Renovated Hotel Berry

Hotel Berry, 729 L Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

Last spring, the 83-year-old Hotel Berry began renovations at a cost of $24.5 million to completely renovate and modernize the historic hotel. The depression-era six-story mixed use hotel had fallen into severe disrepair, but after being bought by Jamboree Housing Corporation in 2007 for $5 million, the agency was able to finance the project with $13.6 million in tax credit equity, $10.1 million in permanent financing from Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and $500,000 in federal weatherization funds. U.S. Bank provided $5.5 million in construction financing.

Hotel Berry, 729 L Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 - 1926

The historic hotel was built in 1929; the Berry was once a functioning hotel but has been used as low-income housing for single occupants since the 1960s. At that time, there were about 2,300 single-room occupancy apartments in the city. With 104 Single Room Occupancy (SRO) studios and a manager’s unit, the total cost break down per room is $240,000 per unit to renovate.  The hotel is scheduled for completion in the next 4 to 6 weeks and now called The Studios at Hotel Berry.

Hotel Berry, 729 L Street, Sacramento, CA 95814



Hotel Berry, 729 L Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 - 1926

Hotel Berry Overhaul

Today the Hotel Berry will have a ceremonial kick-off for long-overdue upgrades that actually began last December. According to Bob Shallit, next month workers begin updating 105 single-occupancy rooms, with a target completion date of next February. Initial work includes seismic retrofits, asbestos removal and some interior demolition.

The remodel will cost $24.8 million and will be paid for by local redevelopment financing, federal grants and a loan from U.S. Bank. Jamboree Housing Corp. acquired the 82-year-old building last year and intends to preserve the building's original exterior. That includes touching up a huge mural – promoting a one-time eatery called "Original Mac's – on the building's north side. Rents will run from $382 to $573 per month, depending on income level.

Hotel Berry Renovation

This $24.5 million project is set to start renovations next month and take a year and a half to complete. The historic hotel at 729 L St. was built in 1929 and since the 1970s, the hotel had been used for affordable housing, referred to as a single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel. The renovation, will outfitted each room with a kitchenette and the ground floor will be remodeled.

In September 2009, the Hotel Berry Project was awarded nine percent tax credits through a competitive process. The Project exchanged the tax credits for an award of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds in the amount of $13,561,066 in December 2009. The ARRA award completed the Project's required financing. The necessary agreements have been executed to proceed with disposition of the property by the Redevelopment Agency to the developer Jamboree Housing Corporation (Jamboree). Jamboree will develop and own the Hotel Berry.

In July of 2010 Jamboree submitted plans to the City Building Department and anticipates receiving permits in October of 2010. Construction is expected to begin immediately after building permits are issued with completion estimated by the end of 2011. Sacramento City Ordinance 2006-056 requires that the City maintain an inventory of not less than 712 residential hotel or comparable units. The Hotel Berry is the second largest of the remaining downtown residential hotels and one of nine properties that comprise the City's SRO inventory. Granicus