Construction has begun on Sacramento's newest single-resident occupancy building downtown. On Monday, a backhoe operator and other construction workers continued demolishing an old foundation at Seventh and H streets. The eight-story, 150-unit mid-rise being built there by Mercy Housing is the first new structure going up in the railyards redevelopment project area. Once completed, the $47.4 million affordable housing project, known simply as “Seventh & H,” will be one of the city's largest permanent supportive housing projects. Half of the units will be reserved for homeless or recently homeless people, and the rest is aimed at downtown workers making $20,000 to $25,000 a year. "Sevent

This $47 million projects planned for the northwest corner of 7th & H Street has now received all needed entitlements and necessary financing to move forward with construction anticipated for March 2011. The project will be funded with $25 million in 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits, $8,200,000 loan funded by Home Investment Partnership Program, a $6,859,695 capitol grant and $3,750,000 operating grant funded by Downtown Low Moderate Tax Increment Funds, and a land grant for the acquisition, construction and permanent financing of the 7th & H Project. Developer and owner Mercy Housing California is a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing quality affordable housing with

Bistro 33 in Midtown shut its doors Monday, but will reopen in November as a burger place catering to the late-night crowd. “Midtown is focused more around bars and nightlife,” Matt Haines, vice president of SRO Managing Group, which runs Bistro 33 and other restaurants in the area. “We were selling mainly our burgers.” Haines said the bistro concept at 1020 16th St. wasn’t working in the area dominated by nightlife, so the restaurant will undergo a six-week transformation to a new concept: Spin Burger Bar. “We went with Spin Burger because it goes with DJs spinning records, and bicycles,” Haines said, adding that the live DJ will be able to moderate sound levels and music to fit with t

Work to renovate the historic Hotel Berry, 729 L St., will commence next month, after the City Council held its final public hearing on the issue Tuesday night. “This is a project we’ve been working on for some time,” said Christine Weichert, assistant director of Housing and Community Development. “This is the very last step in a long process.” The public hearing was required before the financing could be undertaken for the $24.5 million project. According to Weichert, Jamboree Housing of Irvine, Calif., will be working on the renovation project. The funding comes from a mixture of tax credits, federal stimulus funding and redevelopment housing agency funds. “We did take a thorough lo

Mercy Housing California of West Sacramento proposing affordable housing at the corner of 7th & H Street that will include 122 studios (325sf) and 28 one bed room (500sf) units as well as sixteen parking spaces, retail and health clinic on the ground floor. This eight story 102 foot tall building’s designed to replace other single room occupancy (SRO) units in downtown that are going to be replaced with other developments in the future. There will be 3,900sf of retail space as well as 3,750sf health clinic, residential lobby, and a structured parking garage. 7th & H will also be designed to have a LEED-Silver standard and registered with the US Green Building Council. This project is the

Sacramento seniors facing economic hardship will have one less place to relax and meet friends. Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc., has closed down its Cathedral Neighborhood Senior Center downtown because of a funding shortage, said Beth White, associate director of the nonprofit organization. The center, which is located at 711 J St., had provided a social atmosphere for seniors since 1975, according to White. It shut down March 1. Elderly residents of single-resident-occupancy motels as well as homeless seniors would gather at the center, White said. They would watch television or enjoy a coffee, she said. For example, a group of seniors would come to the center in the morning b

As a Sacramento resident keenly interested in the history of K Street from the gold rush to the present, I have read many opinions regarding the best ways to fix the ongoing problems of K Street. Some have been proposed recently, ideas that I view with a mixture of amusement and horror. Most involve returning to the mistakes of the past while clearly avoiding its successes. In order to take the best from the past while avoiding some of its mistakes, I have selected some favorites. I can take credit for none of them, as they are all ideas that have been suggested at other times and places, but they seem like the best of the lot to me. This ten-point plan varies in scope from the very simple

On Tuesday, August 11, the Sacramento city council will decide whether to give away the half-block from K to L on 8th Street, containing the Bel-Vue Apartments and several other buildings to developers Bob Leach, Mohammed Mohanna and Parkcrest Development. The land was recently purchased by the city from Mohanna at a price of $18.6 million, and the developers are asking not only for free land but several years of tax-free operation. The net cost to the city will be about $34 million, 25% of the total investment for the project, in return for about 10% of the return. The proposed project is a 300-foot luxury hotel at 8th and K and a parking lot on 8th & L where the Bel-Vue stands. The proje

On Tuesday Feb. 24, the City Council authorized the purchase of the Berry Hotel from its latest owners, developer AF Evans. Despite the efforts of the developer to restore the hotel and maintain its use as housing for those with very low incomes, the city will soon close the Berry, without a plan to reopen it. Built in 1929, the Berry was part of Sacramento's downtown hotel district, interspersed with theaters and department stores on the blocks near K Street. The Berry and other hotels like the Clunie, the Land, the Sacramento and the Clayton offered nightly rooms to some, while others were rented on a monthly basis. In the era after World War II, downtown hotels faded in popularity comp