Big apartment building planned in West Sacramento’s booming riverfront district

A new apartment building planned for West Sacramento’s booming Bridge District will overlook some of the neighborhood’s biggest draws.

The project, proposed by Fulcrum Property, would stand at the corner of Riverfront and Mill streets. That’s next to the Barn brewery and outdoor restaurant and two blocks from Franquette, the French-inspired cafe and wine bar that opened in the neighborhood earlier this year.

What’s more, the new building would add something leaders on both sides of the Tower Bridge have wanted for years: housing and activity on the Sacramento Riverfront. The project site borders a riverfront trail and is a few steps from the rehabbed Mill Street Pier.

Fulcrum is proposing a seven-story building on the site with 21 ground-floor “live-work” townhomes and 239 apartments. It would also include retail and office space, and a neighborhood amenity spot with a pool and fitness center.

Of the 239 market rate apartments, 76 are expected to be studios, 116 will have one bedroom – including 10 with space for an office – and 47 will be two-bedroom units, according to a planning application filed with the city of West Sacramento.

Fulcrum and the city of West Sacramento have lead a steady revitalization of the Bridge District, a former industrial area just south of the Tower Bridge.

Over the course of more than 20 years, warehouses and rice silos were torn down and a rail line was ripped out, clearing the way for more than 700 apartments and condos, as well as Sutter Health Park (formerly Raley Field). The latest apartment project, as well as others under construction, could help double the neighborhood’s population in a few years.

The district has city approval for roughly 5,000 residential units, along with offices, shopping and restaurants.

“The real question about West Sacramento shouldn’t be why is all this happening?” developer Mark Friedman of Fulcrum said earlier this year, “but why hasn’t it happened sooner?”

This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 6:00 AM.