SACRAMENTO | Meridian II | 300 FT / 91 M | 24 FLOORS | PROPOSED

[urban_encounter]

(Rendering AKT Development/Hornberger & Worstell)
Meridian II Office Tower
@15th and K street
Stories: 24
Height: 300'
Developers: Angelo Tsakopoulos AKT Investments
Architect: Lionakis Beaumont Design Group
Financing: Private/AKT

_________________________________________________________________

[urban_encounter]

AKT reveals plans for proposed Meridian II office tower project
Developer hopes 24-story building's features will earn LEED certification
Sacramento Business Journal - by Michael Shaw Staff writer
October 12, 2007


A curved glass façade, a spire and a wall of plants seven stories high are a
few of the design features divulged by AKT Investments Inc. and
the Tsakopoulos family for their Meridian II office tower at 15th and K streets.

AKT expects to submit an application to the city of Sacramento within the week for the 24-story building at the southwest corner of that intersection, now an empty lot.

The owners say it will be the first privately funded and privately occupied "green" office building in Sacramento. They're aiming for silver certification under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, a system that awards points for energy- and water-saving features.

"We're excited to be a part of the ongoing revitalization of downtown Sacramento," AKT president Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis said in a prepared statement. "We are pleased that Meridian Plaza II supports the vision of a vital downtown."

The building will have sun shading for the southern exposure to reduce air conditioning use, but it will also get points for its proximity to light rail.

While negotiations are continuing with possible tenants, none have signed on, the company said. It declined to disclose the estimated construction cost for the tower.

If history is any indication of future success, the 300,000-square-foot building should fare well compared to other downtown property.

Two new office towers are hitting the market on Capitol Mall, including Tsakopoulos Investments' 500 Capitol Mall building. Those buildings won't compete with Meridian II for the same tenants.

The Capitol Mall office market serves law firms and finance, while the area near Capitol Park sees lobbyists and other state-related tenants, said John Frisch, managing partner of Cornish & Carey Commercial's Sacramento office.

Capitol Park-area "buildings lease faster than the other parts of downtown," he said. "That type of demand -- I don't know if that continues, but the other buildings that have gone up, they've all outperformed the market in other areas."

They also have been smaller than the proposed Meridian II.

The site is adjacent to AKT's 12-story Meridian Plaza, which the company purchased in 2004. That building is entirely leased.

AKT is also renovating the building immediately to the west, 1414K St., the former home of Pacific Bell. That building is being turned into office lofts, also designed for tenants such as lobbyists and organizations that want close access to the Capitol.

[bc sacramento]

The Sacramento office of Lionakis is the designer and architect of this project.

[tuy]

What is the latest on this project? Will it break ground this year?

[sugit]

Some more renderings from the Design Commission Meeting.

Looks like the height will be above 300' with the roof.

I wish they would have done a mixed use with some housing on the top couple floors like they did with the Marriot. Even adding 30-40 would have been nice.

Thankfully it looks like they changed the garage a bit and made it blend in a bit more. The rest of the building looks good, but I thought the garage looked terrible.

[JeffZurn]

^ I'm with you, the garage is horrible, but the rest is great! What's up with the green wall?

[innov8]

I think the garage is awful and the north side of the tower is still just
as bland and featureless as before. Why doe's the southside of the tower
facing the ally have the cool curve and the northside facing K Street
look like the ass of the building?

Sacramento already has to many towers that only look cool from
one side and this could be another. Maybe when Sac has ten towers
built like this, maybe then people will start to wonder why... probably not though.

[ltsmotorsport]

Anybody else think have the parking garage stairs on the busy corner of 15 & K is less than appealing? I would think the NW corner of the building would be more sightly. They can keep the glass running up the corner though.

[sugit]

Originally Posted by JeffZurn

^ I'm with you, the garage is horrible, but the rest is great! What's up with the green wall?

I think the green wall is supposed to be some sort 'wall o' plants'

[innov8]

Here's the site location.

[urban_encounter]

Originally Posted by innov8

Sacramento already has to many towers that only look cool from
one side and this could be another. Maybe when Sac has ten towers
built like this, maybe then people will start to wonder why... probably not though.

Thankfully we have the Design Review political cronies to look after the architectural standards of this city. Without them we might not even see projects that look good from any exposure.

I agree though Mike. It's pitiful that newer projects look like crap on 3 of the four sides.

[ltsmotorsport]

Hasn't been much news on this one, and now we know why.


Tsakopoulos office building goes on hold as vacancies rise

Sacramento Business Journal - by Michael Shaw Staff writer

In a downtown Sacramento market with new office buildings under construction and little demand from tenants for space, AKT Investments Inc. has temporarily suspended its application to build a 24-story tower on K and 15th streets and will consider modifying the project.

“We have to make sure it’s the project we want that makes financial sense,” said Mark Enes, AKT Investments executive vice president. “We do that for all our projects.”

City officials confirmed that the application filed in October is on hold. AKT, founded by real estate mogul Angelo K. Tsakopoulos and run by his daughter Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, had pitched the Meridian Plaza II as a companion to the existing 12-story Meridian Tower, though twice as tall at 24 stories with an energy- and water-saving design. The building’s exterior features a curved glass façade, a spire and a wall of plants seven stories high. Enes said it was unlikely that the company would change the intended use from an office building to something else.

Sacramento developer Tony Giannoni is the project manager. AKT will continue to consult with him on its next move.

In the meantime, AKT will put in a parking lot at the building site to serve the existing Meridian building and an office building at 1414 K St. that the company has refurbished and is marketing to tenants.

Office vacancy has been on the rise for the past year, up by as much as 2 percentage points, according to several brokerages, reflecting a downturn in the housing market and the economy in general. There have been fewer company expansions and little growth with firms relocating to Sacramento.

Couple that with the addition of new buildings downtown, and it could be an unfavorable time for another office building.

Tsakopoulos Investments, a company run by Tsakopoulos’ brother George, is building the 430,000-square-foot Bank of the West Tower at 500 Capitol Mall that’s scheduled to open next year. Office brokers say the new Meridian building would serve lobbyists and associations seeking easier access to the Capitol — a different market than the real estate firms, attorneys and accounting firms drawn to Capitol Mall buildings. But the sheer amount of office vacancy is bound to have an effect.

In April, the U.S. Bank Tower opened on Capitol Mall, drawing tenants away from existing buildings in the market. The 356,000-square-foot building is about two-thirds leased.

Next year, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System will move into a new 400,000-square-foot building in West Sacramento, leaving vacancies on the Sacramento side of the river. The pension fund leases space from AKT Investments near California State University Sacramento that will be vacated upon the move.

All of that might play into the decision of how to proceed.

As Enes said, “In the hot markets, you just went with it.”

[austinjfox]

dude that sucks.

[austinjfox]

totally dead?

[innov8]

Some new renderings by a new architect. Looks as though they fired the
Lionakis Beaumont Design Group and hired Hornberger + Worstell to give the
tower more flare. I really wish they would give the K Street side some
cool features like the southern side... I guess at this point we should be glad
it has not been reduced in size.

[WonderlandPark]

Much better design, IMO. Hopefully Sacramento will be one of the first leaders out of the recession since it was one of the first cities to go into recession.

[kenratboy]

I was hoping for something 500+ feet before all the lots are filled with smaller in-fill projects!

[ltsmotorsport]

Well, this lot is only allowed to be built to 300' because of the proximity to capitol park.

[innov8]

Well, those renderings I posted last month above are old and the most
current architect and renderings are the ones posted by urban_encounter.

I think this towers dead at this point, walking by the site you can see a freshly
paved surface parking lot and lots of new plants and fence around the site.

Maybe in 5 years something might happen here?

[bc sacramento]

Innov8 is correct. The San Francisco firm was actually the architect that was fired. Lionakis of Sacramento was brought in as the new architect.

Sacramento is a tough city to design high rises in because of the culture of the population here. So many people want these large buildings to respond to so many issues of scale and detail. This much I know, the city really needs to ammend its parking requirements. Until they do this city will be scattered with 4 story parking garages and the first 8 sfloors of high rises will be parking podiums. That is some hideous stuff no matter how you paint it.

With Meridian II, I think there is an appropriate response to the K Street side. That is basically an alley being used for the loading docks at the convention center.

I don't know if anyone has noticed that the lobby of Meridian I opens up to the alley, and it seems that the new architect has located the lobby of Meridian II along the alley. My guess is that they might have something planned to provide activity along that alley. This past year so much has been said about activating alleys in Sacramento, but it seems Lionakis might have been part of the grass root efforts. At least on a much larger scale.