A revised proposal by USA Hospitality, Inc. and their equity partners Consus Asset Management and Industrial General has been submitted for building a Marriott Renaissance Hotel at the corner of 8th & K Street. The new proposal includes a decrease in the number of hotel rooms from 409 to 300, and a decrease in the number of parking spaces from 372 to 350 while adding 100 condominiums on top of the parking garage as a second phase of the project. The total cost to build the project went up from $137 million to $162 million along with the needed city subsidy to build from $31.5 million to $33 million. The developer has asked that the city give them the land which is city-owned for free, and

Last night the Sacramento City Council discussed the future of the proposed 23 story hotel and parking garage at 8th & K/L St. by developer Bob Leach/USA Hospitality. The last time Mr. Leach was to appear before the Council two weeks ago he asked for a delay because his proposal was going to be slammed over the financing for the proposal. This time they came back to the council offering 40% of cash flow instead of 10% over 10 years and asking for 50% of the Transient Occupancy Tax rebate over 14 years instead of 100% over 10 years. USA Hospitality’s now asking for $31.5 million subsidy from the city in an effort to make this project feasible. After a few council members made their opinions

On Tuesday, August 25, the Sacramento City Council will hear a proposal by developers Bob Leach and Parkcrest Development to build a hotel at the corner of 8th and K Street and a parking structure at the corner of 8th and L Street, a project that would require demolition of city landmark the Bel-Vue Apartments and adjacent buildings. The meeting will be held at New City Hall, 915 I Street, at 6:00 PM in the main City Council chambers. The item was originally to be heard at the August 11 meeting of the City Council (see sacramentopress.com/headline/11884/City_to_decide_on_fate_of_BelVue_Apartments_and_Berry_Hotel_today ) but was taken off the agenda at the last minute. According to the sta

City plans to demolish the Bel-Vue and adjacent buildings were mentioned in my Sacramento Press article on July 3 ( http://sacramentopress.com/headline/10159/City_To_Demolish_Landmark_BelVue_Building ) but at the time the developer and financing organization behind the project were not identified. Since then, both have appeared, along with an additional partner. The financier, Consus Asset Management, is a new player in Sacramento. The developer, Bob Leach, just completed another Sacramento project, the Le Rivage Hotel. The other player in this project is a well-known name in K Street real estate, Mohammed “Mo” Mohanna. All three are asking the city for $18.6 million in free real estate an

If you saw some bright spotlights weaving through the downtown sky Thursday Feb. 26, the source was probably the Citizen Hotel, which is owned by Joie de Vivre Hotels. The 83-year-old building located at 926 J Street was filled with hundreds of formally-dressed partygoers from 5 to 8 p.m. Guests enjoyed appetizers prepared by Chef Michael Tuohy from the hotel's Grange Restaurant, while sipping from a champagne fountain and a martini luge. On other floors, guests enjoyed wine, chocolate and jazz. At 6:30 p.m, Kipp Blewett, the Developer of the Citizen gave opening remarks via monitor thanking the downtown area and Joie de Vivre, "which has a long history of revitalizing historic assets. T

Today turned out to be a strange day. The day is January 10, 2009, Saturday. I went walking with my dogs Pika and HPI (Pronounced Hi-Pee) at Elk Grove Laguna Creek Wetlands. According to high school kids, the Wetlands is haunted. There is claim by these high school kids, that on one foggy night they saw a covered wagon drawn by two ghostly black horses near some Eucalyptus trees. Eucalyptus trees were brought over by settlers from Australia. They were planted in clumps in certain areas, so that settlers can use the shade from these huge trees for cover. The three clumps in the Wetlands is where kids have said they have either seen ghostly figures in old Western outfits or have seen the gho