Over the years, Sacramento's central shopping district has struggled to get foot traffic beyond the 8-to-5 weekday workday.
That's largely because the core city has lots of government and office buildings but less in the way of housing and hotels. And the city cut off K Street car traffic downtown and created a pedestrian/transit-only area.
All this is beginning to turn around. The city now has more hotels and housing options downtown. And a couple of new developments on K Street are promising.
One is that the City Council in May approved urban design guidelines that call for reintroducing "low-volume, low-speed automobile traffic" to K Street "to create the pass-by traffic that main street retailers so depend on." The idea would be to allow car traffic to share street space with light rail and include on-street parking. A consultant is expected to present options by October.
Another is that a local group, working with Robert S. Park's Sacramento-based Parkcrest Development Corp., is exploring international financing (South Korea-based Consus Asset Management) for a possible 25-story, 409-room hotel at Eighth and K streets. That would generate 24-hour, seven-day-a-week energy.
Both developments are worth pursuing.
On street traffic for K Street, Sacramento's Design Commission recommended that the city look at two models, what they call the "Portland Option" and the "San Jose Option" – one-way car traffic that would share space with light rail, or one-way car traffic with light-rail having a dedicated lane not open to car traffic.
Others are recommending various two-way car options.
Still others believe the city should look beyond the Eighth to 13th Street section of K Street now being considered for car traffic. They're pushing for the city to explore car traffic from 13th to 15th streets, too, between the Convention Center and the Community Center Theater – to create a link to midtown.
These options are worth considering, as are others, though it's essential to stay within the realm of the possible.
On a hotel for Eighth and K, the current proposal has a major drawback. The developers want to build a six-story parking garage at Eighth and L streets, not a good use of that space. That half-block is ripe for redevelopment. The city and developers should set higher ambitions for something that would generate activity downtown – not just be a house for cars.
We don't want L Street to become a tunnel of parking garages.
In these difficult financial times, the hotel project and progress on reopening K Street to car traffic are good news indeed.
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