Aura Condo's

Aura Condo's
601 Capitol Mall
38-Stories
~262 Condo Units
http://www.auracondos.com/
















Developer: BNC Developement
Architect : Daniel Libeskind
Estimated Ground Breaking: By 2005 Year End

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Has Sacramento really hit big league status?

Maybe it has.

World renowned architect Daniel Libeskind has designed a high-rise condo tower for downtown Sacramento that will defiantly change the way we see our skyline. Not really for the height of the building, but for the sheer different look of the building compared to everything else that is currently built, or even proposed.

Daniel Libeskind is known for his work on the original plan for the new Freedom Tower in NYC (which I did not like) on the site of the fallen World Trade Center as well the a number of Jewish Museum's including one in Berlin

Being proposed for Lot A, next door to the David Taylor 621 Capitol Mall project, this high-rise will be something remarkably different than any other building we see in Sacramento's skyline. Even though it is not as tall as The Towers, The Towers has a look that says Sacramento to me, it has a similar look and feel as some of our other buildings...Aura on the other hand, has a totally different look. Almost looks like something you'd find in Miami.

At first glance, I really did not like the look of the building. Here is a picture of what it originally looked like:





















To me, the lines of the building, color and shape just looked..well, off. Being the "starchitect" Libeskind is, he could not have gotten to that status by being like any other architect and do "safe" designs, his designs have to have something different to them and be on the controversial side

Now I know it's hard to get a good idea of what the finished product will look like in renderings and models, but if the finished product looks more like the model first shown, I think it will be a striking addition to the skyline.


With over 200 units for a 1.25 acre parcel, the housing density of around 200 DUA is good amount. There will also be ~14,000 square feet of ground floor space which is very important.

With this 14K of space, along with the 70K at The Towers, 21K at 621 Capitol Mall, and 21K at Plaza Lofts, I am very hopeful it will be a natural shopping extension from Downtown Plaza to create an outdoor urban shopping feel I have been really wanting to develop. I would to see a huge downtown shopping experience develop all the way from J Street (it's already starting with Plaza Lofts) over to K Street Mall and through to Capitol Mall. Think Pioneer Square in Portland, or on a more grand level, Union Square in SF, but done in our own way maybe around Cesar Chavez.....drool

With 200 units here and over 700 at The Towers, along with the ground floor retail and restaurant space in these projects as well as 621 Capitol Mall, our premier business address in Sacramento, which is deserted after 5 and on weekends, can start becoming a vibrant living and shopping crown jewel of our city.

The next step would be for the city to gain control of Capitol Mall (currently owned by the state..suprise!!!) so they can do some major landscaping and light improvements to make it truly shine.

Once Aura is off the ground, head of BNC, Craig Nassi, has stated that they will start work on his next project in Sacramento..Epic Tower, which will be 50+ stories. He has purchased land at 12th and I for the project.

There is an initial rendering and website.
www.epictowers.com

For now though, I'm not a big fan of the design. It looks like a giant big thump. You can
definitely tell it's a Libeskind design with all the curvature and lines in the building. Once more details and renderings start to come out, I'll write more about it then.