Redevelopment to start with retail at 555 Capitol Mall
Though developers are still working out details for a planned mixed-use redevelopment of 555 Capitol Mall in Sacramento, actual construction should happen at the same time as the neighboring downtown arena project.
“I’m of the firm belief the downtown arena is the best project we’ve ever seen for downtown Sacramento,” said William Chang, of Plaza Five Fifty Five LLC. Though there’s a benefit to the owners in redeveloping the office buildings that date to the 1970s into something modern, it’s also a boost to the Sacramento Kings ownership spearheading the arena, he said.
Though developers are still working out details for a planned mixed-use redevelopment of 555 Capitol Mall in Sacramento, actual construction should happen at the same time as the neighboring downtown arena project. A mixed-used project will include retail, residential and office components, but retail will come first.
Though developers are still working out details for a planned mixed-use redevelopment of… more
Dennis McCoy | Sacramento Business Journal
“They can’t do it without neighbors coming and saying, ‘we’ll support it, we’ll invest,’” he said. “We want to benefit, of course, but they need guys like us who are stepping up too.”
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The redevelopment will include retail, residential and office components, but Chang said it’s too soon to discuss the square footage breakdown or building heights. Owners are in the midst of a feasibility study to determine how much of each component would make the most sense, he said.
But residential, which hasn’t been tried on Capitol Mall since the Towers project at the mall’s western end ground foundered in the economic downturn, is a concept for the city core whose time has come, Chang said.
“Sacramento has been a suburban-urban city where people work in the urban component and live in the suburbs,” he said. “I think that’s going to change.”
Chang, who’s a member of the ownership teams for both the San Francisco Giants and D.C. United soccer team, said new sporting venues in formerly overlooked neighborhoods in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. spurred new housing nearby, a pattern he said is likely to repeat here.
“Who would’ve thought before that you’d see residential around the Staples Center?” he said. “I’m a firm believer this is happening all over the country, and I believe it is destiny that this is going to happen in Sacramento.”
Though a letter to the city of Sacramento dated Friday suggested a formal development application would be submitted this month, Chang said the timing is still being determined. It’s also too soon to talk to tenants about what may happen next with the site, he said.
However, the first development is likely to be retail oriented, because as Downtown Plaza will be torn down and redeveloped as part of the arena development, there will be a shortage of retail in downtown, he said.
Plaza Five Fifty Five currently has a total of 376,432 square feet, with an assessed value of about $35 million, according to the Sacramento County Assessor’s online parcel viewer. It's also on the Business Journal's list of tallest buildings in Sacramento.
Future of downtown: Continuing coverage of the Sacramento Kings and arena
Ben van der Meer covers real estate, development, construction, water issues and the business of sports.