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Saturday, May 25, 2013
Before R Street Market Plaza development: Photo Essay
by Suzanne Hurt, published on March 17, 2011 at 6:51 PM
Storyline: R Street Corridor
Community Tags
a-1 plating co
acoustics
business
cada
california state agencies
capitol area development authority
crystal ice and cold storage facility
development
fulcrum properties
historic building with great acoustics
historic industrial warehouse district
mark friedman
midtown
paul petrovich
photo shoots
politics
railroad tracks
r street
r street corridor
r street marketplace
r street market plaza
sacramento
sacramento area council of governments
sacramento valley railroad
tom and tobys automotive clinic
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The city of Sacramento and Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) are working on the R Street Corridor Project – an effort to turn a 27-block-long stretch of R Street into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood.
A two-block section of R Street from 16th to 18th streets will hold the project's centerpiece, the R Street Market Plaza. Elements of the historic rail corridor and industrial warehouse district have inspired its design, which is expected to be completed in early June.
The public project is intended to spur private development — creating more businesses, housing, services and jobs along the corridor. California state agencies now occupy some of R Street.
The project has been designed to increase R Street’s livability with a plaza that will be constructed to hold sidewalk cafes, festivals, farmers' markets and other special events.
Below are photos of this stretch of R Street before streetscape construction and redevelopment of the buildings begin.
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
The Crystal Ice and Cold Storage facility built in 1920 is now a lime-green building at 16th and R streets. Crystal Ice was once the city’s primary ice supplier. Additions were made until 1950.
Developer Mark Friedman of Fulcrum Properties is developing plans for a section he has dubbed the "Ice Blocks." He plans to preserve the exterior of the oldest Crystal Ice building at 16th Street, which is a historic landmark. The development is expected to include retail, residential and office space.
A sign on an old Crystal Ice building reads, "JUST WHAT MIDTOWN HAS BEEN WAITING FOR." The official address is 1812 17th St.
(Image by: Suzanne Hurt)
The old buildings are popular for professional photo shoots and hobbyists with cameras.
"This area is off the hook," said R.C., a state employee who lives two blocks away and asked that his last name not be used. "You just don't see this anymore."
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
In the mid-1850s, R Street contained tracks for the Sacramento Valley Railroad -- the stateʼs first railway. Mainline railroad tracks will be kept in place to maintain R Street’s historic integrity and reflect its heritage.
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
The street later morphed into a warehouse district. Loading docks are still visible at warehouses that once helped form the areaʼs spine.
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
An empty lot sits on the north side of R Street between 16th and 17th streets. Plans call for the lot to be turned into a parking garage. A-1 Plating Co. and Tom and Toby’s Automotive Clinic once operated there.
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
A Sacramento Kings billboard was installed on 16th Street on a fence surrounding a vacant lot.
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
Local residents and state employees use the street to get to and from a Safeway grocery store and restaurants at R Street Marketplace, built by developer Paul Petrovich at 19th and R streets.
"The ants go back and forth from the sugar to the anthill – that's what this is," said R.C., a state employee returning from the shopping center.
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
The Orchard Supply Co. warehouse at 1731 17th St.
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
With its metal awning, the warehouse at 1831 17th St. is known for great acoustics. Local musicians who play saxophones and trumpets can sometimes be spotted there.
"The sound just ricochets off the walls," said local resident Ron Johnson, 67.
Local resident Ron Johnson first lived in the area in the 1960s and returned after spending some years in the Bay Area.
(Image by: Suzanne Hurt)
R Street at the intersection with 17th Street, looking east toward R Street Marketplace.
(Image by: Suzanne Hurt)
Crystal Ice Co. building, 1800 18th St.
(Image by: Suzanne Hurt)
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
All the buildings in the two-block stretch are vacant. But space outside the buildings is used for parking.
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
A woman walks down an alley between 17th and 18th streets.
Image by: Suzanne Hurt
Graffiti has been painted on the vacant buildings. Much has been painted over, but not graffiti up on the roof of the tallest Crystal Ice Co. building at 16th and R streets.
One side of the Crystal Ice Cold and Storage building fronts an alley between 16th and 17th streets.
(Image by: Suzanne Hurt)
Construction on the $3.8 million plaza project could start as soon as spring or summer 2012. The city and CADA will apply for construction funding through the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. SACOG is expected to review the request in November. Streetscape upgrades began on R Street from 10th to 13th streets last fall.
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When is the city going to stop imposing suburban parking standards on its urban core? Doesn't anyone in the Planning Dept or the City Council ever use mass transit... ever walk more than one block to a fast food outlet?
"Tom and Toby’s Automotive Clinic/Repairing, 1720 17th Street
This facility is out of business and the site is now a vacant lot between 16th and 17th Streets.
The site was identified on Sanborn Maps from 1964 to 1970 as an Automobile Repair. Sanborn
Maps were not available after 1970. The building can be seen in aerial photographs from 1952
through 1981. In the 1993 aerial photograph the entire site has been cleared (Blackburn
Consulting 2009).
A-1 Plating Company, 1721 16th Street
This facility is out of business and the site is now a vacant lot between 16th and 17th Streets.
The site was identified on Sanborn Maps from 1957 to 1970 as a Plating Shop and Automobile
Repair. Sanborn Maps were not available after 1970. The building can be seen in aerial
photographs from 1952 through 1981. In the 1993 aerial photograph the entire site has been
cleared.
Plating shops are a concern for surface soil contamination. Historically, plating operations were
prone to site contamination due to the movement of parts through the plating process in an
unenclosed system. Old shops often had trenches into which wastewater and waste solutions
were deposited. Potential contaminants include cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc
and cyanide (Blackburn Consulting 2009). "
The location of A-1's former building can be checked out using Google maps.
At R and 6th (?) I think, there is a wooden post on the corner that says "Southern Pacific". The concrete around it has been replaced several times but it has been left intact, but there is no historical marker to inform curious citizens as to what it is. Any guesses? Was it the end-of-the-line? Accross the street from that is one of the cities oldest power poles, check it out it's really neat looking.
"Discussion
The proposed project begins at 16th Street on the west end and ends at 18th Street on the east.
It is located within the boundaries of the City of Sacramento General Plan, the R Street Corridor
and the Central City Community Plan
Existing land uses immediately adjacent to the proposed R Street Market Plaza project consist
mainly of vacant buildings that are planned for redevelopment. A mixed use complex with
Safeway Market, restaurants, commercial shops and loft apartments is located at the east end
of the proposed project at the intersection of R and 18th streets. There is a vacant lot located
on the north side of R Street between 16th and 17th streets that is planned to be developed into
parking garage."
Curmudgeon (aptly named) is right about the parking, for now, but he doesn't have to be such a dick about it. As the neighborhood densifies, with projects like the Warren, R. Street Lofts, and the East End Gateway, the community will be able to support fresh commercial and plaza spaces. But until then, we have to bring people in via cars and parking. Also, there are many reasons to keep the railroad tracks from a planning perspective, including potential easement utilization and maybe even as an alternate route for the West Sacramento Trolley (it has been proposed).
I don't see parking as much of an issue in this neighborhood; there are plenty of state and business lots that are vacant at night that could be leased out to parking companies for evening parking, and some of those lots are also potential future development sites, like the one at 15th and Q.