Work begins on new neighborhood of nearly 3,000 homes near Sacramento International Airport

After being stalled for a decade due to flood fears and the Great Recession, work finally began this week on what will be a massive community of 2,800 lakeside homes on farmland near Sacramento International Airport, with the first homes likely available for sale next year.

The Northlake development sits at the northwest corner of the Interstate 5 and Highway 99 junction in North Natomas, bordering the Amazon fulfillment center, seven miles north of downtown Sacramento.

Its arrival on the real estate scene is part of a new growth spurt for North Natomas, one of the region’s younger but more problematic communities. It’s an area that boomed with new housing in the early 2000s, then went bust for 10 years and is now seeing a construction resurgence of houses and amenities.

The developer, Integral Communities of Newport Beach, is grading the site and will turn it over to home construction companies next spring for housing.

Drew Kusnick of Integral said the community will look similar to the existing Westlake community to the south, with a large lake, but will not be gated.

Houses in Northlake could range from 1,800 square feet to 3,800 square feet. “Something for everyone,” Kusnick said. “From young couples to those who want to move to larger lots and larger homes.”

Smaller houses at Northlake will be aimed at first-time buyers similar to homes already built in nearby west Natomas. Other homes will be large on large lots and will test the higher end of the market. “We will be pressing the top end of the market,” Kusnick said.

Similar-sized homes for sale in nearby Westlake ranged this week from $330,000 to $800,000.

The site will have one apartment complex for seniors.

New neighborhood helps housing crisis

The site, formerly called Greenbriar, was first proposed in the early 2000s, but sat on hold for years after federal officials created a de facto moratorium on construction in the Natomas basin pending levee strengthening work – some of which is still going on.

The planned community has been controversial because of its location at the far edge of the city on a wetlands and agricultural site near the airport. Environmentalists and some planners contend the city should be pushing for more development closer to downtown. The project will add to the growing number of commuter automobiles on Interstate 5 in an area that has already become congested in both directions.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Angelique Ashby, the area’s council representative, however, say the project helps the city add a large amount of new housing during a housing crisis.

They and others point out that the Northlake community population will help Sacramento Regional Transit qualify for a necessary federal government grant to partially pay for an extended light rail line from downtown to the airport.

That planned light rail line would run through residential neighborhoods in North and South Natomas, including through the middle of Northlake, where SacRT will build a station. That would give Northlake residents the option of taking light rail to work downtown rather than driving on I-5.

“It will address our severe housing shortage with enough units to house 11,000 people, including affordable apartments for seniors,” Steinberg said. “It will also make our planned light rail line to the airport more viable and provide the last piece of property needed for the alignment. I’m glad to see it finally moving forward more than a decade after it was approved.”

Larger homes for North Natomas

Ashby said the project will include some homes that are larger than typically found in North Natomas, which could help attract higher-wage earners to the area. A National healthcare company, Centene, is building an office campus nearby that is expected to bring up to 5,000 workers to a site close to Northlake.

“As Sacramento looks to expand its housing portfolio, this project creates space for families, executives, seniors and folks looking for a serene lakefront community located in the City of Sacramento,” Ashby wrote in a Facebook post.

The project also will include several commercial sites, likely with offices and some neighborhood retail. The planned light rail line would have a stop in the geographic center of the large, square-shaped community.

Northlake sits near the flight paths used by Sacramento International Airport. Home sales will include disclosure statements indicating that jets fly overhead or nearby. Airport officials last year said the developer had agreed to make the project’s planned lakes less attractive to birds, which sometimes collide with jets.

That could include making the embankments steep so that it is hard for birds to walk in and out of the water, as well as keeping the lake area free of garbage that birds might see as a food source and telling residents not to feed birds. Site managers also will be authorized to chase birds off the site using fireworks, scarecrows, water spray and dogs, so that those birds do not set up house around the lakes, according to project environmental documents.

This story was originally published October 26, 2019 at 5:30 AM.