What’s the blue cylindrical building in downtown Sacramento on P Street? Bee Curious answers

When you’re walking around downtown Sacramento at night, do you ever wonder what the glowing blue cylindrical building near Seventh and P streets does?

Doug Rowell asked Bee Curious, a community-driven series in which our journalists answer direct reader questions, “What are the details regarding the large cylindrical ‘tower’ on 7th Street between P and Q?”

He said he lives within walking distance of the structure. An internet search didn’t satisfy his curiosity.

The building in question is at 620 P Street.

Here’s what we know

The California Department of General Services Central Utility Plant provides air conditioning and heating to the department and state-owned buildings in the downtown area, according to Skanska, a construction company and the general contractor for the project.

The company said the plant includes:

• A steam boiler plant with four gas-fired water tube boilers.
• Variable speed electric chillers, cooling towers and a 38-meter-high, 16,000-cubicmeter thermal energy storage tank, which stores chilled water for use during peak hours.
• A steam turbine generator provides emergency power to the chillers in the event of a power failure or to balance demand for energy in scenarios where extra power is needed in a short time period.

“The plant creates chilled water for cooling, steam for heating, and compressed air for controls to 26 existing state-owned buildings in the downtown Sacramento Capitol campus,” said Fallon Okwuosa, a spokesperson for the General Services Department, and an email to The Bee.

Completed in 2010, it was built to replace the older, less efficient version. The utility plant we see today is completely new. It was more cost effective and more sustainable to build instead of retrofitting the old plant, according to the Sustainable Business Performance Organization.

The old plant used to dump into the river, and the new one doesn’t. Skanska’s profile on the project states the water gets recycled four to six times before the non-potable water is reused inside the plant.

The building has a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum Certification, according to the Nacht and Lewis, a Sacramento-based design firm.

Skanska’s report states the company made sure to employ locals, minimize noise disturbance, and partnered with the Department of General Services to update residents within a four-block radius on the status of the project.

The plant’s design is meant to minimize the shading of surrounding buildings, Okwuosa said.

Okwuosa told The Bee planter boxes and canopies on the mezzanine level also help to reduce the scale of the plant.

Rowell also wanted to know if the plant was related to the hot and cold air he sees coming from street vents near the plant and Capitol.

“There are vents downtown that produce air. They look like concrete cylinders, almost like a mushroom,” he said. “There’s no railroad that could come through there, so I’m pretty sure it’s from the plant.”

Okwuosa told The Bee, “There could be a few reasons people see air coming from street vents, but it’s possible some of the steam may be a result from the plant.”

The Department of General Services said they are not planning any similar projects.

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This story was originally published August 12, 2022 at 5:00 AM.