These 10 new buildings are changing downtown Sacramento’s skyline

Sacramento’s central city is seeing one of its biggest building booms in years.

Roughly two dozen major projects are either underway or about to begin construction. More than 800 housing units are being built, along with hotels, tall office towers and enough commercial space to fill one third of Arden Fair mall.

Of course, all that work also means some disruption. Traffic lanes on some major downtown streets have been closed to make ways for cranes and construction crews.

Here’s a list of 10 big developments that are changing the Sacramento skyline:

Fort Sutter Hotel

At the corner of 28th Street and Capitol Avenue. Developed by Randy Paragary at the former site of Cafe Bernardo and Monkey Bar. The corner hotel will be six stories tall, have 100-plus rooms, a bar and a Cafe Bernardo restaurant. When finished in 2020, it will be a focal point of a burgeoning area, sharing the block with the new B Street Theatre, sitting across the street from the big Sutter Medical Center campus, and perched just a block from Sutter’s Fort.

Press Building

Sitting at the corner of 21st and Q streets, this will be a four-story, 277-unit apartment complex with 9,000 square feet of retail and a courtyard. The developers are Sotiris Kolokotronis and DeBartolo Development. This complex is said to be the largest apartment project in the Central City. It spans an entire block, and is part of what the developer calls the new Midtown Quarter, where state workers can live and walk to work.

15Q

Rising from the corner of 15th and Q streets and overlooking Fremont Park, this is an eight-story mixed use building with 73 residential units, ground floor retail and commercial space. The project is led by D&S Development and Bay Miry. The building will have bike storage, a fitness room, a pet washing station and an outdoor barbecue lounge. The housing and retail will continue to spur development of the R Street Corridor.

19J

An 11-story, 175-unit apartment complex at 19th and J streets aimed at younger downtown workers, where some small units may go for less than $1,000. Developer Nikky Mohanna said many residents will not own cars. Opening day is expected in a few months. Mayor Darrell Steinberg celebrated its groundbreaking, saying the project is a model for what Sacramento needs if it is going to attract a young workforce to live downtown.

C3

C3 is the city’s project name for a major $300 million expansion of the downtown Convention Center, Community Center Theater and the Memorial Auditorium. Ongoing since last year, it will be finished by the end of next year. When done, the convention center will expand to include new exhibit space, meeting rooms, a large ballroom, a new kitchen, and expanded lobby. The theater’s upgrades include an expansion of its cramped lobby.

Health and Human Services Agency office

At 1215 O Street, the 11-story office building will house more than 1,100 health agency workers. Construction has blocked the street. The project is due for 2021 completion, and will include retail, a multi-vendor food court, employee gym and a pedestrian plaza.

Natural Resources Agency office

This will be a 21-story office building at Eighth and P streets that takes up an entire block and will house up to 3,450 workers in the Natural Resources Agency. It’ll have the largest state-run childcare facility and 6,000 square feet of retail. The project includes work on the historic Heilbron house, on site. Finish date is set for 2021. The building is planned to be net zero energy.

Q19 and 20PQR

Kolokotronis and his partner, The Grupe Co., are finishing a 68-unit apartment building at 19th and Q streets, across from the Truitt dog park, and 32 town homes a half block away. Those, combined with The Press and the nearby Ice Blocks project, are creating a new urban neighborhood out of a formerly industrial zone. The row of town homes, which back up onto railroads tracks, have nearly sold out, and not at budget prices. The first were priced at around $600,000. The latest is listed for $889,000.

Ice Blocks

Nearly finished, this four-block project surrounding 17th and R streets includes 142 urban loft-style apartments, retail, restaurants and offices, making it the first full-fledged infill community in Sacramento, designed as a one-stop live, work, play area. It’s sequestered between the midtown Safeway a block east and Regional Transit’s busy 16th Street light rail station a block west. It has a West Elm store, the stylish Beast + Bounty restaurant, and a Philz Coffee – fronted by a bocce court.

Hyatt Centric Hotel

At the corner of 7th and L streets. The former Marshall Hotel is being gutted and turned into a boutique Hyatt standing at 11 stories. It will have 172 rooms, with an upstairs bar and restaurant, and an elevated outdoor lounge. The new hotel will share the far east end of the long L Street block that holds Golden 1 Center. Opening is expected in 2020.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the expected opening date for the Fort Sutter Hotel. The planned opening date is April, 2020.

This story was originally published March 21, 2019 at 11:40 AM.