Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "sro"

Ground broken on downtown SRO

2011-03-29T02:36:30Z

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.

"Seventh and H is a very important part of the larger solution of affordable housing," said Rich Ciraulo, project manager for Mercy Housing in West Sacramento.

Work began March 17 to remove remnants of a building that once housed the Sacramento Police Department's patrol station and police academy. The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, a project partner, bought the land from the city in 2008. The agency then donated the land, worth $3.1 million, and tore down the old building to allow for new construction.

Demolition crews from contractor J.R. Roberts/Deacon of Citrus Heights were still pulling foundation debris out of the ground Monday. The soil will be recompacted, then new foundation construction will begin.

The concrete-frame building will use concrete and steel-reinforced piles that are 65 to 70 feet deep to avoid pile driving in land next to an electric substation that powers the Capitol and a large part of downtown, Ciraulo said.

"SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) has been warning us all along to be very careful," he added.

Architects Mogavero Notestine Associates of Sacramento and SERA Architects of Portland designed the building. The exterior will be covered with tan brick and metal panels. Second-floor roof gardens are included in the design. The cost increased from $41 million to include a full solar panel array on the roof, a solar water-heating system, a larger health clinic and other features.

Support services will include programs on health, education, community integration and finances. The Effort, a Sacramento nonprofit health services provider, will offer primary health and behavioral health services in a 5,200-square-foot clinic located in the building on H Street.

Construction is expected to be complete in October 2012. Six months prior, Mercy will start interviewing prospective tenants with help from local nonprofits and agencies that work with the homeless. Mercy Housing also will enlist real estate brokers to find restaurant tenants for two other ground-floor spaces on Seventh Street.

Mercy Housing and SHRA cobbled together $21.7 million in federal low-income housing tax credits through the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, about $20 million in redevelopment funding – which includes tax increment affordable housing set-aside funds – plus other funding from the Federal Home Loan Banks and the California Housing Finance Agency.

"When you put it in the context of what's going on with the larger economy and what's going on with affordable housing right now, it's very exciting to have it be a reality," Ciraulo said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter at The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

7th & H SRO Project Groundbreaking Soon

2011-02-22T04:22:30Z

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 supportive programs to low-income persons in California. Together, Mercy Housing California and Rural California Housing Corporation have been responsible for the construction of more than 2,900 affordable single-family self-help homeownership units and 124 multifamily rental properties with a total of more than 7000 units. Their portfolio includes 18 properties in Sacramento County alone.

This 7th & H Street project 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.

http://livinginurbansac.blogspot.com/

Midtown Bistro 33 to become Spin Burger Bar

2010-09-26T23:16:59Z

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 the crowd.

“We’ll also have Gold Sprints,” Haines said, referring to the stationary bicycle racing that he said is growing in popularity.

In Gold Sprint bicycle racing, bicycles with their rear wheels on rollers are set up side by side, and Haines said customers can challenge each other in friendly races, but there is a growing segment of people who take the sport seriously and are very competitive.

“It’s going to be a totally different vibe,” Haines said.

Spin Burger will be open for lunch and dinner daily and will stay open until 3 a.m. Thursday through Sunday for the late-night crowd.

The changing of the Bistro 33 in Midtown is not indicative of a company-wide shift, Haines said.

“We have seven restaurants in town, and they’re all doing well,” he said. “This thing evolved to be not a bistro. Our customers who go to the bistros look for a wine bar and a little bit of a quieter atmosphere, and that’s not what you see (at 16th and K streets).”

Another business in the area that stays open late is Petra Greek Restaurant.

“We’d heard rumors from employees that it was going to shut down,” said Petra Kitchen Manager Peter Dogias, adding that he thinks Spin Burger will do well.

“I think it’s a great concept,” Dogias said. “We’re a 3 a.m. business. We’re open till 3, and we get a big nightclub crowd. I think they’ll do really well.”

The scheduled opening date for Spin Burger is Nov. 15, according to Haines.

Hours for the restaurant will be 11 a.m. - midnight Sunday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. - 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Hotel Berry renovation to start next month

2010-09-22T04:34:25Z

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 look at this because it involves debt, and we have no issues or concerns,” City Treasurer Russ Fehr told the council in response to a question from Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy. “The money is already there. It’s in essence being reclassified.”

No members of the public spoke at the hearing.

The renovation is scheduled to be completed within a year and a half, Weichert said.

The historic hotel was built in 1929 and is located adjacent to the Greyhound station downtown. According to a previous Sacramento Press article, it was purchased in 2007 by AF Evans and Trinity Housing for restoration.

“That was just the time when the market started collapsing,” Weichert said. “They couldn’t get all their financing ... so we ended up owning it.”

Since the 1970s, the hotel had been used for affordable housing, referred to as a single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel.

“It’s affordable housing for people who are earning 45 percent or less of the area’s median income,” Weichert said. “It’s got 104 units.”

Many of those units were inhabited until about six months ago, when tenants were moved to other residences. The last tenant left in June, according to Weichert, who added that the tenants received moving assistance and will have the option to return when the renovation is complete.

“This hotel desperately needs renovation,” Weichert said. “Very little reinvestment has occurred since (it was built).”

Currently, the hotel is plagued by pockets of mold and other issues related to deterioration, said Jeree Glasser-Hedrick, housing finance program manager for Housing and Community Development.

During the renovation, each room will be outfitted with a kitchenette so it will be a self-contained living space, and the ground floor will be remodeled. A Mexican restaurant that formerly occupied a portion of the ground floor will be used as community space.

“It’s going to be exciting to get this thing rehabbed,” Weichert said.

“This is a terrific project,” said City Councilman Ray Tretheway.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

7th & H Street SRO Proposal

2010-04-16T03:45:51Z

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 first mid-rise residential tower in the newly redefined Central Core District, and the first project to use the new Urban Design Guidelines. It located across the street from the County Jail and on an existing RT light rail line located along the north side of H Street, and a future RT line proposed on the east side of the 7th Street.

The project will require the Planning Commission approval of entitlements and to combine 5 existing parcels into one lot for the commercial condominium purposed. The Planning Commission is scheduled to hear this project on April 21st and then again on May 6, 2010 for Final action.

Downtown loses its senior center

2010-03-19T02:02:46Z

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 because “that’s where they got their morning coffee,” White noted.

The closure means that seniors downtown no longer have a meeting place, White said. “We were the last downtown provider.”

For years, the center’s operations were paid for by Sacramento’s county government, the city of Sacramento and Catholic Charities, according to White.

Then, in 2004, the county halted its share of the funding for the center, White said, adding that the center is no longer receiving funding from the city government either.

Without the help from the city and county, Catholic Charities could not pay for the rent on the building, personnel or operational costs, White noted.

“If you live in a SRO, it really is your meet-and-greet place and your social place,” Sacramento City Councilman Ray Tretheway told residents at a Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting Monday in Midtown. “It just breaks my heart to see that go under.”

While the center has closed its doors, Catholic Charities continues to run an outreach program to help downtown seniors gain access to medical, dental and mental health services, among other services, White said. The outreach program is covered by federal funds, monies from foundations and private donations, she said. Catholic Charities operates the outreach program together with the Transitional Living and Community Support organization.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

A 10-Step Plan To Fix K Street, Or: The Legend of the Skyscraper Fairy

2009-10-12T03:55:54Z

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 and inexpensive to the rather complex and expensive, some are short-term solutions while others are longer-term solutions for better times, but all of them are practical. I can provide more detail about most of these points if requested.

1. Accept that the Skyscraper Fairy does not exist.

Many landlords along K Street have no apparent interest in maintaining or improving their properties. Some are convinced that as long as they own the land, the magical Skyscraper Fairy will give them uncountable millions for the land where their decaying buildings sit, and will replace them with shiny new skyscrapers. Thus, they have little interest in maintaining or tenanting their buildings. The result is under-utilized or vacant buildings whose facades continue to crumble. Despite the Downtown Partnership’s efforts to power-wash streets and alleys, buildings allowed to fall into disrepair, inhabited only by bats and squatters, make our historic buildings into eyesores. Ideally, the city’s code enforcement division would issue stiff fines to property owners who allow their buildings to fall into disrepair, in order to prevent demolition by neglect. Unfortunately, the city of Sacramento is also one of the guilty parties, and one of the strongest believers in the Skyscraper Fairy. City-owned properties currently sit vacant, awaiting their own savior in the form of a deep-pocketed developer who will brush aside the old building and provide badly-needed money to build something else. Given K Street’s current state, this is unlikely—the only propositions so far are dependent on generous subsidies from the city of Sacramento. Until both the city and K Street property owners can be dispelled of their belief in the magical skyscraper fairy, their properties will continue to rot.

2. It’s time to leave the shopping mall in the past.

K Street was a bustling place until the 1950s, when most of Sacramento’s population moved out of the central city, the residential neighborhoods adjacent to downtown Sacramento were demolished, and the city streetcar system was replaced by highways and automobiles. Suburban malls were closer to the new suburban neighborhoods and had plentiful parking, while K Street was far away and none of the stores had parking lots. The K Street pedestrian mall of the 1960s and 1970s was a desperate move to woo suburban shoppers by simulating a suburban mall, including demolition of nearby buildings to provide parking. But the suburban malls were still more convenient, and their parking lots bigger and more obvious, so K Street’s rebirth as a mall of the 1970s failed. A 1990s re-vamp that enclosed the section from 4th to 7th Street has become another failure, due to its failure to move beyond the idea of a suburban mall downtown.

A new generation of city planners has noted that shopping centers of the 2000s look a lot like old downtowns, with stores that copy historic styles and a mixture of pedestrian paths and driveways. These planners have decided that this is the future of K Street, and call for a return of cars to K Street so they can pretend K Street is a new suburban "power center," the 2010s equivalent of a shopping mall. But those suburban “power centers” are still closer to suburban shoppers, and their parking lots are still bigger. If K Street is simply opened to cars and its facades remodeled to emulate new suburban shopping centers in North Natomas, how can the result be any different from the last two attempts to disguise downtown Sacramento as a suburban mall?

3. Cars, no. Bikes, yes.

The simplest change to energize K Street will cost very little: permit bicycle riding on K Street. Bike riding is already on the rise, and the freedom to bike on K Street would turn it into the main cycling corridor of the central city, free from the vehicular mayhem of J and L Street. Provide a few bike racks so bike riders can stop and shop as well as ride through, and the numbers strolling past store windows will dramatically increase.

4. Shrink light rail to streetcar size.

Until the 1940s, K Street had transit in all sizes. On K Street itself, streetcars ran from the heart of downtown to Midtown, Southside and nearby suburbs like Land Park, Oak Park and East Sacramento. These cars were small, typically 30-40 feet long, about the size of a modern bus, and operated at speeds up to 25-30 miles per hour. Like a bus, they worked reasonably well with traffic, but because they had fixed rails they had a smoother ride and a predictable path, making them more comfortable for riders. Trains ran every ten minutes during the day, and “owl” runs carried late-night travelers all night.

On the corner of 8th and K Street, interurban trains ran in both directions. Passengers from Woodland, Chico, Stockton and even Oakland could hop on the train and get off on K Street. These trains were bigger, 60-80 feet long, and operated in trains as long as 6-8 cars. They were taller and wider than streetcars, and could reach 60-70 miles per hour going flat-out through the countryside. They ran on 8th Street because K Street was far too busy to handle the big trains.

Today, modern Light Rail trains are more like the interurbans than streetcars. With 80 foot long bodies and operating in four-car trains, they are not well-suited to playing the role of a streetcar. By through-routing Blue Line trains north via the upcoming 7th Street extension and connecting to North 12th Street via Richards Boulevard, light rail trains could bring passengers from Folsom, Rancho Cordova, South Sacramento and North Highlands to K Street without crowding pedestrians off the street.

Meanwhile, the streetcars can return to K Street. Some of Sacramento’s historic streetcars exist in unrestored condition in private collections, but modern streetcars offer amenities like air conditioning and ADA-accessible low-floor entryways. They can run on the existing K Street tracks while leaving more room for pedestrians and bikes. Using existing light rail lines and sharing their tracks, these streetcars can link nearby neighborhoods and connect with light rail. Extending streetcar lines into existing neighborhoods and new development areas costs less than one-third the price of light rail extensions and drives population density, economic investment and reduces the need for cars and parking. Run them until after 2:00 AM to give downtown visitors an option to leave their cars at home—especially if they plan on drinking.

5. Legalize street life.

This is another cheap and easy solution. Part of Second Saturday’s success is its prolific use of street music, performers, and vendors, but its monthly status creates a feast-or-famine condition. A permit program to allow music, performance and vending at any time means that visitors to K Street won’t need to check their calendars before going downtown. Street music and vending also gives local entertainers and small businesspeople a stepping stone to a retail storefront or a musical career. Musicians and vendors will promote activity, give walkers a reason to stick around, and attract visitors to enjoy the street life. This also does not rule out special street festivals and special events above and beyond the day-to-day activity, and maintaining K Street as a pedestrian walk maintains this valuable civic amenity for more public festivals. Both everyday street life and special events will draw visitors from within Sacramento, the surrounding region, and tourists from out of town.

6. Tours bring tourists.

Despite the demolition of the past few decades, K Street still retains a remarkable number of historic buildings, proud evidence of our architectural heritage in stone, terra cotta and concrete. Many cities use local tourism programs to bring visitors into the heart of the city, but to most visitors, Sacramento’s history ends at the edge of Old Sacramento. Efforts to alter this perception have been minimal. The Downtown Sacramento Partnership has a guided tour program, but it is minimally staffed, minimally funded, and minimally advertised. Downtown visitors looking for local history information are likely to come up empty-handed. Sacramento needs a full-strength tourism program worthy of a city with such a rich and diverse history. K Street, the walking street at the heart of the city, can be the center of such a tour program, with more tours branching out into nearby downtown streets and our architecturally rich residential neighborhoods. History tours appeal both to visiting tourists and to locals interested in learning more about their city's past.

On K Street, the potential star attraction of local tourism is right under your feet. Sacramento’s underground sidewalks, the result of a street-raising measure intended to keep the city above flood waters, run the length of K Street from the river to about 12th Street. Many are demolished, but enough material remains to allow a tour to weave in and out of underground sidewalk spaces, sunken alleys, basements, and even below-surface businesses. Combined with the dramatic story of the raised streets, and some entertaining and colorful stories from Sacramento’s history, the potential of an underground sidewalks tour is unlimited. In Seattle, local booster Bill Speidel turned a walk through clammy underground sidewalks in a notoriously bad part of town into a million-dollar tourist attraction that is known worldwide, drawing as many as 300,000 visitors a year and employing as many as 50 full-time staff. There is no reason that Sacramento can’t do the same.

7. Bring on the nightlife.

If a suburban mall isn’t the answer, what will bring suburban residents downtown? The answer is simple: Give them something the suburbs don’t have. Sacramento is best known for its quiet suburbs, the result of a decades-long whitewashing operation to conceal our party-animal past. The rowdy days of the Gold Rush, the proliferation of local breweries and wineries, our almost total refusal to acknowledge Prohibition, the legendary jazz and blues clubs of Sacramento’s West End, and even last year’s New Year’s Eve party (2,000 expected, 12,000 attended) burst through the “town where nothing happens” façade. It’s time to face the truth, and bring more nightlife down the length of K Street. This doesn’t just mean bars, it also means late-night restaurants, theaters, live music venues, dance clubs, movies, spas and salons, comedy clubs, coffee shops, and other imaginative options for entertainment. Cooperative parking agreements with state parking lots can provide tens of thousands of parking spaces, and better public transit can carry revelers home in safety.

8. Shop local, even if you’re from out of town.

The shopping-mall consultants are half right about K Street—it does need more than nightlife to survive. Daytime and early evening traffic means retail stores and services in between the state-employee lunch rush and the arrival of the dinner, drinks and dancing crowd. However, national chain stores are hesitant to expand, even if bribed into doing so. And again, suburban visitors won’t drive downtown to a store in their local mall. The answer is, again, to give them something the mall doesn’t have: unique, local stores. Local businesses keep money in the local economy, stimulate local employment and provide a unique character that chain stores simply can’t match. Encouraging local businesspeople to rent storefronts on K Street should be a city priority. Matched with neighborhood-serving retail like food markets, cleaners, drugstores and small department stores, locally-based retail on K Street should appeal to suburban shoppers, out-of-town visitors, and central city residents. As stores fill and crowds start to appear, instead of having to beg national chains to locate on K Street, they will appear on their own, smelling money to be made.

One idea we might lift from San Francisco: the much-adored Metreon, high-tech consumer wonderland, is falling on hard economic times, with many vacancies. Earlier this year, a full-time farmer’s market moved into the Metreon, and has already proved a popular destination. A permanent farmer’s market on K Street, instead of the current sporadic weekly markets, would provide fresh foods to a neighborhood where none are sold. Downtown workers, visitors and residents would all benefit from a convenient source for the Sacramento Valley’s agricultural bounty.

9. Living on K Street shouldn’t mean sleeping directly on it.

The destruction of the downtown neighborhoods near K Street was followed by the destruction of thousands of inexpensive rental rooms, commonly known as SRO hotels, where thousands of workers lived. As inexpensive housing disappeared, the poorest people did not. Out of necessity, they made their home on the streets. Many are still there, and as existing SRO stock is phased out of service and homeless services disappear, their numbers grow. They will not vanish and they will not simply move away, because they have nowhere to go and no alternative. The only way to reverse this trend is to replace the housing that was lost. This replacement housing need not be here on K Street, but it needs to be somewhere. Our only alternative is to accept the presence of people sleeping on the streets as an unalterable condition, and tell them that their suffering is necessary and unavoidable—or to simply remain in denial of the problem, which amounts to the same thing. As a people, as a city and as a nation, I think we are capable of better than that.

But it isn’t just the poorest that need housing in the central city. Housing for all income levels should be included in new development projects, but putting it into existing buildings would be even easier. Many formerly residential buildings were converted to office use in the 1960s and 1970s, so why not convert the abundance of vacant upper-story office space back into residential units? This housing should cross the economic spectrum: SRO units for the disabled and seniors, low-income units for service employees, workforce housing for office employees, and high-end, high-up housing for the high rollers. A truly urban life results when you can see all the way across the economic spectrum just walking down the street. That can’t happen unless the street has places for all of them to live, dine, work and shop. Again, not all of these places have to be directly on K Street, but they should be close enough to walk there in a few minutes. Restoration of residential buildings will preserve their architectural value, bring life back to the neighborhood, fill a great social need, and jobs restoring and maintaining the buildings will create more employment than comparable levels of new construction.

10. Have faith, be good, and the Skyscraper Fairy will come.

Part of the current mentality of property owners on K Street is based on outdated models of how downtown development should happen. For decades, cities were assumed to be teeming pits of an imaginary disease called “blight” that could only be cured with wrecking balls and a liberal application of public-funded redevelopment dollars, designed to push out “undesirable” tenants and solicit only the coveted suburban émigré to return to the central business district, and then only to spend money and leave, never to live. Today’s cities don’t work like that anymore. People want to live in cities because they want the amenities of urban life unavailable in the suburbs. If K Street can offer those amenities, not a sanitized Disneyland version and certainly not a copy of a suburban mall, they will grow interested in K Street. If they are interested, they will come to visit. If there are places to live, and things to see and do, they will want to move downtown. Once enough people have moved downtown that there is no longer room in existing buildings, and people feel safe and secure in neighborhoods that are well-maintained, high-rise developers who understand how cities work will look at K Street and see dollar signs. Instead of developers seeking handouts to build on K Street, they will come with money in hand where they think they can make even more.

And when they do, the Skyscraper Fairy will visit the property owners and civic leaders who took care of their buildings, who encouraged vitality and street life instead of a tax write-off, who promoted transit and walkability, and drew people back downtown to share in K Street’s uniqueness, character and history. She will shower them with money and riches and blessings, and cranes will rise on K Street, filling the gaps between the last century’s architectural gems with bright, tall new buildings. Yes, Sacramento, there is a Skyscraper Fairy, but she has very high standards.

William Burg is a board member of the Sacramento Old City Association. This story is a guest editorial opinion, and does not represent the opinion of Sacramento Press or its editors.

City to decide on fate of Bel-Vue Apartments and Berry Hotel today

2009-08-11T08:36:49Z

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 project would destroy all surviving structures on the project site. In addition to the landmark Bel-Vue, the 1895 Feldhusen Building and the circa 1910 Sam's Club building would be demolished, although neither has the status of city landmark.

The proposed project would also demolish two half-blocks of Sacramento's underground sidewalks, along the corner of 8th and K Street. The sidewalks are still clearly visible from the alley, as the photograph above shows. As with the loss of the Bel-Vue, approval of this project would mean the loss of structures that, despite having fallen into disrepair and disuse, are part of the city's historic fabric. By restoring these elements instead of demolishing them, the city can maintain resources that cannot be duplicated in modern construction, and provide valuable downtown housing and a potential historic site of great tourism interest.

The staff report mentions that city staff and the developer have not been able to come to agreement on business terms, due to the low rate of return for the city and the large investment the project represents. The "Exclusive Right to Negotiate" (ERN) between the city and the developers has been extended twice in order to work out details, but city staff is still not confident in the developer's proposal. The council has been asked to advise city staff how to proceed.

Full staff report is visible here:

sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php

In slightly brighter news, at the same meeting the City Council will hear (and hopefully approve) a plan to restore the Berry Hotel, just across the street from the Bel-Vue. The hotel was acquired by the city after another developer's plan to restore the building failed last year. The hotel is currently being vacated by the city, and is almost completely vacant. This plan would restore the interior of the building, providing long-needed repairs, and reopen the Berry as permanent housing for very low income individuals. The Berry has filled this role for years, but if this plan is approved, the building will be completely renovated and restored, and a social services agency will provide a staff person to work with disabled residents. The staff report is visible here:

sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php

These two projects are almost polar opposites. The restoration of the Berry Hotel promises to bring back a city landmark, restoring to occupancy a 1920s hotel. The project will house those least able to find housing, those with very low income, and it will be completed for far less than a new project of similar scale would cost. Across the street, the Bel-Vue was occupied by tenants until shortly before it was taken over by SHRA. It will be demolished and replaced with a parking structure. The proposed hotel project will be utterly infeasible without a massive subsidy, one that a city in the throes of a financial crisis cannot afford. Perhaps the City Council will review the Berry project and consider what else they might do with the Bel-Vue, a city landmark and apartment building, for less money than the developers' subsidy.

The meeting will be held at New City Hall, 915 I Street, Sacramento, at 6:00 PM in the main council chambers.

The full city council meeting agenda is viewable here:

sacramento.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php

(In the interest of disclosure, I oppose the demolition of the Bel-Vue and plan to attend in order to voice my opposition to the 8th & K project--and my support for the restoration of the Berry Hotel.)

City To Close Historic Berry Hotel

2009-02-27T06:42:17Z

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 compared to the new motor hotels. As redevelopment changed the face of downtown Sacramento, destroying many rooming houses downtown, hotels like the Berry became more strictly residential hotels, renting almost entirely to monthly tenants. Because the rents were generally less expensive than other housing, those with the least money to spend moved into these hotels. By 1929 standards, the Berry was a comfortable and luxurious place; by the 1970s and through today, it was housing of last resort, one step above living on the street. These hotels became known as "single room occupancy" hotels, or SRO hotels.

In 2007, AF Evans and Trinity Housing purchased the Berry with the intent of renovating the hotel, but maintaining its role as an SRO. To make this project feasible, AF Evans applied for Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC) low-income housing bonds. Housing developers can obtain tax credits when building low-cost housing, which helps make low-cost housing more economically feasible. A non-profit developer like AF Evans does not need tax credits, so these housing bonds can be sold to another company who needs a tax write-off. AF Evans' objective was to use the money generated by the sale of the bonds to repair the interior of the hotel, replace its aging plumbing and electrical systems, and retain almost all of its 109 rooms. A number of rooms were to be converted to ADA-accessible use, but all would be affordable units. The agreement also included provision for an on-site case manager who would provide supportive services for residents of the hotel who are disabled or senior citizens.

The current economic crisis made the sale of tax-credit bonds nearly impossible, as very few businesses are in need of a tax write-off. The bonds could not be sold, and AF Evans returned the tax-credit bonds to TCAC. They have tried to maintain the hotel, and have spent considerable time and effort figuring out how to repair the building, but the costs of repair are far greater than the income that can be generated from rents. Because they planned to vacate the hotel, rooms were not rented out as they became vacant, and the hotel currently has only about 50 tenants. Due to their inability to fund the project, AF Evans and Trinity Housing decided to give up sell the hotel to the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) for $1.

SHRA considered several scenarios before deciding on closure. Keeping the hotel open in its current state is not possible due to the deteriorated state of the building. Carrying out the developer's plan to restore the hotel would cost about $13 million, and would still require relocation of the building's occupants while construction was underway. On February 12, the SHRA board decided that the hotel should be closed until better economic times. This plan will still cost about $2.5 million to relocate the current residents and secure the building. AF Evans had developed a relocation plan in order to temporarily move residents during the building renovation. With the ownership change, the city is now responsible for carrying out the relocation plan, but instead the move will be permanent.

The closure of the Berry means that Sacramento's stock of SRO hotel rooms will drop by 108 units. In 1986, there were over 1000 SRO units in Sacramento, down from about 4000 units in the 1960s. In 2006, the city of Sacramento passed an ordinance committing to the maintenance of the remaining 712 SRO hotel rooms in downtown Sacramento. If rooms were lost, the city of Sacramento is responsible for creating replacement units. Since the ordinance was passed, two hotels have closed, leaving about 630 units, with no replacement units built or under construction. After the Berry closes, about 520 SRO units will remain.

SRO housing is, admittedly, the housing of last resort, but in these economic times, many people are in dire need of affordable housing. If they cannot find housing they can afford, they can become homeless. As low-income housing in rooming houses and SROs has disappeared, homelessness has grown into a national epidemic. SRO hotels are often indifferently maintained, but they are preferable to a tent by the river or a spot on a park bench. As the number of SROs shrink, the number in tents or on park benches grows. Can we afford to wait until better economic times when the need for affordable housing is greatest in times like these?

Another factor in the story of the Berry is the historic nature of the building itself. The building is not listed on the current list of city landmarks, only because the city has not placed it on the existing landmarks list, which supplanted an earlier citywide list of historic buildings. Past surveys of Sacramento's historic buildings identified the Berry as a priority structure, worthy of preservation for its architectural merits and its association with Sacramento's history. Even its connection with Theodore Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber, who briefly stayed in the Berry, adds to the building's legacy. Loss of the Berry Hotel would rob our city of part of its architectural heritage, as well as a home for 108 people with few other options for housing.

There is another alternative to allowing the Berry to sit vacant, at risk for another fire like the one that destroyed the buildings at the corner of 8th &K, or those on 9th & J years earlier. Compared to new construction, $13 million for 108 units of very low income housing is practically a bargain price. Because restoration of historic buildings requires more labor than materials, a restoration project would mean more jobs for Sacramento construction workers than a new project of similar size, and require far less consumption of raw material than a new building. It would also prevent the Berry from becoming another boarded-up vacant building downtown. Because the building will continue to deteriorate whether or not it is occupied, that $13 million repair figure will only grow with time, so the sooner the project is taken up, the less it will cost. Fast action would also reduce the risk of disaster by fire, or demolition by neglect. As a renovated building, properly run, the building could become an asset to the community, and a place of hope for about a hundred Sacramentans. As a vacant hulk, it can only represent lost hopes and missed opportunities.