If you have been reading the Sacramento
Business Journal lately, it appears the grand urban vision of the Railyards
that’s been hyped over the last decade has now been scaled back in many ways. Developer
Mark Friedman has asked the city to reduce amount of housing from the target
goal of 10,000. The drop in housing goals comes from the reality that high-rise
residential towers in Sacramento don’t add up meaning there is no clear track
record in Sacramento for high-rise condo success.
Current state of proposed Railyards area |
Later this month LDK Ventures will formally acquire the Railyards from IA Sacramento Holdings, L.L.C., a subsidiary of InvenTrust Properties Corp. While reading another Sacramento Business Journal article on the Railyards, LDK Ventures suggests that most mid-rise offices will have big footprints filling a corporate campus on the northwestern corner of the site. Larry Kelley from LDK Ventures is quoted saying “I think what you’d get is something similar to the lifestyle centers you see in the suburbs, but in an urban area,” he said. After reading this, apparently the new owners gonna turn much of the area into something you find in the suburbs, pretty disappointing considering we have been told for years the Railyards would become the “New Downtown”.
The only highlight I could find was that Kaiser’s plan for a
medical center for the northwestern corner has preliminary plans for a high-rise
medical tower on the eastern portion of the 18 acre project. Because of how
other projects have gone in downtown over the years, I’m sure this high-rise
tower will be scaled down too. Kelly also said that before the existing roads
to the site can be opened to the public, another $100 million of infrastructure
and several tons of fill dirt need to be delivered to the site.
Proposed Sacramento Republic FC stadium |
Larry Kelly did tease the idea that 5 acres along the Sacramento River could be used for high-rise residential development with river views. Although I would love to see this, I’m highly skeptical the final vision will turn out like this.
Sacramento Railyards boundary with the Kaiser proposal on the left and Republic FC stadium on the right |
Central Pacific Railroad established the Sacramento Railyards
during the steam locomotive era. The company, which later became Southern
Pacific, built the first shop in 1868 — before Sacramento gained fame as the
western start of the first transcontinental railroad with the driving of the
last spike on May 10, 1869.
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