During the post bubble downturn in Sacramento, downtown development screeched to a halt at an even more drastic rate than the surrounding suburbs of Elk Grove, Folsom, and Roseville. The handful of condo and townhome projects once the highlight of Downtown Sacramento’s redevelopment have largely become leasing properties with few new projects on the horizon. As market stability slowly returns to Sacramento, we are starting to also see renewed interest in downtown development. Within the last few weeks a few interesting projects have started to surface which each seem to be smaller developments possibly meant to test the waters before jumping back into large scale development. The first project is by the Sacramento based Pacific Housing Inc which is planned as a 34 unit LEED Platinum Green community marketing to low and moderate income households, located at 2500 R street. This project is located next to a light rail stop making this not only a green development but can also claim modern transit oriented development bragging rights.
Another notable project on the horizon is the Broadway Triangle Development which is located just outside Downtown Sac in the Oak Park neighborhood. This is again a smaller development with a combination of commercial and residential space with 29 single family units and just shy of 10,000 square feet of commercial space. This project will redevelop a few historic buildings and also fill in a couple vacant lots while also providing urban park space. This project is reportedly on a fast track through the planning process and could come to market as early as summer of 2011.
The third development that caught my attention for Downtown Sac is the Gateway on Fremont Park proposed as a 30 unit luxury condo project with some truly unique features. This project will be a 5 story mixed use building with a specially designed roof that will allow for small crop farming and possibly a small fishery as well. The developer envisions restaurants on the first floor being able to boast some of the freshest spices and herbs of any restaurant around as they could literally pick it from the rooftop farm, cook, and serve in one evening. It will be interesting to see if such a dramatic plan will make it to the final construction plans but regardless, it’s exciting for Sacramento that developers have the urge to build and are thinking creatively about how to bring exciting projects back into the spotlight in Downtown Sacramento.
http://www.pacifichousing.org/index.html
http://www.cadanet.org/index.php/development/current-projects/109-eeg4
