Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Retail tennats for 18th and L Project. L Street Lofts Ready to go


While no project in Sacramento would be complete without the obligatory steakhouse, I'm really glad to see the other mix of retail. A Wine Shop, Flower Shop, and "European-style" convenience store. I can see this mix of retailers creating a active street scene versus the lunch and dinner type crowds now.

I hope the Firestone Building and the East End Gateway follow suit with a good mix of neighborhood retail. While this project is 10 blocks away, I still consider it part of my neighborhood since it's only a 10-12 minute walk.

On my wish list:
- European-Style Cheese Shop, ala Murray's Cheese in Greenwich Village (Come on man! Do it!!! This person knows who I'm talking about :-) )
- Neighborhood bakery, ala Freeport Bakery
- Takeout cafe with outside seating, ala Sellands
- Neighborhood no- frills Italian Pizza place (come on Luigi's open a place DT!!!!)

I'm suprised how fast Kolokotronis has been able to get L Street Lofts to the point of ready to ground break. I guess times have changed in Sacramento where projects are not taking 5 years to implement anymore.
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One down, one to go. Work starts on midtown complex once another is done
Bob Shallit -- Bee ColumnistPublished 2:15 am PST Wednesday, February 15, 2006

With one midtown housing complex nearly done, developer Sotiris Kolokotronis is about to begin work on another. Right across the street.Almost finished is the block-long, 176-unit apartment project at 1801 L St. - a five-story building with a nice mix of ground-floor retailers. It should be ready for occupancy in June, with monthly rents ranging from $900 to $3,500.

Site preparation starts next month on a 92-unit condo and retail project at 1818 L St. Kolokotronis expects to have cranes on site in August and the project, called L Street Lofts, completed in June 2007, with some penthouse units in the neighborhood of an eye-popping $1 million.

The eight-story building is being designed by Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects of Portland, Ore. Financing is coming from the developer, CalPERS and Comerica Bank.

As for the building at 1801 - a project delayed for months due to cost overruns - Kolokotronis has yet to sign retailers. But among the likely tenants are a wine bar, a flower shop and two "firsts" for Sacramento: the renowned Winters-based Buckhorn steakhouse and a "European-style" convenience store with international newspapers, fine chocolates and cigars.

Of the latter concept, Kolokotronis says: "It's what you'd find on corners in San Francisco, New York and all over the world."

2 comments:

Maya said...

I gotta say I'm pretty excited about the development going on in that part of town. And the reason why it doesn't take 5 years to get things approved anymore is because the city hired that english dude from Portland. Speeding up the permitting process is his M.O.

GA said...

Yeah, me too. It's been a long time in the making.

Once the East End Gateway and Firestone Building gets going, (should be this year) it'll also fill a lot more space in that part of the city and connect the dots between things

Ray Kerridge has been good so far. He's the interim city manager right now, but I fully expect he will be given the job permanently after the "national search" is complete