West Sacramento: Proposal/Projects and Developments

[innov8]

Friday, May 9, 2008

New CHP HQ takes U-turn - Developers frustrated
Sacramento Business Journal - By Michael Shaw


Dennis McCoy | Sacramento Business Journal
CHP is reportedly in negotiations with the owners of the Continental Plaza.

Despite legislation tailored to bring a California Highway Patrol headquarters to West Sacramento, the new central command could be going to Sacramento instead, leaving some frustrated developers in its wake.

A new home for 900 employees consolidated from the agency's 1st Avenue headquarters and other scattered offices was supposed to be a done deal by December. Choices were narrowed last year to three sites in West Sacramento and one in Natomas.

But after several months of negotiations and a call for developers to resubmit proposals, the state and the original group of finalists couldn't reach a deal.

"They came out with champagne tastes, and they don't even have a beer budget," said developer Dan Ramos, whose Ramco Enterprises Inc. was one of the four original finalists. Others echoed Ramos' sentiments that the state's call for an environmentally friendly building with expensive features didn't square with the money it can spend.

Now, West Sacramento's loss could be a gain for the earthier Richards Boulevard area, where the state and a landowner are negotiating a deal, according to several real estate sources. The site is the decades-old Continental cannery on 7th Street north of Richards Boulevard, which had been leased to the state Department of Health Services until the department left for the new East End Complex in midtown several years ago. The 275,000-square-foot cannery was refurbished in 1990 and named Continental Plaza by Grove Investments of Costa Mesa. It has been vacant since the state left.

The Department of General Services, which handles the state's real estate needs, confirmed it is negotiating with a single landlord but declined to identify the party.

"We don't have a solid timetable right now," to complete the deal, department spokesman Eric Lamoureux said.

Messages left for representatives at Grove Investments were not returned.

A 'broken' system
Richards Boulevard is a largely industrial area that's looking to burnish its image. Steve Goodwin, a partner in the Township 9 mixed-use proposal for 3,000 homes located next door to the possible CHP site, said putting the headquarters there could give the area a boost.

"It helps everybody," he said, referring to those with a stake in the River District. "We're starting to see a lot more activity. ... This would put almost 1,000 jobs next door."

According to Ramos and other developers, the Department of General Services' initial request issued last year appeared to be tailored for an existing campus of buildings owned by developer Harsch Investment Properties Inc. of Portland, Ore. That campus was just south of the agency's training academy in West Sacramento.

Jordan Schnitzer, president of Harsch, said the company was able to offer a rate of $2.47 per square foot, which included $43 million in tenant improvements so the buildings there would meet the "green" features the state wants. But the offer was declined, and subsequent negotiations collapsed.

"We've done five deals with the state before," he said. "I think the state's expectations were unrealistic of what the market will bear. We had our target rent, and the state had their target rent. Our proposal was the most cost-effective."

Ramos said his team knew that the state had the Harsch site as its top choice but wanted to offer an alternative in the form of a newly built complex near Raley Field in West Sacramento's Triangle area.

Ramos said the rent for the proposed building came in at $3.65 per square foot for "usable area" -- how the state measures leasable space, discounting any space that isn't directly used for work, such as kitchens, bathrooms and hallways -- which compares to about $3.25 a square foot in rentable area (how the private sector measures office space). That rate was also apparently too much for the state's budget, he said.

But Ramos said the rate could have been more favorable if the state wasn't hamstrung by its own rules dictated by the Department of Finance when it comes to leasing property. His frustration came not from the state's negotiators, but from those rules. For example, the state's request of a 10-year lease is shorter than lenders want, he said. A much longer lease, say 20 years, allows for more favorable terms from the capital markets and a lower lease rate. The rate would also improve if the state was interested in owning the building following a lease.

"The system is broken," he said. "Look at how the private market operates in the real estate world. The state isn't playing to its strengths here."

Competition started last year
The other original finalists for the headquarters were Fulcrum Property Group, with a proposed building also in the Triangle, and the Natomas Gateway Tower, a new 12-story office building now under construction. Representatives from both entities declined to comment.

Officials at the city of West Sacramento said they were unaware of the state's plans.

The competition to house a new headquarters began last year, when the state put out a request to consolidate the CHP offices that are spread around town into one location capable of accommodating about 300,000 square feet.

That request called for "state-of-the-art, energy-efficient features and sustainable building measures." The building is supposed to meet the "silver" standard in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design criteria from the U.S. Green Building Council, whether it was to be a new building or the conversion of an existing one.

If the state does choose the Richards Boulevard site, it is unclear if it will still demand such stringent environmental standards and what it would cost to meet those standards.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill in June that expanded the area in which a new headquarters could be located to an area within 20 miles of the Capitol.

If negotiations work out at the Richards Boulevard area, it will be a little more than a mile away.

http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sa...12/story3.html

[COASTIE]

Editorial: A museum befitting our state’s Indian history
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, May 29, 2008
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6


California's unique geography and geology – its valleys, mountains and coasts – has produced incredibly rich and rare plant and animal life. Less well known is the equally extraordinary diversity of Indian peoples who lived in a direct relationship with this unique land for 10,000 years.

California has had a tiny (4,000-square-foot) California State Indian Museum at Sutter's Fort since 1940. That museum barely scratches the surface in capturing the life, languages, spiritual beliefs, customs, economy, music, art and history of California's different Indian peoples. Those who lived on the coast had a very different story from those who lived in oak woodlands, whose story is different from those who lived among Delta sloughs. These cultures interacted with each other through commerce and sometimes conflict. And, as Europeans arrived, these peoples experienced a new era of hardship, disease and conflict.

A museum and research center to showcase these rich cultures and their history has been discussed for many, many years. Finally, a project worthy of the story is about to come to fruition – if West Sacramento City Council members on June 18 approve an agreement with California State Parks for a new park and California Indian Heritage Center at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers.

This 43-acre site, once considered as a possible site for the governor's mansion, is ideal. The Sacramento Valley is the historic home of the Wintu, Nomlaki and Patwin groups. The confluence of the rivers was a place where Indian peoples met and engaged in trade. The site is in the flood plain, which limits development potential but provides an opportunity to restore and showcase the natural river ecology, including native plants. This outdoor setting also would be a fine place to host ceremonies, traditional gatherings, craft demonstrations, music and dance performances.

Eight acres of the site is on high ground. That's where the center would be built. It would house exhibits, a library, preservation lab, store and restaurant. The new center, authorized by the California Legislature in 2002, would replace the Indian museum at Sutter's Fort.

Under the draft agreement being considered by the West Sacramento City Council, the land and buildings would be owned by California State Parks and the Riverfront Path would be extended through the site. A private foundation would do fundraising and help with programming.

Some neighbors have expressed concern about traffic, parking and security, so State Parks has agreed to produce a design that will minimize car traffic through the use of shuttles, bikes, public transit and other options. Security would be provided by State Parks contract security personnel and rangers, in cooperation with West Sacramento police.

To put one persistent, false rumor to rest, the agreement makes it clear that the 43-acre site could not ever be used to develop a casino.

So now the matter lies with the city council. With a vote to approve the agreement on June 18, the planning and design process, including environmental review, can begin in earnest. A capital campaign to raise funds for the center would begin fall 2009. This is a long overdue project, and this is the right site. It's time to get this moving, so construction can begin.

[SacTownAndy]

Originally Posted by COASTIE

Some neighbors have expressed concern about traffic, parking and security...

This cracks me up. Has there ever been a project in the history of this country where neighbors haven't expressed concern about traffic, parking and security? ha ha

[creamcityleo79]

IMO, even if it's not a completely urban paradise, it will be good for West Sac!

Early plans for West Sac waterfront unveiled
Stone Lock would have 2,500 homes, 890,000 square feet of retail, twice that much office space
Sacramento Business Journal - by Kelly Johnson Staff writer


A key redevelopment site on the West Sacramento riverbank could someday contain thousands of homes and almost as much retail as a regional mall if all goes according to plan.

The publicly owned land along the Sacramento River on either side of the Barge Canal is still years away from containing houses, offices and restaurants, but the first solid details for the 220-acre Stone Lock area emerged in plans filed recently with the city.

Baltimore-based developer Cordish Co., which would jointly develop the property with the city, proposed:

890,000 square feet of retail
2,500 homes
1.7 million square feet of offices
Up to 800 hotel rooms.
Construction is still at least two years off, and what eventually is built on the site won't necessarily match the present plans. Developers often shoot high, then scale back projects because of physical constraints of the property or environmental concerns. Traffic and flood control issues could complicate the project, and the city is studying other potential environmental obstacles.

[TowerDistrict]

That's about 11 units per acre - pretty dense actually. I would presume most of this would be attached townhomes, a lot like what's going on in the Washington/Broderick neighborhoods. The residential density of that is probably much higher than 11 units per acre, considering how much of that will be office/retail/hotel.

[innov8]

Originally Posted by neuhickman79

IMO, even if it's not a completely urban paradise, it will be good for West Sac!

Yeah, quite a vision... there are some nice sand beaches over there too.



Friday, June 6, 2008
Early plans for West Sac waterfront unveiled
Stone Lock would have 2,500 homes, 890,000 square feet of retail, twice that much office space
Sacramento Business Journal - by Kelly Johnson

A key redevelopment site on the West Sacramento riverbank could someday contain thousands of homes and almost as much retail as a regional mall if all goes according to plan.

The publicly owned land along the Sacramento River on either side of the Barge Canal is still years away from containing houses, offices and restaurants, but the first solid details for the 220-acre Stone Lock area emerged in plans filed recently with the city.

Baltimore-based developer Cordish Co., which would jointly develop the property with the city, proposed:

890,000 square feet of retail
2,500 homes
1.7 million square feet of offices
Up to 800 hotel rooms.

Construction is still at least two years off, and what eventually is built on the site won't necessarily match the present plans. Developers often shoot high, then scale back projects because of physical constraints of the property or environmental concerns. Traffic and flood control issues could complicate the project, and the city is studying other potential environmental obstacles.

Stone Lock is as important to West Sacramento as the former Union Pacific railyard, the 240-acre industrial site north of J Street, is to Sacramento, Mayor Pro Tem Bill Kristoff said.

"I think it's a critical component," he said. "I really want to have us think outside the box for this area."

The site is "one of the most significant remaining riverfront development opportunities in the region," said Traci Michel, senior redevelopment program manager with the city.

The city wants to create a development there that would allow the public to "experience this beautiful asset that they can't get to right now," she said.

The city and Cordish will begin showing the concept to community and business groups this month, and hope to schedule an open house in mid-July to gather community comments, Michel said. The City Council and Planning Commission also will hold workshops this month and in July.

City staff and Cordish hope to get most of the project approvals, including environmental sign-offs, by November, Michel said.

more here... http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sa...09/story3.html

[innov8]

Friday, June 6, 2008
West Sacramento's retail boom might just be warming up
More than 1 million square feet of retail in pipeline for Southport, where thousands of new homes will be built
Sacramento Business Journal - by Kelly Johnson

The more than 1 million square feet of retail in the pipeline would significantly boost the city's critical sales-tax coffers and provide convenience and self-sufficiency to Southport's growing population. At the same time, some say the retail growth in Southport and on the city's north side -- where an IKEA-anchored center is -- are pulling sales away from the central business district at a time when a stagnant economy compounds the problem. This presents city leaders with a tricky act of balancing their constituents' conflicting desires.

West Sacramento is imitating the same retail development conflicts seen across the region, but on a smaller scale, pitting neighborhood against neighborhood instead of city against city.

The city's population has grown 49 percent in the past eight years to 47,068, from 31,615 residents, and is expected to reach 78,700 in 2020. Southport, which is only halfway to anticipated build out, represents a growing slice of the pie. An estimated 7,200 to 7,500 homes have been constructed there, compared to 1,500 to 2,000 eight years ago, city planner Steve Rikala said. The city is calculated to reach build out at 78,000 residents, with Southport limited to a population of 40,000.

Central city waits its turn
Many West Sacramento city leaders and business owners -- even some who feel threatened by Southport's growing retail dominance -- are thrilled or at least pleased by their city's growth and the retail amenities that come with that.

Diane Richards, the city's economic development coordinator, exudes enthusiasm talking about the decision by The Streets of London Pub to expand to Southport's new Westbridge Plaza shopping center, anchored by a Lowe's home-improvement warehouse store.

Residents of the 21-year-old city still have to leave town for apparel and specialty products such as pool and pet supplies -- something city leaders hope to rectify by recruiting those types of retailers. Residents, though, are beginning to be able to find some of their shopping and dining needs closer to home.

Attracting Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA a couple of years ago is still a key source of pride for the city once known mostly for its shabby image of warehouses and decaying motels. West Sacramento also claims both market leaders in home-improvement warehouses -- Lowe's and Home Depot -- and in discount general merchandise -- Target and Wal-Mart.

The arrival of those retailers contributed to the demise of at least one longtime retailer. Gorman's Stationery, operating in West Sacramento's central business district since 1965, closed at the end of May. Mike Gorman, who lives in Southport, said the store closed because of the illness of his mother, who has worked at the store for 43 years, and increased competition in town. He figures Target in Southport Town Center carved away 10 percent to 12 percent of his shop's business, while the Wal-Mart Supercenter, in the IKEA-anchored RiverPoint MarketPlace, took more than 20 percent.

"Nobody comes to this part of town anymore," said Gorman, 57, in the final weeks of the greeting card and office supply business.

More here... http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sa...09/focus1.html

[innov8]

Friday, June 6, 2008
It's been a decade of economic change for West Sacramento
City's come a long way since a 'bunch of rookies' first took the helm
Sacramento Business Journal - by Robert Celaschi

"Nowhere" was Southport, the southern area of West Sacramento surrounded by the Sacramento River and the deep-water ship channel. Today Southport is packed with new housing and retail development. Not surprisingly, the city answered its own question in the 1997 ad: "Visionaries."

Southport is hardly the only part of West Sacramento that has seen big changes since the late '90s.

A 410,000-square-foot ziggurat-shaped building rose on the Sacramento River shore opposite Old Sacramento, originally headquarters to mortgage lender The Money Store. Raley Field, a minor-league baseball park, transformed the northern edge of an area called The Triangle. A new city hall graces West Capitol Avenue.

Many of the city's residents might not even remember when West Sacramento's reputation was primarily for crumbling motels and unglamorous industrial areas. The population has grown by more than half just since 2000. The city counts at least 15,000 new single-family homes in Southport and the former Lighthouse development on the north end of town in the past decade.

"Even in five years the characteristics of the population have changed dramatically," said Kurt Overmeyer, head of business retention and expansion for the city's Redevelopment Agency.

Many new businesses have come in, creating middle-class jobs and demand for housing. Ethnically, the population continues to diversify. At public meetings the city provides translations into Russian and Spanish, and more than 1 percent of the city's population are of Afghan descent.

Maturity
West Sacramento itself has been a self-governing city only since 1987. It came together from the unincorporated towns of West Sacramento, Broderick and Bryte.

"Starting out as a city, they were a bunch of rookies," said Don Deary, president of Nor-Cal Beverage Co. Inc. His company has been a West Sacramento fixture since 1974. Deary especially recalled fights his company had with the early city government over the sewage treatment plant.

"At the time they were running it five days a week, eight hours a day. But the sewage flows in there seven days a week and 24 hours a day," he said. Today West Sacramento's sewage system is tied into the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District. That makes life easier for Nor-Cal and provides capacity for future growth.

More here... http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sa...09/focus3.html

[innov8]

One more story... the SBJ did in depth stories on West Sac

Friday, June 6, 2008
City's not waiting for economy to turn around
Wi-Fi, fiber optics, trolleys all on tap to make West Sac more attractive
Sacramento Business Journal - by Robert Celaschi

"I absolutely think in the long game that's a good thing for West Sacramento," said Kurt Overmeyer, head of business retention and expansion for the city's Redevelopment Agency. "Outside of central Sacramento, I don't know anywhere else in the region where you can literally live without a car except for West Sacramento."

If gas prices come back down, the city has a few other plans to make itself more appealing in the future. Some are already in progress.

"We have the first Wi-Fi provided by a city in Northern California," said Overmeyer, though it's only a demonstrator project in City Hall and along the riverfront and doesn't work very well in cars.

The city also is looking at putting in a fiber-optic conduit from the north side to the south side of town.

More visible changes include making the Triangle area more accessible from the rest of the city, and sidewalks on the Tower Bridge were recently widened to make it easier for pedestrians, wheelchairs and bikes to cross the river. A redesign of West Capitol Avenue also is in the works.

It's likely that a project to bring streetcars to West Sacramento will break ground within a few years as planned, Overmeyer said.

The biggest addition of all is the new headquarters building for the California State Teachers' Retirement System. The 13-story office tower has been under construction for a couple of years and is on track to open in the summer of 2009.

West Sacramento also has been working with the California Highway Patrol to move the CHP's headquarters to town, adjacent to the CHP academy. That effort is still in negotiations -- with the upper hand appearing to go to a site on Richards Boulevard in Sacramento -- but is nearing its last mile, Overmeyer said.

In putting together an economic development plan several years ago, the city targeted a few key industries: biotechnology, retail, logistics (the "brains" behind distribution), food processing and fuel cells.

"The direction the economy is headed and our economic development plan are pretty much in sync with each other," Overmeyer said.

Fuel cells, especially, seem on target. Of the companies the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization is working with, about two-thirds are in the clean technology sector, said deputy director Bob Burris.

The weak economy is likely to slow down at least some of West Sacramento's growth, but "it's becoming more clear that the impact is probably going to be somewhat less on us than on our neighbors," Overmeyer said.


http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sa...09/focus5.html

[innov8]

[BrianSac]

Now thats sleek, and I like it! Nice shot, innov8!

[NewToCA]

What do you guys think about the Stone Lock Waterfront Project proposed for West Sac?

Do you see risks that could prevent this from coming off? If you think it will happen, how do you see it fitting in with the overall downtown direction, especially The Railyards?

What type of timeline do you see for the project?

Finally, do you think a Broadway extension over the river would increase the integration with downtown overall (assuming the project comes off at all)?

Appreciate any insights.

[SactownTom]

Here is an early draft put out by West Sac and the Cordish Co. I've always thought this would turn out to be an outstanding project, and early indications are that this will be a development our region will be proud of.

The use of public space and scale of the buildings for the respective areas seems just right. I could see myself buying a sweet loft or townhouse in the canal west district as soon as this gets built.


As for the Broadway Bridge crossing, that seems like a no brainer if we are ever going to be a real river city. Get rid of the storage tanks near miller park and start building that sucker now.

[innov8]

Friday, August 15, 2008

Port looks to boost revenue with new, earth-friendly tenants
Primafuel and Enligna fit profile of companies port hopes to attract
Sacramento Business Journal - by Melanie Turner Staff writer

The Port of Sacramento has secured one new tenant — and is anticipating a second — that could bring much-needed revenue to the cash-strapped gateway to overseas trade.

The port’s governing board last week voted 5-0 to approve a 49-year, 12-acre lease for a new biodiesel manufacturing and distribution plant. The port commission also voted 5-0 to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Enligna USA Inc., a German company that would revive wood chip-handling at the port.

Mike McGowan, chairman of the Sacramento-Yolo Port District Commission, said the commission’s actions show the Port of Sacramento is viable.

“It is making progress,” he said. “I’m pleased to see the kinds of businesses that believe in our mission.”

The port’s 2007-08 budget projects a fifth straight year of shrinking operating revenue and a net loss of $1.2 million. Operating revenue is projected to be at $3.5 million, down from $4.6 million in 2006-07.

The commission wants to encourage environmentally friendly businesses and business practices at the port.

Long Beach-based Primafuel Inc. is expected to start construction on a $120 million biodiesel processing plant this fall, port manager Mike Luken said.

For using its land and deep-water ship channel, the company would generate annual revenue of about $284,400 for the port in wharfage and other fees. Primafuel’s initial annual rent, paid in addition to the fees, would be $28,786 a month. That brings an additional $345,432 to the port.The company would employ 25 people to start and expects to increase its work force to as many as 35 people, according to a staff report.

Primafuel’s project includes building 48 storage tanks and a two-story, 39,000-square-foot building. The plant would be designed to produce 60 million gallons a year of biodiesel from vegetable oil.

Enligna would occupy space currently leased by Yara North America, which imports fertilizer. Yara leases two buildings totaling about 400,000 square feet.

Enligna would lease half of that space, plus a section of the port’s grain elevator for pellet storage and a 12-acre site for storing wood chips and wood waste. It plans to employ 41 people.

Yara generates between $1 million and $2 million in annual revenue for the port. Yara’s ships are now too large to come up the channel to the port, so the company is moving to Stockton, Luken said. The port’s channel is mostly 30 feet deep, while Stockton’s reaches a depth of 34 feet.

Enligna, likewise, is expected to make up for Yara’s loss, also generating between $1 million and $2 million a year for the port in storage and wharfage fees, which pay for maintenance and upkeep at the port.

As the port became more financially challenged, operating at a loss for the past few years, many of its maintenance needs have been deferred. However, the port has started to put money into maintenance and capital projects as revenue has increased. For example, the port has invested $1.6 million in new roofing in the past two years, Luken said.

He said the port will achieve “substantial savings,” however, associated with cleanup costs when Yara leaves. Because fertilizer is a corrosive material, storm water runoff had to be cleaned.

“We won’t be creating more runoff with high concentrations of nitrate in it,” he said.

Enligna proposes making wood pellets out of wood waste. The proposed pellet mill would convert 400,000 metric tons of wood waste to about 200,000 metric tons of wood pellets annually in one of the “largest and most modern pellet mills worldwide and the first of its kind in California,” said Lutz Glandorf, president of Enligna USA Inc., in an e-mail.

Enligna would export 150,000 metric tons to industrial clients and power plants overseas, and 50,000 metric tons would be distributed to the local and regional market, Luken said.

Enligna plans to start production at the new facility as soon as January 2010.

“The new mill will utilize California wood waste to produce a renewable and CO2-neutral fuel and will significantly reduce the amount of wood waste landfilled or burned in forests and orchards,” Glandorf said.

Enligna gets its wood waste from urban tree cuttings, orchards and woody biomass from national forests. The waste is ground up into a finer wood material and then made into pellets.

It’s been five years since the port last imported and exported wood chips. At its peak in the 1970s and ’80s, 660,000 metric tons of wood chips moved in and out of the port, Luken said.

Marubeni Corp., a large Japanese trading firm, left the port in 2004, citing difficulty getting wood chips and the port’s poor credit rating as among its reasons for leaving.

The industry has suffered statewide because of a drastic decrease of cogeneration plants over the past several years and a new regulation that has restricted the burning of forest and agriculture biomass.

http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sa...8/story15.html

[innov8]

CalSTRS looks like a shark fin

[COASTIE]

Originally Posted by innov8

CalSTRS looks like a shark fin

innov8 looks like he's about to get ran over

[Phillip]

From the West Sacramento News-Ledger, October 22, 2008:

City Celebrates New Attempt to Transform West Capitol
by Steve Marschke
News-Ledger Editor

Officials from West Sacramento and the region on Friday celebrated the beginning of what they believe to be a transformation: the conversion of West Capitol Avenue to a future pedestrian-oriented "living room" for the city.

With $7.7 million in support from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), the city has started an $8.8 million project to change the face of the avenue between Jefferson Blvd. and the new Garden Street to the east. The project will reduce the lanes of traffic (currently six), widen the sidewalks, add trees and lighting, and improve bike lanes and hadicapped accesssibility.

These changes-driven by the public sector-are expected to create a foundation for the private sector to step up and redevelop along the corridor.

Mayor Christopher Cabaldon told an assembled crowd why he thought the project was important: "For a long time," said Cabaldon, "West Capitol Avenue was a critical highway to someplace else...and as time progressed the businesses that were built on West Capitol adapted to that purpose."

These businesses--most visibly motels--were built to serve travelers between San Francisco, Sacramento, and points east. But the new Pioneer Bridge and its freeway left the old highway and its businesses "marooned", he said, "with a downtown that didn't match our smalltown aspirations".

"What we're doing is transforming an orphaned freeway and making it into a Main Street. We're doing that by making fewer lanes of traffic. We don't need six lanes. We'll have wider sidewalks and you'll have the sense as a pedestrian that you 'own' it, it's not just for cars and you just happen to be on it. You won't have to cross six lanes of traffic all at once."

Bill Kristoff, a West Sacramento City Councilman, added his comments. He said the streetscape projct will add its own energy to other changes nearby--including the construction of a new transit center, community college, library, and 'multi-generational center' across the street from City Hall.

...

Council member Wes Beers recalled the days nearly 20 years ago, soon after the city incorporated. "We spent millions of dollars fighting the adult entertainment industry (on the avenue) and these things took years, " said Beers. "One of the biggest events we had back then was bringing down Goldie's", he said in reference to one adult bookstore.

Visiting officials from SACOG praised West Sacramento for its planning effors, which include an attempt to connect West Capitol Avenue to a new urban riverfront downtown area.

"When I get phonecalls from press around the state, and now around the nation, West Sacramento is one of the places I tell them to go look," said Mike McKeever, SACOG's executive director. "Once you get 'critical mass', change will happen faster than you can imagine."

[innov8]

West Sacramento plans major facelift
Sacramento Bee
Monday, October 27, 2008
By Hudson Sangree

West Sacramento is transforming itself – from its former red-light district along West Capitol Avenue to vacant lots next to the Sacramento River to the post-industrial wasteland near Raley Field.

City officials broke ground last week on a project to streetscape a half-mile of West Capitol Avenue east of Jefferson Boulevard.

Lanes on the former stretch of Highway 40 will be reduced from six to four. Sidewalks, now about 5 feet wide, will be widened to 20 feet, with trees lining the thoroughfare.

"The streetscape plan will radically change the look and feel of West Capitol Avenue," said city redevelopment manager Maureen Pascoe.

The goal is to eventually transform the strip of low-rent motels – once notorious for drugs and prostitution – into an all-American main street with storefronts and pedestrians.

After the streetscaping, there will be a gradual process of encouraging more upscale business development along the avenue, she said.

New library and civic center
Across West Capitol Avenue from the city's modern City Hall, construction is under way on the $9 million Arthur F. Turner Community Library that will open late next year.

The 18,000-square-foot contemporary library will replace a 30-year-old structure half its size. There will be twice as many computers, self-checkout stations and a 1,200-square-foot community room.

Next to the library, at the corner of Merkley Avenue and West Capitol, a new civic center will include a satellite campus of the Los Rios Community College District and a community senior center, scheduled for completion by 2010.

A computer rendering of the community center shows a strikingly modern black box theater – a flexible performance space – its lights aglow at dusk.

Next to the civic center, buses would come and go from a new transit center.

If voters approve a ballot measure Nov. 4 to pay for it, new streetcars linking Sacramento and West Sacramento across the Tower Bridge would travel down West Capitol Avenue, with a terminus at the transit center.


Raley's Landing
Not far away, an area called Raley's Landing stretches along the Sacramento River from the Tower Bridge north to the I Street Bridge.

The curved glass tower of the California State Teachers' Retirement System now rises above the river, where the city's ambitious levee improvement project has begun.

Between the city's landmark ziggurat and the Tower Bridge, a developer plans to build a hotel and office tower in what is now a vacant lot, Pascoe said.

A 150-unit condo tower might eventually be built in the lot north of the ziggurat, she said.

And CalSTRS also has the option of building another major office structure along Third Street, behind its new tower.


Triangle Area
South from the Tower Bridge to the Pioneer Bridge, where Capital City Freeway crosses the Sacramento River, is the Triangle Area.

Its 188 acres, slanting away from Raley Field, are a sun-blasted swath of barren earth and railroad spurs that were once home to grain silos and heavy industry.

City officials say they plan to relocate the few remaining industries, including the Cemex cement plant, to the Port of Sacramento.

From then on, the Triangle would be a blank slate where the city envisions long-term development of millions of square feet of hotel, office and retail space, along with 4,500 housing units.

"The plan is to deindustrialize the riverfront," said Pascoe.

Under the plan, city streets that currently end at freeways and railroad tracks would connect the Triangle with the Tower Bridge and West Capitol Avenue.

A riverfront plaza would be a centerpiece, along with an amphitheater for the performing arts.

As city planners envision the future, they see a riverfront south of the Pioneer Bridge where the large fuel tanks that now dot the landscape are gone, replaced by houses, shops and offices. A new bridge might connect the area to Sacramento if both cities agree.

Pascoe said the current crisis in the housing market and slump in commercial real estate could slow down the redevelopment process in West Sacramento.

But she said millions of government dollars already have been set aside for the projects to develop infrastructure and entice developers.

The money – including $23 million in state grants for the Triangle Area and another $20 million in citywide redevelopment funds – is not affected by the housing market, she said.

"We're moving ahead and putting the infrastructure in place," Pascoe said. "When the next up cycle comes along, we'll be ready."

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1345611.html

[jsf8278]

That article mentioned that voters would decide whether to fund the street car.
Question: Are those West Sacramento voters or Sacramento voters, or both? If its not both where are the cities getting the money from?

[wburg]

jsf8278: West Sacramento voters are voting whether to keep a sales tax increase that goes to transit projects (the sales tax increase would otherwise be phased out.) The Riverfront Streetcar homepage, http://www.riverfrontstreetcar.com/ , has the financial breakdown in the Documentation section (it's in the EIR.)

The funding mechanisms will be different on each side of the river. Both will use special assessments on properties within two blocks of the streetcar line. The details are still being worked out, but various "sweeteners" like reduced parking requirements or other incentives will be tied to these special assessment districts. Other funding will come from a portion of Sacramento's parking fees, a transient occupancy tax increase, and naming rights/advertising. Farebox recovery would cover about 20-25% of operations, which is pretty typical for transit systems.