Mid-Rise Apt. Proposed Along American River

In the River District along the American River, residential towers have been proposed with a total on 826 units. The development is proposed on Burcut Drive off Richards Blvd. which is currently a warehouse area and is currently a tough part of town to be in day or night. The location is right up next to I-5 and the upper floors looking west will hear and see 10 lanes of freeway traffic 24/7.

This proposal named American River One would include two towers nearly 200 feet tall, a third tower 150 feet tall and another tower at 109 feet tall. No plans have been submitted to the city or cost estimate for construction. 

16th & V Mixed Use Building

This five-story proposal at 2131 16th Street would encompass 57,950 square feet with 60 multi-unit dwellings and 4,634 square feet of commercial space. A design review is currently in progress, no development cost or time for ground breaking has been given.This location is an entry point to the central city just two blocks off the freeway when you exit off Hwy. 50 and has been empty plot of land for many decades. 

2131 16th Street mixed-use proposal

2131 16th Street mixed-use proposal

J Street Seven-Story Residential Proposal

The site is located along the north side of J st spanning the full block between 17th and 16th St.  The proposed project at 1617 J Street is a new construction of a 7-story building with basement.  The basement will contain a parking garage, level 1 will be retail space, level 2 will contain a parking garage, and levels 3 through 7 will house approximately 200 apartments.  The total retail space on level is 39,904sf.  The structured parking within the basement and level 2 will provide 253 total stalls,  90 feet tall and total building square footage 347,063. The current building a the site (restaurant) was built in 1920 and is proposed for demolition. No construction costs or date has been provided. Documents submitted to Planning Dept. can be found at https://sacramento.agencycounter.com/

1617 J Street seven-story residential proposal

2031K Street Mixed Bldg. Proposal

The Planning Dept. received plans to demolish the existing building at 2031 K Street and construct a new development with 296 mixed unit with 8 floors and 91 feet tall. Demolition requires historic evaluation as well as a deviation for height.  The proposal includes 233 studio units, 50 1-bedroom, and 13 2-bedrooms. Total square footage would be 250,595 sf. and 162 parking stalls. Documents submitted to Planning Dept. can be found at AgencyCounter.

800 Block Demolition

Corner of 8th & L Streets

Last year the buildings at the 800 block of L Street began to fail and the city swiftly recommended the demolition. It appears they are now in the final clean up stage for the area. Demolition of that building and the one to the east of it has now made way for one of the six-story buildings planned for the site. The 800 block of K Street has been an empty hole for a couple decades now, but it now appears to be a staging area for reclaiming bricks from the demolition on L Street.  The historic Bel-Vue apartments on 8^th Street has been renovated and turning into affordable housing. When construction of the 800 block of K & L Street does begin, the plans are to build 148 apartments and have 10,000 square feet of retail in the area.

L Street looking north

800 K Street looking north

Reclaiming bricks from demolition at 800 K Street  

Historic Bel-Vue built in 1910 has been renovated for
affordable one bed-room apartments

8th Street looking south towards L Street

On the corner of 8th & L Streets 

Cleared block of 800 L Street looking north

Looking north towards L Street with the
Renaissance Tower above built in 1989

Hotel Planned for 9th & L Streets

Proposed Canopy hotel rendering submitted to City Planners 

A formal design review has been submitted to city planners for a proposed 14-story hotel at the corner of 9^th & L Streets. As reported by the Sacramento Business Journal, the project would cost about $150 million, 275 hotel rooms with 50 luxury apartments on the top floors; have a roof top bar and ground floor retail. The Canopy by Hilton at 831 L Street will have a total of 280,000 SF.

Original rendering released two weeks ago of proposed Canopy Hotel

Read more here, here, here, & here.

I Street Bridge Redesign Plans

Four design concepts are ready for public feedback for the new I Street bridge. There were originally nine designs in April but after receiving feedback, the number was narrowed down to four. KCRA report



The Thru concept is the least expensive option at $150 million

The Spring concept is priced at $180 million

The Solar Arch concept is $250 million with the most iconic structure

The Spring concept is also priced at $180 million

New I Street bridge

The "Solar Arch" is one of several concepts designed by T.Y. Lin International

The new I Street bridge that will connect Sacramento Rail Yards with Sacramento is currently working on the first phase with the architect from T.Y. Lin International whom designed the eastern half of the Bay Bridge. The projected cost of the bridge was originally about $70 million, but this cost nearly doubled after a consultation with the Sacramento Coast Guard. The coast guard requires a gap of 272 feet for barges to pass through when the bridge lifts up. This gap is 100 feet wider than the current bridge, but this modification has doubled the projected cost.

The federal government is paying for 88 percent of the bridge costs. Additionally, the city is seeking two grants: a $22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and a $7 million grant from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. This will still leave an estimated $3 to 4 million for the city to pay.

The city hopes to begin construction in 2020 and have the bridge completed by 2023.

theaggie & sactownmag

CA High-Speed Rail - Never Built

Sacramento High-speed Rail Station - conceptual illustrations 2008

Yesterday Governor Gavin Nuwsom pulled the plug on California’s High-Speed Rail but the Central Valley segment from Bakersfield to Merced (110 miles) would be completed. Thus far, California has spent $5.4 billion on what is considered the easy stretch of the CA train. In 2008 we were also told that private money would come beating down the door once the project got underway, but you can imagine that the current expectation of private investment in the train is now nothing more than a pipe dream.

We can mark this failed project as Never Built, Merced to Bakersfield is more of a monument to mismanagement and foolish ideas.

A little history, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) in 1996  was established to begin formal planning in preparation for a ballot measure in 1998 or 2000. In 2008 voters approved a $10 billion bond to begin funding the project with construction beginning in 2016. Since 2008 the project has been plagued by delays and cost overruns. The cost to build phase one from San Francisco to Los Angeles has exploded from what we were told it cost in 2008 of about $39 billion, in 2012 it went up to $68 billion and to the most current projection is estimated at $100 billion.

The biggest scam in this project was how it was marketed and sold to the voters with no realistic funding source for the remainder of the project beyond Bakersfield to Merced. It was also a bait and switch teasing both Sacramento and San Diego with future extensions just to obtain votes. What we have now is billions of dollars wasted that could have been used productively elsewhere.

$520MM Tower To Rise

The $520 million headquarters building for the Dept. of Natural Resources is expected to break ground this fall. At 20-storys and 838,000 square feet, this tower will be the largest office building built downtown since CalPERS build their headquarters on Q Street in 2006.

20-story, $520 million CA Dept. of Natural Resource's Headquarters

The tower will feature 10,000 square feet of retail and public space, and auditorium with 300 seats, food court and pedestrian plaza. Improvements will also be made to the historic Heibron House. Completion is scheduled for 2021.


The Registry Bay Area Real estate

State Plans High-Rise at 7th & O Streets

It has been a while since the State built any office towers downtown, but plans are in the works to build an office tower that will accommodate up to 3,500 state workers and could begin construction at the end of next year. The building would replace the Resources Building on 9^th Street and be approx. 20 stories, 300 feet tall, and 800,000 sf. The proposed project would be built on surface parking lot and around the Heilbron House, an historic 140-year-old home at the corner of 7^th & P Streets. Due to the Capitol View Protection Act  enacted in 1992, height restrictions and setback requirements limits the to 250 feet on the northwest corner. The state requires large floor plates for new state offices, so expect the massing of the building to be huge and  bulky.

The state has a miserable track record when it comes to designing anything downtown. Does the BOE tower on N Street ring a bell? Its ugly and it makes people sick, and the East End Complex is hardly something to be proud of. When the state builds, they don’t need approval from anyone in Sacramento. Sure, they might hold a few meeting with residents and ask for the cities opinion, but it’s all a show and they will build whatever they want.

How many blocks south of Capitol Mall are surface parking lots owned by the state? Quite a few. They were all neighborhoods at one time and then in 1950’s they were demolished by the state and have sit empty ever since. Now the state picks a block that has one historic house built in 1881 for possible demolition? It’s unlikely but it’s being considered.

I expect nothing more than a mediocre building. It will be big filling up the entire block and put a few cranes in the air, but the design will suck just like all the other times the state has crapped out buildings downtown. Here's the EIR for the building by the state’s Department of General Services

800 Block Design & Review

800 K Street - SW Corner

Yes, after the Sacramento Kings used their option to buy 800 K Street property, they have now submitted plans to the Planning and Design Commission for approval. Ali Youssefi and partners have proposed 148 units, 18,000sf of ground floor commercial, 7 levels (5 residential, 1 retail, 1 below ground parking) for a total of 148,147sf. The proposed height is 85 feet with 130 parking spaces for cars. If built, this will be a great addition to K Street and help in the overall development of the area. I like the outdoor roof space. This project will span from K Street to L Street with the historic Belvue Bldg. standing in between. The new structures will bookend the North and South of the Belvue. No date for starting work has been given and the cost of the project is unknown. Read more about the project HERE.

800 K Street - NW Corner

800 K Street / 801 L Street - SW Corner

800 K Street / 801 L Street - SW Corner

Vanir Tower Project "inactive"

Proposed Vanir Tower at 601 J Street - Sacramento, CA

As of yesterday, the Vanir Tower project has not submitted any revised plans to the city after withdrawing them shortly after November of last year. A city planner has labeled the project as "inactive" because they haven’t worked on the project for several months. In my opinion, this is a big indicator that despite being located across the street from new Golden 1 Center, the downtown office market vacancy rate is still to high to absorb a project of this size.  Colliers-Sacramento predicts that Class A asking rates will increase 4% year-over-year due to activity surrounding the Golden 1 Center. As of the end of the third quarter, there is currently 813,617 SF vacant class A office space in downtown and another 586,408 SF vacant class B office space open. Combined, that’s about the size of 3 ½ 25 story towers vacant in downtown. Even with all the improvements the market has shown from several years ago, actual rents are not currently at a level high enough to justify new construction.

Pre-Leasing Vanir Tower

Pre-leasing Vanir Tower proposal

Last November plans were announced for a 26 story high-rise for J Street named the Vanir Tower. The Vanir Tower application team then withdrew its proposal to make “minor modifications”. As of today the Vanir project has not re-submitted their plans to the city but a pre-leasing billboard has been posted at the proposed project location.

What makes this project interesting is that it’s being proposed when the square foot market value to rent a “trophy” building in Sacramento is below what a brand new building would have to charge. Greg Levi, managing director with Jones Lang LaSalle Sacramento and agent for pre-leasing the Vanir Tower stated in SacramentoBusiness Journal last June “Though rents are rising, though, they’re not high enough to bring construction cranes just yet. The highest rents, around $3.10 a square foot, are still about 40 cents below what a brand-new building would have to charge,” Levi said. So essentially Greg’s saying that rents would have to rise an additional 40 cents a square foot before it would be profitable to build this high-rise downtown… that’s a 13% increase.

So I’m still skeptical this project will ever get off the ground for several reasons. First, as stated above, rents would have to rise 13%. Another reason is that they need to fill at least 50% (186,000 of the 372,000 sf) of the tower before banks will consider lending to them for construction. If Vanir Construction Management has deep pockets, they could build this tower on speculation using their own money like the Bank of the West Tower did at 500 Capitol Mall. It appears to me their need to pre-lease the tower says they need to fill fifty percent of the tower.

To use history as my guide, back in 1999, the U.S. Bank Tower at 621 Capitol Mall started the pre-leasing process when it was originally proposed for 31 floors. After several years of not finding enough tenants to fill 50% of the tower, developer David Taylor reduced the size of the tower by 6 floors. Even with the reduced floor count it took another six years before enough pre-leasing tenants signed up so a bank would lend and construction could begin in 2006.

Once Vanir re-submit their revised project with the city and go through both the entitlement and environmental review process, this proposal might have a chance.

Capitol Towers an Historic District?

Tonight the Sacramento Preservation Commission will hold a public hearing to recommend the Capitol Towers superblock within N Street, P Street, 5^th and 7^th Streets be registered as a historic district. The applicant, Sacramento Modern (SacMod,) requested the nomination of the Capitol Towers complex for listing in the Sacramento Register of Historic & Cultural Resources (Sacramento Register.) The Preservation Director found significant features and characteristics of the Capitol Towers superblock meet several criteria for eligibility and recommends consideration and action. Click here  to view all the “historic” reasons.

The proposed Sacramento Commons project includes two high-rise (24 story) apartment buildings with 550 total units (275 apartments per building), 12 live/work units, 21,000 square feet of ground floor retail / support services, 604 parking spaces, and an open space plaza. Two 206 mid-rise (7 story) apartment units, 8,000 square feet of ground floor retail / support services, 916 parking spaces, and 30 live/work units. One Hotel/Condo/Retail  300 room hotel, 110 condominium units, 37,000 square feet of retail / support services, and 639 parking spaces in a 24-story mixed use building, and 4 live/work units. 

26-Story High-Rise Planned

Proposed 26 story high-rise at 601 J Street 

If I did not know better, it's been feeling like 2006 all over again. Lots of big plans, and when I say lots, I mean way beyond what the city can absorb. But I digress. Last week Vanir Development Co. Inc. submitted plans to the city for a 26-story office tower (377 feet tall) on J Street across the street from the planned downtown arena and hotel. The Sacramento Bee reports that it’s a class A office building and hold 372,000 square feet of office space.

As much as I love the idea of a high-rise and more construction in downtown, this one does not make sense to me. According to Colliers-Sacramento, there is over 1 million sf of vacant office space in (CBD) and 2 million in downtown. That's the size of four 25 story office buildings. Unless Vanir Development Co. Inc. plans to build on speculation like 500 Capitol Mall did, I don’t see how this will pencil out? At one time 621 Capitol Mall was proposed at 31 floors, but for 6 years developer David Taylor could not find enough tenants to fill it so banks could loan him the money to build. A certain percentage of square feet in a tower need to be leased out before monies are released to build. So Taylor shortened the tower to 25 floors so that it could meet loan requirements with the tenants he had already secured over a six year period. 

What’s interesting about this site is that the current building at the proposed site has been empty since 2009. Bank of the West moved to 500 Capitol Mall when their lease was not renewed and were told a high-rise was being planned for the site. The timing did not work out and the site has been sitting empty ever since. Here’s what they had in mind back then... Link

SRO Project Breaking Ground Soon

This $47 million projects planned for the northwest corner of 7th & H Street has now received all needed entitlements and necessary financing to move forward with construction this March. The project will be funded with $25 million in 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits, $8,200,000 loan funded by Home Investment Partnership Program, a $6,859,695 capitol grant and $3,750,000 operating grant funded by Downtown Low Moderate Tax Increment Funds, and a land grant for the acquisition, construction and permanent financing of the 7th & H Project.

Developer and owner Mercy Housing California is a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing quality affordable housing with supportive programs to low-income persons in California. Together, Mercy Housing California and Rural California Housing Corporation have been responsible for the construction of more than 2,900 affordable single-family self-help homeownership units and 124 multifamily rental properties with a total of more than 7000 units. Their portfolio includes 18 properties in Sacramento County alone.

This 7th & H Street project will include 122 studios (325sf) and 28 one bed room (500sf) units as well as sixteen parking spaces, retail and health clinic on the ground floor. This eight story 102 foot tall building’s designed to replace other single room occupancy (SRO) units in downtown that are going to be replaced with other developments in the future.

7th & H Street SRO Proposal

Mercy Housing California of West Sacramento proposing affordable housing at the corner of 7th & H Street that will include 122 studios (325sf) and 28 one bed room (500sf) units as well as sixteen parking spaces, retail and health clinic on the ground floor. This eight story 102 foot tall building’s designed to replace other single room occupancy (SRO) units in downtown that are going to be replaced with other developments in the future.

There will be 3,900sf of retail space as well as 3,750sf health clinic, residential lobby, and a structured parking garage. 7th & H will also be designed to have a LEED-Silver standard and registered with the US Green Building Council. This project is the first mid-rise residential tower in the newly redefined Central Core District, and the first project to use the new Urban Design Guidelines. It located across the street from the County Jail and on an existing RT light rail line located along the north side of H Street, and a future RT line proposed on the east side of the 7th Street.

The project will require the Planning Commission approval of entitlements and to combine 5 existing parcels into one lot for the commercial condominium purposed. The Planning Commission is scheduled to hear this project on April 21st and then again on May 6, 2010 for Final action.