At first glance, it looks nice toward the top... but is that an exposed parking garage on the first few floors though? If so, I hate that.
As for tenants, Bullivant Houser Bailey Law Firm took up the remaining space at Meridian I, which thought that they would want to take more space at MII.
I wonder if CalTrans is going to strike up the band for this one too....
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AKT reveals plans for proposed Meridian II office tower project
Developer hopes 24-story building's features will earn LEED certification
By Michael Shaw of The Sacramento Business Journal
Plans for the 24-story Meridian II office tower include a curved glass façade, a spire and a wall of plants.
A curved glass façade, a spire and a wall of plants seven stories high are a few of the design features divulged by AKT Investments Inc. and the Tsakopoulos family for their Meridian II office tower at 15th and K streets.
AKT expects to submit an application to the city of Sacramento within the week for the 24-story building at the southwest corner of that intersection, now an empty lot.
The owners say it will be the first privately funded and privately occupied "green" office building in Sacramento. They're aiming for silver certification under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, a system that awards points for energy- and water-saving features.
"We're excited to be a part of the ongoing revitalization of downtown Sacramento," AKT president Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis said in a prepared statement. "We are pleased that Meridian Plaza II supports the vision of a vital downtown."
The building will have sun shading for the southern exposure to reduce air conditioning use, but it will also get points for its proximity to light rail.
While negotiations are continuing with possible tenants, none have signed on, the company said. It declined to disclose the estimated construction cost for the tower.
If history is any indication of future success, the 300,000-square-foot building should fare well compared to other downtown property.
Two new office towers are hitting the market on Capitol Mall, including Tsakopoulos Investments' 500 Capitol Mall building. Those buildings won't compete with Meridian II for the same tenants.
The Capitol Mall office market serves law firms and finance, while the area near Capitol Park sees lobbyists and other state-related tenants, said John Frisch, managing partner of Cornish & Carey Commercial's Sacramento office.
Capitol Park-area "buildings lease faster than the other parts of downtown," he said. "That type of demand -- I don't know if that continues, but the other buildings that have gone up, they've all outperformed the market in other areas."
They also have been smaller than the proposed Meridian II.
The site is adjacent to AKT's 12-story Meridian Plaza, which the company purchased in 2004. That building is entirely leased.
AKT is also renovating the building immediately to the west, 1414K St., the former home of Pacific Bell. That building is being turned into office lofts, also designed for tenants such as lobbyists and organizations that want close access to the Capitol.
what a huge mistake it would be to not include ground floor retail or restaurant use . The particular corner of 15/K across from the Cap garage is the last piece in the puzzle . The Marriott has a bar going in @ 15 & L , that plus Masons etc would make for a nice block .
ReplyDeleteI saw the space being built out at the Marriott..is that a bar? I thought it would be a resturant of some kind..bar is perfectly fine as well.
ReplyDeleteIt appears to be a bar , it has the requisite flat screens etc. It doesnt have much seating , just near the windows and appears to connect to the main lobby through 2 doors on each side of the bar .
ReplyDeleteIf it serves as a restaurant it would appear to be small - on par w/Uncle Vitos (16th st)or Spicy Pickle in seating capacity .
I like the tower but why is the spire facing the alley? Shouldn't it be facing the corner of 15th and K Street.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's hard to tell from the rendering, the side facing 15th Street, and a portion of the side facing L Street appears to be office use, with structured parking behind, facing the adjacent building being renovated for office condos. The ground floor looks like it could be a combination of street level retail and entry lobby, although the rendering is not clear.
ReplyDeleteSacUrbnPlnr
Yeah, I have to think there would be retail as well. There is dead spot for a couple blocks from Masons to Torch Club, Zen Sushi and the soon coming Dream Lounge..so this should help connect the dots a little.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be nice when the Maydestone gets rehab'd as well.
btw...anyone know what is going on with that? Doesn't seem to be too much going on there right now.
I personally love the look of this building, but I hope there isn't any delay in light of the current hot office market. *cough* Caltrans *cough*
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this building will be built on spec. like 500CM?
The tower is decent, and it will definitely add to Sacramento's downtown grid. But I'm afraid that Sacramento's skyline will be permanently stuck in the 20-30 story range; ala, Portland, San Diego, Oakland or San Jose.
ReplyDeleteactually, although I used to be a fan of enormous buildings, I've become more comfortable with shorter ones. Note that Paris doesn't have a super tall skyline, and neither does London really. Actually, sky scrapers are now favored in the emerging Asian and Middle East cities (see Dubai, Kuala Lampur, Seoul, etc.). It's an ego thing- "lookit meeee! Capitalism is here!!"
ReplyDeleteBesides, at this point, we don't need an 800 ft building sticking up like a middle finger at the rest of the valley. Unless you're into that sorta thing.
Both London and Paris have large skylines, they just are not featured in postcards like the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben are. London has 12 towers over 500 feet tall with 8 more in the works up to 1003 feet tall. Paris has many towers up to 689 feet tall.
ReplyDeleteOf course this does not make a city, but it would be nice to add some height to get past chopped off lawnmower look Sacramento has been sporting.
Actually, Zwahlen, I hate to disagree with you, as I like your work. But you actually said it yourself- the parts of London and Paris that make them great cities have nothing to do with their skylines. Paris is known for it's fantastic urban fabric. The tall buildings are not even relevant to what makes it great (and sit outside the frame of the postcard). And while yes, there is a tall financial district in London, I've never been near it when visiting, and I don't think that it has much to do with the important cultural aspects of the city.
ReplyDeleteThe urbanism fan (and curmudgeon) James Howard Kunstler opened my eyes to building scale. The Sears tower is impressive in scale, but it's also alien and mostly unusable to people on the street.
I think that is what Zwahlen was referring to, but I totally agree, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteEven if people look a little closer to home than Paris, SF. They have a cool skyline, but I don't spend much time in that area, other than Union Square. The best parts about SF are the neighborhoods, which are much lower scale. You can build good all important density with smaller buildings. We are seeing a lot of this development in midtown, which is great.
I do hope we get some bigger buildings to add some variation in our skyline other than the 400 foot building to make it more interesting, but its much more important what is going on at the street level.
Make the first floor the best floor.
A shorter building does not necessarily mean it is "human scale". That has everything to do with the footprint, setbacks and ground floor usage of the building.
ReplyDeleteMany supertall structures reject the surrounding city and build giant surrounding plazas to announce how important the building is. But if you take that same supertall building, remove the plaza, push the building up to the sidewalk, put a cafe and a restaurant in the ground floor - then it serves the city and can stand as tall as it wants.