28-Story Hotel Proposed

At the corner of 15^th and K Street a 300 room hotel has been proposed. Yahoo! News mentions that the project would include a pedestrian bridge to connect to the Convention Center, a roof top bar/restaurant and 28 residential units over four floors. The land is currently a parking lot owned by AKT Development. The projects sponsor is reported to be Gafcon Construction firm. Gafcon will partner with Tony Giannoni who has lead previous Sacramento construction projects such as Sutter Health corporate headquarters, the Meridian Plaza and the Residence Inn.

It appears there have been no plans have filed with the city planning department, estimated cost, or estimate for ground breaking. It’s mentioned in the article that the developer will be asking the City for a subsidy from the current 12% tax by stays in the new hotel to help fund the project.

Back in 2017, the then proposed Convention Center renovation also include plans for a K Street hotel. At the time no developer was named to build the 350-rooms standing 300 feet tall. http://livinginurbansac.blogspot.com/2017/12/sacramento-convention-center-expansion.html

1601 I Street Development Site

Back in May of last year this proposal from Newmark Cornish & Carey came forward within the “Theater” district in downtown Sacramento. A hotel or multifamily development could be built here. This is not a real proposal, just a land offering summary to those that might be interested in land located near so many popular sites. This summary lists both comparable hotels and multi-family developments that already exist or were under construction at the time. It also lists who the regions largest private sector employers are.

301 Capitol Mall Tower Divides CalPERS Board

Capitol Public Radio’s reporting that the CalPERS board has stalled the project because of internal disagreements. It appears three CalPERS board members have voted against the project citing a study that the return on investment would be to low.

No plans have been filed with the city and no major tenant has been secured, both are required for financing. Will CalPERS drop the ball again? This could be CalPERS way of backing out of the project without saying perspective tenants aren’t eager to lease space like CalPERS had hoped. For over two year the proposed Vanir Tower, a 26-story high-rise on J Street also could not find perspective tenants to secure financing.

Whole Foods Market Proposal

Proposed Whole Foods Market at 2001 L Street

Whole Foods Markets has proposed a mixed-use project on L Street in midtown. The project is not expected to break ground in 2016. The project includes 40,000-square-foot Whole Foods store on the ground floor as well as two floors of parking and four floors of rental apartments at 2001 L Street.

Capitol View Protection

Sacramento, CA - Capitol View Protection

Sometimes it’s good to review a little Sacramento history so as to better understand why the skyline seems to be mediocre at best. Although many proposed towers were never built because of economic conditions, many other high-rise proposals were limited in scale and canceled due to elected officials imposing height restrictions more than a year after developers started getting entitlements for their projects.

Back in 1991, both Mayor Anne Rudin and Sacramento Assemblyman Lloyd Connelly pursued an ordinance to limit height and protect the Capitol. At the time the City imposed the restrictions known as the Capitol View Protection, it ended up wiping out a total of three high-rise proposals, one by developer Giannoni at 14th & L Street at 19 stories and another by Benvenuti at 15th and K Street to be 14 stories, and the Hallmark Tower at 502’. The new law at the time limited all building to ten stories or 135’. All three buildings would have been too tall and blocked the Capitol view. At the time, councilmember’s said “they were committed to smaller buildings around the perimeter of the entire park” which discouraged the developers who started getting entitlements for their projects a year prior to the new law. All three towers were canceled out of frustration and uncertainty as to what the City might do to further scale down their projects.

The R Street Corridor also suffered a similar fate in the late 1980’s killing six high-rise proposals. 

Lofty Proposals

Sacramento Skyline

I'd like to say that downtown development is on the rise, proposals emerging every other week for high-rise housing and other wise anticipating that the market will continue to improve. Some believe this is all due to the arena being built on K Street while others see the overall market coming back and the economy will prosper for years to come.

Over the years, a trend I have keep my eye on during several economic cycles is how downtown Sacramento is always late getting major projects started before the economic cycle busts. Many big projects never getting past the proposal stage. While many cities had projects rising out of the ground, Sacramento’s proposals were still on the drawing board when the market started to tank. In the last three economic cycles, Sacramento seemed to be 1 ½ years behind getting projects started before the economy dipped into recession compared to other cities. While most other cities reaped the benefits of getting out of the gates early with their projects while the economy was good, Sacramento was still on the sidelines.

 The 2008 recession left eight sizeable projects on the drawing boards and many small projects. A few of the large were Metropolitan, Aura, Epic, Capitol Grand, St. Anton, Towers on Capitol Mall, 700i, and the second Capitol Towers proposal.  The 1990 recession left even more high-rise proposals on the drawing board than I listed above including the first Capitol Towers proposal.

If the current (sluggish) economic cycle softens even more and the Fed continues to reins in its monthly QE3 printing of money, and other factors, it’s likely that many of the current proposals won't move beyond the drawing board. The first quarter of this year saw GDP shrink by -2.9%. It’s anticipated that the Feds will raise interest rates in the First Quarter of 2015. It’s fun to cheer these proposals through the process, but I’m highly cautious as to how many proposals will break ground only because of where we are in the current economic cycle.

If Sacramento sees half the current proposals completed, I would count that as an enormous success. I’m glad to see the arena being built downtown, but I’m highly skeptical about the city’s financing numbers and why they still don’t want to talk about it… like when the bond payment rate nearly doubles in a few years.

Regarding 301 Capitol Mall, my contact within CalPERS say we should not expect to see a proposal for the site for at least 12 to 16 months because of uncertainty about the economy. If the latest press release from a few months ago draws enough positive attention, we might see combination of sectors in the proposal that include office, residential, retail or hospitality. 

The Gateway on Fremont Park

Tomorrow the Design Commission will look over this project in an advisory roll. CADA (which is exempt from requiring Planning and Design Review entitlements from the City) is requesting a review and comment in the form of Advisory Conditions for Approval.

This proposed building will accommodate 5,847 square feet of commercial space and 30 residential units. The proposed 30 units would include 11 one bedroom units and 19 two bedroom units ranging in size from 925 square feet to 1,535 square feet.

Gateway on Fremont Park

A $15 million proposal by Sukna Global Holdings has been chosen by CADA to development the East End Gateway Site 4, which is located across from Fremont Park. Named Gateway on Fremont Park, the proposed 30 for-sale luxury condominiums include 5th floor penthouse units that include panoramic views of Fremont Park. The Gateway Development Project includes street level retail space and 30 covered parking spaces.

The five-story, mixed-use developments would also include a farm on the roof that could grow crops and breed fish to possibly be served in the ground-floor restaurant. Condo price would start at $370,000.The proposals scheduled to submit a preliminary financing plan by June 27, 2011, a design program by September 27, 2011 and evidence of financing by October 27, 2011.

Sacramento Proposals of Times Past

Lot A on Capitol Mall 1989

A little over two years ago I started a thread on Skyscraperpage.com devoted to the many proposals that never saw the light of day in Sacramento and the many reasons why they failed. Scattered over seven pages, about thirty proposals (with more to come) and renderings detail the many reasons why they failed. Everything from tight financing forces, Federal government mandate, and limit height to protect the Capitol, it's a trip down memory lane and will make you wonder what our city could have been. A big one I still need to put together and post is from the late 1980’s when the Centrage project along along with many others as time permits me. Click here to check it out.


The Civic Tower 1990
North West corner of 10th & H Street