New music venue approved for Sacramento in controversial location. See where
Sacramento is getting a new music venue.
The city’s Planning and Design Commission Thursday approved the so-called Sacramento Music Hall and Performing Arts Center to open in two vacant warehouses near Sacramento State.
The project — located at Ramona and Cucamonga avenues, just east of Tahoe Park — will host concerts, children’s shows, receptions, conventions, fundraising activities, and comedy shows, according to a city staff report. It will fit up to 1,991 people in the theater, which will host events two to three times a week. It will also include a restaurant open seven days a week, and a parking lot.
“Importantly, it will provide low-cost venue rental opportunities for music and performing arts programs, neighborhood associations, and business and corporate meeting needs,” a project website states.
The Power Inn Alliance, a group of business owners in the area, strongly opposed the project, due to concerns about noise and traffic. The group also raised concerns that the project could jeopardize the prestigious zero-emissions research facility Sacramento State plans to build across the street.
“The (conditional use permit) will authorize a massive bar and nightclub in the middle of an area that is intended for science‐based uses fostering a strong connection between Sac State and private industry,” Matthew Keasling, an attorney for the Power Inn Alliance, wrote in an email to city staff last month.
Sacramento State has not taken a formal position on the music hall, said Councilman Eric Guerra, who represents the area. California State University officials have approved the California Mobility Center, but it has not yet received construction funding.
The commission approved the project, but as a compromise, required the venue’s hours to close earlier than the applicant requested, Guerra said.
Guerra said that the area is going through a “reinvisioning.”
“Since my time on Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association and in my time on council, we’ve done a lot to think of a new vision for that area,” Guerra said. “With its proximity to the campus, there’s a lot of opportunity, so it’s important to make sure whatever gets approved, it helps ... advance the reformation of that area.”
Architectural drawings show the new music hall would attract acts such as Melissa Etheridge and Brandi Carlile.
Two other midsize music venues are approved to open in vacant warehouses in the city. A 2,400-seat venue is planned in midtown at 24th and R streets. A 5,000-seat venue is also planned for the downtown Railyards.
The owner-operators, Nicolas Bauta and Daniel Chatzopoulos, have a similar venue in Providence, Rhode Island, according to the project website.
The music hall project does not need full council approval.
This story was originally published March 11, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
