have lots of really good places to go in downtown, but my beef with the city is that everything is so spread out. There are very few places where you can take a 5 or 6 block walk and be surrounded by multiple retail, restaurants and watering holes opportunities on every block. This four sites will fill in the gaps from 16th and P all the way down to the 16th and J East End Lofts
We need to play connect the dots in the this city. This is a great, great, great group of projects to accomplish that. From reliable source estimated ground breaking for sites 2 and 3 is Sept 2006. I have not heard anything regarding sites 1 and 4 unfortunately. My only beef with the projects CADA does is that is takes so damn long to get going. From the time of the RFQ to estimated groundbreaking it will be over 3 years. That is about a year too long in my book.
In the end though, these projects fit great with my moto of "Sacramento 2010, A New City"
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4 comments:
Beautiful! That was my old 'hood growing up and, as nostalgic as I am for some parts of it, I won't be sorry to see the antique store go. It never did anything for me. I think it was a paint store a long, long time ago.
I think "R Street" is a perfectly good moniker - and it sounds distinctly Sacramentan to me. Okay, it also sounds a little DC, but it works.
Sweet, my first comment!
I'm very excited about these. The original time line was to begin toward the end of this year, but it's being pushed back to mid-late next year.
Damn!
Once R Street gets going it's going to be a great combo having 16th Street and R Street so close to each other. Even JKL Streets are just a few blocks away.
I'm curious about all these "new loft" projects. The product type is appealing and varies somewhat from traditional apartment design. Having lived in both an older industrial city in the Midwest (Grand Rapids, MI), and then in New York City recently, I never witnessed any of these kinds of infill apartment projects as being referred to as "lofts." To me, lofts are industrial buildings in which the formerly industrial loft spaces are converted into residential with little or no interior improvements except to meet basic necessities and fire code, where possible. But if it helps to rent or sell units by calling them "lofts", that's fine. The open floor plans, hardwood or laminate flooring, larger windows... I guess it all combines to give an apartment a "loft-like feel."
Yeah, the word "loft" is definitely tossed around very loosely now days.
I guess the open floor plan is what you associate a loft to be like, but as you said they are usually older building that are being converted. Like the old CADA Warehouse into Capitol Lofts. That's a true loft project.
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