16th Street

Historic 16th and U building under repair

2010-03-30T02:52:39Z

Repairs are under way at a historic Midtown building whose front end caved in after being rammed by a truck last May.

The 81-year-old brick building at 16th and U streets had long been vacant when an Icee truck and an SUV collided and ran up onto the sidewalk May 19. The front end of the 2,889-square-foot building had been covered by a modern glass-and-stucco storefront facade for years.

Standing on busy 16th Street, the building held a prominent role in the Richmond Grove neighborhood for decades. The structure was built in 1929 as an early Safeway grocery store. That was followed by a hardware store, cigar shop, Chinese grocery and massage parlor. The building had been vacant before and after serving as Mayor Kevin Johnson's mayoral campaign headquarters in 2008.

Immediately following the accident, a city crew made the building safe by collapsing damaged parts of the roof and structure and stabilizing remaining walls of the unreinforced masonry building. The building was owned by Stratton Investments of Reno at the time of the accident, according to Dave Herrera, a commercial real estate broker with Colliers International Sacramento.

Off and on repairs have been made for about two months, according to a neighbor.

16th and N project moves forward

2009-12-04T05:34:33Z

The Capitol Area Development Authority began an environmental review this week for a $43 million, mixed-use building proposed for the East End Gateway.

While a consultant began the environmental analysis of the project's final design, developers Em Johnson Interest of San Francisco and Nehemiah Community Reinvestment Fund Holdings of Sacramento have begun working with the authority to draft a development agreement for the project at the northwest corner of 16th and N streets.

CADA ended its partnership with the first developer, Lambert Development, after that company's proposal was deemed too high-end for Sacramento and progress wasn't made fast enough, said Marc de la Vergne, the authority's development manager for the Capitol area. Building plans have gone through three variations since the authority chose new developers for the project in April.

On Oct. 30, CADA's board accepted the new design, which calls for 117 condos, 5,200 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 136 parking spaces in a two-and-a-half story parking garage. The authority conducted an environmental analysis for Lambert's 15-story design in 2008. Another analysis is required for the new, smaller design.

The eight-story building will be constructed near a commercial office district occupied mostly by state agency buildings and on the fringe of residential neighborhoods with smaller-scale buildings. Architects designed the building in a contemporary architectural style intended to blend with both, said developer Michael Johnson, who owns Em Johnson Interest.

"What we were trying to achieve was an understated elegance with this building," he said.

The building was designed to meet the goals of the city of Sacramento's 2030 General Plan Update, which includes mixed-use high-rise development with access to public transit in the Central Business District.

The exterior will be a combination of glass, beige stone tiles and durable silver cement panels.

The location on a prominent corner inspired a corner of glass-walled condos and a stark vertical blade.

"That is intended to denote a real punctuation for that corner," Johnson said.

The building sports an unusual, multilevel design dictated by its location on a dividing line established in the Capitol View Protection Act, de la Vergne said.

An L-shaped portion facing N and 16th streets and containing the retail and most of the condos will be the highest. The building will contain 22 penthouse lofts that range from 900 to 1,300 square feet, with main floors starting on the eighth story and ninth-level mezzanines reached via stairs in each unit. The highest part of the building will top at 106 feet, well below the 150-foot maximum established by the act for that area. Other portions can't exceed 80 feet.

Plans went from 98 residential units to 110, and 6,000 square feet of retail to almost 5,000. Seven condos were added in the final design when developers realized they could be added on top of the garage, de la Vergne said.

The project also meets the 2030 General Plan's goal of integrating parking into the building. Cars will access the garage through the alley.

Residential units are the most profitable part of the project. But retail also is important because 16th Street is a key transportation corridor in downtown Sacramento. Retail also will help "activate" the street, de la Vergne said.

Five condos open onto the plaza. Most units are platform lofts with raised bedroom areas overlooking living rooms. One-bedroom, 660-square-foot condos are expected to sell for $325,000 and two-bedroom, 975-square-foot condos would start at $399,000.

Other highlights include a private third-story landscaped plaza in the center of the building. Condos over the garage will have roofs covered with no-maintenance grass so tower homeowners will look down on green, Johnson said.

The proposal has gone through the city of Sacramento's Planning and Design Review commissions as well as the necessary state agencies.

The environmental analysis is expected to be completed by Feb. 1. CADA's board is expected to take action on the environmental report at its March meeting, de la Vergne said.

Excavation of soil that contains lead-based paint from previous housing on the site is expected to start in May 2011. The authority would first like to relocate four Art Deco-style units that were built there in the early 1940s. An additional 10 units of that structure will be demolished before excavation begins, de la Vergne said. Construction is expected to be completed in early 2012.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

$10m Unity Center funding cut from water bond

2009-11-05T05:18:55Z

The California State Assembly stripped $10 million that had been earmarked for the future California Unity Center from an $11 billion state water bond proposal early Wednesday.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento had requested the money for the center to be built on 16th Street. He defended the provision Tuesday, but agreed to its being slashed from the water bond early Wednesday after its inclusion was stalling the bond from passing in the Assembly, confirmed Nathan Barankin, a Steinberg spokesman. Minutes later, the bond passed.

The session continued until nearly dawn. Later Wednesday, Steinberg told reporters he'd realized the $10-million earmark was threatening to derail the water bond.

"He said this morning that the inclusion of the money in the bond was just a mistake," Barankin said. "It was something that clearly became a distraction."

The bond was then sent back to the Senate for approval without the provision, which had authorized the California Department of Parks and Recreation to give the money to a Sacramento nonprofit that would teach Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) students about the watershed and other environmental issues, Barankin said.

Plans for a California Unity Center stem from a wave of hate crimes by two Redding-area brothers who firebombed three Sacramento-area synagogues and a women's health clinic, then murdered a gay couple in the summer of 1999.

Both devout Christians, 31-year-old Benjamin Matthew Williams and James Tyler Williams, 29, plead guilty to the bombings. The older brother committed suicide in jail. James Williams is serving a 50-year sentence.

The Capital Unity Council was formed in the wake of the violence. A three-story, 32,000-square-foot tolerance center has been proposed for 16th and N streets, which once housed the SCUSD headquarters.

Steinberg, who serves as the council's board president, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have been working with others in the community to raise funds for the $30-million project. To date, a little more than $11 million has been raised, but the recession has hurt fundraising, said Bob Harris, the council's executive director and the retired long-time president of Sacramento City College.

"We managed to skate through that (recession) at least good enough to still be here," he said last week. "What we're putting together is our effort to be building by next summer."

A design plan created by Studio Southwest Architects has been approved by the Division of the State Architect, which had jurisdiction because the facility is targeted for schoolchildren, he said. Most of the plan also has been approved by the city.

A warehouse once used for the school district headquarters was demolished about a year ago. The lease agreement originally called for the council to also use a Spanish-tile roof school that was one of the district's first, he added.

Plan drawings are being updated to reflect such changes as a projected 35-percent decrease in energy use. The building will seek gold-level LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The center will include interactive exhibits and displays that feature protests and other tools Californians have used to bring social change and stories about social justice heroes; an oral history alcove; a gallery that will take visitors through other people's real experiences with discrimination; community-building events that celebrate diverse cultural traditions and shared values and a three-story digital screen that honors each person who takes a unity and harmony pledge.

"The project is shovel-ready," Harris said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for the Sacramento Press.

Streetscape workshop set for 16th St.

2009-07-15T01:17:35Z

Residents and business owners will soon have a chance to help fine-tune ideas to improve the look of 16th Street, a major gateway into the capital city.

The Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) will lead a workshop on Tuesday, July 21, to share updated information on development activities and to collect input on streetscape elements to brighten 16th Street. Those upgrades will be part of a renaissance unfolding there, along with a surge in businesses such as Hot Italian, Mochi, Pronto and Starbuck's.

The ideas that are gathered will be used to help form a cohesive vision for the street. That vision and specific details will be incorporated into a $20,000 conceptual streetscape design that Berkeley landscape design and planning firm MIG is creating for the section from L to S streets, said Marc de la Vergne, CADA's development manager for the capitol area.

The design will build on the 16th Street Public Improvements Design Study crafted for the entire street in 1997 by CADA, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, the city and the state. That plan, which has been shared with MIG, provides relevant ideas but little detail, he said.

"It's serving as a jumping-off point for us," said de la Vergne. "We need more guidance than that study was able to provide."

The improvements will be part of an ongoing effort to upgrade the 16th Street corridor. The workshop is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the CADA Event Center, 1322 O St.

Once part of State Highway 160, the one-way, three-lane thoroughfare is not expected to undergo any changes itself. Instead, the workshop and design will focus on upgrading sidewalk amenities for pedestrians, business and property owners, and commuters. Elements to be discussed include plantings, furniture, lighting, public art, sidewalk and crosswalk treatments, bus shelters and signs.

At the workshop, CADA will encourage discussion about installing bike lanes on 16th Street, although doing so would be challenging. CADA's primary concern is how to upgrade such a major thoroughfare.

"It's somewhat limiting in what you can do physically because it's such an important corridor," said de la Vergne. "Many of the improvements we're going to look at don't involve direct changes to the street itself. We're focusing more on sidewalks."

He and two others from CADA -- Todd Leon and Tom Kigar -- will make presentations about preliminary concepts and relevant 16th Street projects, including East End Gateway developments and light rail station improvements. Liz Lagomarsino from Friends of Fremont Park will discuss the community-based vision the organization is developing to make the park more fun, appealing and user-friendly.

CADA hopes the workshop will draw "people who feel 16th Street is an important location and want to have some input on what it looks like or what it could look like," said de la Vergne.

For more information about the workshop, contact Marc de la Vergne at 324-3913.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. She can be reached at 804-2856 or suzanne@sacramentopress.com.

16th St. streetscape upgrade in works

2009-06-22T04:07:00Z

Revitalization of 16th Street continued Friday as first steps were taken to create an updated streetscape.

The improvements will be part of an ongoing effort to upgrade the corridor, a major entrance into Sacramento giving many people their first impression of the capital city.

Once part of State Highway 160, the roadway deteriorated into a motel corridor that had grown extremely run-down by the 1990s. The street is home to longtime powerhouses like Simon's Restaurant and Luna's Cafe & Juice Bar. Newer businesses including Starbuck's, Pronto and Mochi have set up shop across from renovated Fremont Park.

The three-lane, one-way street has been a major focus for the city, state and Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) for decades as the agencies seek to promote development around the Capitol and polish the capital city's image.

"What we're trying to do is stitch together a very vibrant, mixed-used street," said CADA Executive Director Paul Schmidt.

On Friday, CADA held its first 16th Street streetscape meeting with the Berkeley landscape design and planning firm MIG. The company was hired Thursday to design a conceptual plan to polish the look of 16th Street from the alley between Capitol and N streets south to S Street, said Marc de la Vergne, CADA's development manager for the capitol area. MIG also designed streetscape for CADA's R Street project.

The community's input on new streetscape elements will be sought this summer in public workshops to be scheduled by CADA, a joint powers authority between the city and state. CADA was set up to help build a dynamic urban neighborhood as part of the capitol campus envisioned in the state's Capitol Area Plan.

Other development is in the works to build on the success of the East End Office Complex, completed in the late 1990s at the east end of Capitol Park. The complex included five buildings -- all but one at 16th and Capitol streets -- and the East End Garage. The complex brought in 4,500 state workers and increased the neighborhood's marketability for new retail, housing and additional office space, he said.

"The fact is, it cleaned up that area," said Schmidt.

That also was the first successful development effort after an aborted attempt to build two office towers there in the 1960s. The colorful Stanford Park townhouses were among the city's first infill projects when they were built across from Fremont Park in the 1980s. CADA's next development, the Spanish-style Fremont Building on the east side of 16th between O and P Streets, brought mixed-use development into the neighborhood.

New housing that allows home ownership is a big part of the plan for 16th Street, Schmidt said.

"People want to live down here. If you build it, they will come," he said.

Both projects drew the attention of developers and kick-started new retail.

Now, there's new movement elsewhere in the East End Gateway project, on CADA-owned land on the blocks stretching north from Hot Italian on Q Street to the alley between Capitol and N streets. Five sites, including three currently vacant lots, are slated for development there.

In October 2010, Em Johnson Interest and Nehemiah Community Reinvestment Fund Holdings are expected to start construction on a $37 million, eight-story mid-rise containing 98 "entry-level" condos, 6,000 square feet of retail and 120 parking spaces. The "Site 1" project at 16th and N streets, across from the site of the future California Unity Center, is expected to be completed by 2012. The 1930s Modernist apartment building currently housing Capitol Gardens is available if someone wants to move it, according to CADA.

Ravel Rasmussen Properties is expected to start building on at least one more vacant lot at 16th and O streets in the next fiscal year, which begins June 30. The company will develop two lots, Sites 2 and 3, on either side of O Street on 16th Street's west side. Designs call for mixed use, including 24 market-rate apartments on Site 2 and 60 market-rate apartments on Site 3.

But with banks now willing to finance only half of a project, getting enough private investors to kick in the rest for two projects at the same time has been a challenge.

"In my 30 years, this has been the most difficult financing market I've ever seen," Schmidt said.

MNA Management, affiliated with Mogavero Notestine Associates, was chosen in May to build apartments and condos at 16th and P streets, currently occupied by an old motel CADA converted into single room occupancy (SRO) housing.

The motel is expected to be torn down in two years. CADA will try to help residents find new housing, but only those with Section 8 vouchers would have relocation rights guaranteed, he said.

Development of Site 5 has been put on hold due to financing. CADA has leased the house and land to a private daycare.

The city, state and CADA and Sac Housing and Redevelopment Agency partnered in 1997 to create the 16th Street Public Improvements Design Study. The $20,000 streetscape conceptual design will build on that study, said de la Vergne.

The plan will propose a "palette" of elements, including plantings, furniture, new sidewalk treatments and signs, he said. The plan will be used in development of Sites 1 through 4, and to help guide other public and private improvements other projects along 16th Street.

The conceptual plan is expected to be finished by September. The plan would include proposals for how much of the streetscape should be financed by developers. CADA will then work aggressively to raise funds for future phases of planning and installation of the streetscape, he said.

"We're looking forward to working with the city on this project. The city really has had an interest in 16th Street for a long time," he said.