Media personality Tom Sullivan is coming home.
Not permanently. But next month he's making his first official trip to town since moving to the Big Apple last year for a high-profile job with the fledgling Fox Business Network.
He'll emcee the Metro Chamber of Commerce's "Perspectives" event – as he has every year since the public affairs forum began in 1995.
"I asked (Fox) if I could do it, and they said, 'Go for it,' " says Sullivan, who will host the Sept. 19 event at the Sacramento Convention Center.
He says he's looking forward to reconnecting with friends from his 27 years here as an investment adviser, radio talk show host and TV guy. Sullivan's afternoon talk show is still heard locally on KFBK (1530 AM).
How does he like life in New York, where he co-hosts a daily one-hour show (shown here at 9 a.m. on cable and satellite stations)?
"Fabulous," says Sullivan, who enjoys exploring his family's midtown Manhattan neighborhood. The city, he says, "is a different planet."
He has no complaints about his TV job, either, even though his network remains well behind in ratings against business market leader CNBC.
"This is what I wanted – to work at the highest level. And there's nothing bigger in broadcasting than network TV in New York," he says.
Note that we called this Sullivan's first official trip back to Sacramento. He tells us he did "sneak back" a couple of times this year to deal with his Granite Bay home, which has been on the market since he left California last fall.
The unsold house, he says, "is the only bummer" associated with moving East.
Fire sale: The former fire station in Arden Park that we reported was for sale as a private residence is no longer on the market.
It's been sold. But sadly not to a homeowner with designs on its quirky qualities – a two-fire-engine garage, a fire hose cleaner and dormitory-style sleeping quarters.
The buyer is the Sacramento County Department of Water Resources, which plans to store equipment and eventually install an indoor water tank in the building, says spokeswoman Diane Margetts.
Water Resources paid $525,000 – or 25 grand over the asking price for the 970 La Sierra Drive site.
Realtor Maggie Frisch, who was hired to solicit residential bids, says there were a couple of good offers from individuals who wanted to remodel the place and live there.
One was a cash offer, for $500,000. Another was close to the water agency's bid but was contingent on financing.
We understand the Metro Fire District's desire to get top dollar for its property – and its reluctance to accept a contingent bid in this shaky housing climate.
Still, we can't escape this conclusion: The residential bidders got hosed.
For a video tour of the Arden Park firehouse, go to: videos.sacbee.com.
Going green: One of the area's largest engineering and architecture companies is quietly looking for a new building that would showcase "green" construction.
Stantec Inc., a Canadian firm with about 250 local employees in four different sites, recently put out the word it would like to consolidate staff.
The main requirement: the space must be LEED-certified, or easily convertible to that stringent, environmentally friendly standard.
"We have positioned ourselves as sustainable (designers), and now it's a matter of walking the talk," says Jay Averill, a company spokesman in Stantec's Edmonton headquarters.
He says many other Stantec buildings are LEED-certified and serve as "a brochure" for green technologies.
"You can bring people in and say, 'This is exactly what it will look like,' " he says.
The lease at the company's biggest local office – in South Natomas – runs for another three years so no move is "imminent," Averill says. But because it can take a long time to renovate space to green standards, the search for a building is under way.
Reach Bob Shallit at (916) 321-1049. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/shallit.
