In a nutshell: Five of the top Sacramento business stories of 2025
In 2025, Sacramento’s largest businesses made moves that will influence the region’s landscape and economy for decades to come.
Tax incentives for long-awaited development in Sacramento’s Railyards district were the subject of debate, protest and litigation. Officials confirmed plans to eventually shutter the Blue Diamond plant in midtown — one of the last vestiges of the city’s food manufacturing history, and a 53-acre campus with a likely complicated path to redevelopment. Macy’s, an anchor for the Downtown Commons since the 1960s, pulled up stakes in Sacramento and Citrus Heights.
And as the Athletics debuted in West Sacramento, area officials weighed our chances at securing permanent MLB.
5. Incentives derailed
Since the railroad companies moved out in the 1990s, Sacramento has awaited development in the largely vacant district adjacent to downtown that once served as a bustling railyard. In June, after decades of fits, starts, environmental cleanup and dealmaking, city officials celebrated the passage of a multimillion-dollar agreement that would use property tax dollars to spur construction in the district.
But a group opposing the deal believed it amounted to a giveaway for developers and contained weak requirements for housing construction. When a little-watched city subcommittee gathered to take a final, procedural vote on the issue, council members were surprised by a group of Railyards residents and union organizers who had identified a relatively new piece of state law that could stop the deal in its tracks.
The city was left to sort out the details, and was sued, in the meantime, by some of the protesters. The union deflected accusations that its efforts were tied to a contentious organizing campaign involving one of the groups building in the Railyards. Ultimately, developers committed to go ahead with their projects. The city can re-attempt the incentive package this summer, when a one-year moratorium on the issue lifts.
4. The elephant in Sutter Health Park
The arrival of the former Oakland baseball franchise this year raised several questions for West Sacramento and the broader region.
For instance, how should we read claims by some local officials that the Athletics’ tenure here gives the region a long-term shot at the major leagues? And how will the team’s three-year visit influence life and commerce in West Sacramento, an evolving city that local investors already regarded with expectations of growth?
The season kicked off with some quirks. The team stripped the city prefix from its name upon arrival, leaving local fans and businesses to create their own artisanal “Sacramento A’s” merchandise. And as time went on, data showed that having an MLB team in town may have diverted valuable ticket sales from the city’s beloved River Cats.
Another season approaches: The A’s play their home opener against the Houston Astros on April 3.
And the River Cats play their exhibition game against the San Francisco Giants on March 22.
3. Funding fears
Area clinics and hospitals warned of the potential consequences of federal cuts to health care spending.
The budget bill was the subject of multiple protests by health care workers, locally. Providers predicted that the cuts will increase the number of uninsured patients, force clinics to pull back on some services, and increase wait times for appointments.
2. Mall rumors
If you’ve ever wondered why the I-5 cuts through the western edge of Sacramento, look to Macy’s. The department store was such a desirable tenant when it came to town in the early 1960s, it had clout to lobby for ready freeway access for its downtown location.
But more recently, the company came under pressure by activist investors to improve profitability and reorganize its real estate portfolio. After months of rumors about the downtown location, in January the company confirmed plans to shut down its stores in DOCO and the Sunrise Mall — the struggling retail center in Citrus Heights where city officials are contemplating eminent domain.
Over the summer, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians acquired the vacant DOCO store, opening up a wide range of possibilities for the site. The tribe also owns the vacant city block catty-corner from Macy’s, at 301 Capitol Mall, and said it would likely pursue a project that spans both properties.
It’s unclear how close the tribe may be to announcing plans for the sites. In a recent Q&A with the Sacramento Business Journal, Mayor Kevin McCarty used the word “imminent.”
1. In a nutshell
Blue Diamond announced over the summer that it would shutter its longtime Sacramento almond-processing plant sometime between late 2026 and mid-2027. The move was not altogether surprising: The city has feared the loss of Blue Diamond since the 1990s.
Local officials began wracking their brains for future uses for the sprawling, 53-acre site, which includes older buildings, and some that hold historic designations.
The good news, some said, is that Sacramento has proven capable of adapting other former, industrial buildings into housing, retail and entertainment.
Honorable mentions
SAFE’s bet: The region’s second-largest credit union in November announced plans to combine with a much larger credit union based in the Seattle suburbs. After securing regulatory clearances here and in Washington state, SAFE Credit Union’s leaders still have to convince their members that the merger is a good deal, and win their approval in an election.
Trouble brewing: Anheuser-Busch announced a sweep of brewery closures in mid-December, which will include the longtime Budweiser plant in Fairfield, one of the city’s largest employers. A-B has been a source of employment, philanthropy and utility fees for decades, as ingrained in the city’s identity as Travis Air Force Base or Jelly Belly.
A $1 billion goal for “Dova”: Joshua Wood and Charanjeet Kaur Tiwana-Purewal touted their planned indoor soccer arena — the “Downtown Dova” project — which city leaders have advanced on the belief that it could deliver Rancho Cordova the makings of a downtown.
A brewery, a newspaper, a housing complex: Demolition began at the Sacramento Bee’s former complex at 21st and Q streets, prompting reflection among past and current Bee employees about the significance of the old buildings, where developers plan to build housing.
This story was originally published December 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
