Construction to start on major ‘transit oriented’ apartment complex near Sacramento State
For two decades, planners in Sacramento have talked about building infill housing and retail at major transit hubs. But that’s mainly all it’s been. Just talk.
Now, Sacramento is about to get what may well be the region’s first “transit-oriented development” housing project.
The Sacramento Regional Transit District this week announced it has sold a portion its 65th Street light rail station site to a national development partnership that intends to build 223 apartments there essentially overlooking the train platforms at one of the region’s busiest rail stations.
Construction will begin as early as next month on three apartment buildings, with ground-floor stores, development representatives said, with an opening date in 2022. Rents are likely to be market rate. A similar recently opened nearby project, Academy 65, rents rooms in the $800-plus range in a dorm-style layout.
Residents of the new apartments, called 65 East, will be able to step out of their building and onto a light rail train for a short trip west to downtown jobs, internships or entertainment. That same rail line also extends east through Rancho Cordova and Folsom, two cities that are attempting to create infill transit-oriented work/live hubs next to rail stations.
Rancho Cordova plans to turn the Mather/Mills light rail station area into a mixed-use development, including a college center, housing and jobs. Folsom has been building housing near its light rail station in old town.
The recent emergence of the Ice Blocks community in midtown Sacramento at 17th and R streets, two blocks from a light rail station, represents another dense development that also qualifies as transit-oriented because it allows residents a lifestyle where car-ownership is unnecessary.
The 65 East project land sale represents a major accomplishment for SacRT, which has been seeking for years to sell land at light rail stations to developers for housing.
“We look forward to being able to offer the residents of 65 East a variety of mobility options just steps from their front door,” said SacRT General Manager Henry Li. “The vision for this station has been in the works for many years and we are excited to finally make it a reality.”
The 65 East project will include three buildings housing a total of nearly 800 residents. The housing is focused on students, but anyone can live there, a representative of the development group, The Martin Group, Symphony Development and AECOM Canyon Partners, said.
“We are proud to be a part of filling the significant need for additional student housing near Sacramento State University,” said Stephen Siri, principal at The Martin Group. “We hope to use our experience in both student and multi-family housing development to create a community that supports students and local residents alike.”
More housing near Sac State
The project is one of a handful of apartment projects underway or planned in the area around Folsom Boulevard at the south end of campus.
Drawn to Sacramento’s hot rental market, and a current lack of housing for Sacramento State students, developers are laying plans to build housing for up to 4,000 students within walking distance of campus.
That includes a joint venture by the university and developer EdR for the largest of all, a 1,100-bed housing cluster at the south edge of campus on the McAuliffe baseball field site, with a scheduled summer 2021 opening.
Together, those projects could turn a faded industrial and commercial nook along Folsom Boulevard near 65th Street into a teeming university village, offering students an area near campus to call their own. The development could help the university finally shed its commuter-school tag.
The area also could serve as a mixed-use community, with grocery stores, restaurants and entertainment venues that will allow residents to live a largely car-free lifestyle.
Most of the proposed apartments will be designed as group housing, but with an element of privacy. Apartments will hold up to four suites, each with a door lock and its own bathroom. Buildings will include group study rooms. The projects are designed to have fewer parking places than residents.
Speaking last year to The Sacramento Bee, City Councilman Jeff Harris, who’s helped recruit developers, calls the area’s potential metamorphosis “one of the coolest things I’ve ever been involved with.”
“We get kids really plugged into their university, we get people using transit, it frees up low-income housing units (elsewhere) around the city, and lowers the vehicle miles traveled.
“And, you’ve got beer and pizza. What more do you need?”