Sacramento Proposals of Times Past

[BrianSac]

Originally Posted by urban_encounter

There's is nothing on the horizon and there is just no market for office buildings much over 25 to 28 stories here. The state could, (but they wont, because they need large floor plates). David Taylor isn't about to build anyting taller than 30 stories.

The state=Large floor plates: why?
Taylor<30 stories: the reason behind this?

[innov8]

Originally Posted by BrianSac

The state=Large floor plates: why?
Taylor<30 stories: the reason behind this?

Back when the West End Office Complex was going through the public
meeting process there was a point when the Department of General Services
and Real Estate Services Division, (in charge of planning and permitting)
explained that a couple of the proposals that were shown could not be built
because the floor plates weren’t large enough. They said a state law had
been passed years ago detailing how new state office buildings had to be
built to a certain square footage per floor. This ruled out the Slender Tower
alternatives that many people choose as their favorite. It’s odd that they
even offered it as a choice?

I think the reason Taylor will never build over 30 floors is because there is
not enough need for it. At one time 621CM was proposed at 31 floors, but for
6 years Taylor could not find enough tenants to fill it so banks could
loan him the money to build. A certain percentage of square feet in a
tower has to be leased out before money is released to build. Unless a
tower is built on speculation (like 500cm) it becomes difficult in Sacramento
to build anything over 400,000sf.

Originally Posted by Pistola916

The Metropolitan would be next in line at 39-40 stories, but thats still a few years away from construction.

The Metropolitan might be 40 floors but it will still be shorter than Wells Fargo
or the same height when done. Residential floors are shorter than office floors.

[ltsmotorsport]

I think maybe the state should go back and look at that legislation.

Anyone have those 8 propsals for the West End? I don't care if it is a state/government building, I still wouldn't mind the "Golden State Building".

[innov8]

This was alternative 8, I'll post the others soon.

[ltsmotorsport]

Yep, just add a nice looking crown (that would be lit dammit!) to the top and you'd have a pretty nice building there. The state could then sell that horrible underground building and even make a little money from the project. Win/win!


If only.

[innov8]

The year was 2005; the West End Project was pushing forward with
public workshops... and that was about it before the negative state
budget got even worse. Here are the 8 alternatives at the time.

[innov8]

Craig Nassi and company really left us hanging with AURA and EPIC.
These projects were advertised with great fan fair and went down the
tubes after alot of deception and lack of financing.


Sacramento: AURA Tower Project 39 Story 441’
39-story 441-foot tall building
262-unit project
15K Ground Floor Retail
Location: Capitol Mall and 6th Street
Danial Libeskind Design
Developer: Craig Nissi of BNC Development
Last Status: Needed to pick up permits to start construction but lack of money stopped that.
Price to build: $175 million
AURA was submitted to the city in April 2005 and died late 2007.







Sacramento: EPIC Tower Project 50 Story 638’
50-story 638-foot tall building
694,380 gross square-foot
354 residential
65,380 gsf of retail and office uses
413 parking spaces
Location: 12 & I street
Price to build: $250 million
Danial Libeskind Design
Last Status: Pending Certification of the EIR
EPIC was submitted to the city in August 2005 and died late 2007.

[ltsmotorsport]

Funny that these two were had relatively low price tags for a skyscraper but the incompetence of Nassi ultimately doomed them.

[innov8]

Originally Posted by ltsmotorsport

Funny that these two were had relatively low price tags for a skyscraper but the incompetence of Nassi ultimately doomed them.

I think the price for Aura's design was $400,000 and in the final months before
total collapse nassi tried to buy it for $200,000 to be paid in installments over
eight weeks. I think Epic's design also cost around $400,000.

[arod74]

I always thought Epic looked awkward but Aura would have been pretty special from all the models and renderings. It's too bad that is all we have.

[innov8]

Printed June 30, 1988 in the Sacramento Bee.

[Phillip]

Nassi is still advertising Aura on his website.

http://www.craignassi.com/sacramento.php

It's curious how projects that were close to happening as recently as a year or two ago now belong in a thread about " Proposals from Times Past". I don't know if we can precisely define when things changed but it's sure a different environment today than it was when Aura was an Almost, not very long ago at all.

[Web]

Originally Posted by Phillip

Nassi is still advertising Aura on his website.

http://www.craignassi.com/sacramento.php

It's curious how projects that were close to happening as recently as a year or two ago now belong in a thread about " Proposals from Times Past". I don't know if we can precisely define when things changed but it's sure a different environment today than it was when Aura was an Almost, not very long ago at all.

Nassi should be put in jail...he is a crook period...be glad he didnt start construction and saddle the city with another hole in the ground

[ozone]

And here's the Old Sac Tower that actually got built.

[ltsmotorsport]

I really like One Capitol Mall. It's a shame they couldn't have played off the theme more on Embassy Suites.

[ozone]

I agree. I'm really not happy with the way ES turned out. It's a shame considering the city council asked for special upgrades to the hotel.
I remember seeing somewhere that the Railroad Museum of Technology was originally going to be where Towe Auto Museum is today. Does anyone ever see that too?

[wburg]

Originally Posted by ozone

I remember seeing somewhere that the Railroad Museum of Technology was originally going to be where Towe Auto Museum is today. Does anyone ever see that too?

Not quite, but close--the original MORT (Museum of Railroad Technology) was supposed to go just south of R and Front Street, along the current right-of-way of the Sacramento Southern and near the R Street railroad bridge. There is still a chunk of land slated for the Docks Project that belongs to State Parks, originally purchased for the museum. It was supposed to be built shortly after the Railroad Museum was completed, but budget crises took their toll and it never got built. There's a drawing of what the MORT would have looked like on the Central Pacific freight house along Front Street.

The warehouse where the Towe is, down by X Street, wouldn't be a very good choice for a railroad technology museum; it didn't have direct rail access anymore (the old SN tracks along Front Street were taken up in 1966) and at the time there were still some buildings from the old PG&E plant in the way.

[innov8]

Photo by Ryan@CU

In 1988 the foundation was being poured for the 40,000-seat Arco Park baseball
stadium next to Arco Arena in North Natomas. The Sacramento
Sports Association had a sponsorship agreement with the Atlantic Richfield
Co. to support this new stadium worth $25 million to $35 million and would
have enable the association to complete construction of its sports complex
if a major-league franchise was found to fill it.

In 1989 the Sacramento City Council voted 9-0 to provide
$50 million in public money to bring the Los Angeles Raiders to Sacramento.
In the end, Raiders' owner Al Davis decided to stay put, and construction on
the stadium halted as Lukenbill and Benvenuti's Sacramento Sports
Association buckled under millions of dollars in debt. Seattle First National
Bank repossessed the partially completed facility.

In 1992 refund checks went out for the "Piece of the Park' stadium fund.
More than $2 million in refunds were mailed to approximately 1,200 sports
fans who hoped to reserve space at the unfinished Arco Park stadium.
Sacramento businessman Fred Anderson said it wasn't appropriate to keep
the public's money while he completed the purchase.

In the end, the SSA was not able to lure either a MLB or NFL team to
Sacramento. SSA partners Joe Benvenuti, Gregg Lukenbill and Fred Anderson
who had controlling interest in construction stopped construction with
approximately 20 percent completed and several million dollars worth of
concrete for a stadium next to Arco Arena.

I could not find any renderings of the proposed Arco Park, if anyone has one,
could you please post it… thanks.

[Ryan@CU]

Originally Posted by innov8

.

Haha, looks like someone is a member of KingsFans.com (unless I posted it somewhere else that I can't remember). I took that back in November 2005.

[innov8]

I pulled it off Google images; I did not go to the source. Sorry, you have now been credited