‘Like a mountain going up:’ Neighbors concerned with planned Sacramento apartments
Neighbors of a large apartment complex proposed for a main Sacramento corridor are concerned about the scale of the project.
Demas Enterprises, the developer, is planning about 312 new market-rate units and 332 parking spaces in a complex that will be five or six stories, said Jeff Berger of University Capital Management, speaking on behalf of Demas Enterprises. The project would be located where the vacant former Mary Ann’s Bakery warehouses now sit, along Alhambra Boulevard between 30th, C and D streets.
The leaders of several nearby neighborhood groups are concerned the project will worsen traffic and parking in the area, which is along the border of midtown and East Sacramento, near the Interstate 80 on and off ramps. They are also concerned that its height will block sunlight and reduce privacy into their backyards.
“The area was built as mostly blue-collar bungalows,” said Will Green of East Sacramento Preservation, a neighborhood association. “It’s overwhelming, that’s like a mountain going up. That affects sunlight into backyards and front yards. It also intrudes on one’s privacy. Even when your neighbor is doing a second story expansion, people on the adjacent property will go ahead and sell because they don’t want to be having the loss of privacy.”
A flyer for a neighborhood meeting in February showed drawings of the building towering over single-story homes, calling it “massive.”
The project will go to the city’s Planning and Design Commission for consideration at some point in 2025 for consideration, said Kelli Trapani, a city spokesperson.
The project needs commission approval because it would exceed the 35-foot height requirement for the Alhambra special planning district, according to a March 2024 city email. It would also require the removal of three trees.
Berger said the original six-story plan may have been scaled down to five.
Regardless, the project’s tenants would not be able to see out of their windows into backyards, said Berger. He does not believe traffic and parking will be negatively impacted.
“The old bakery use had trucks coming in and out all times of day,” Berger said.
Mary Ann’s Bakery has been relocated to south Sacramento since at least 2015, according to the Sacramento Business Journal.
The complex would include a parking garage along 30th Street, and also a rooftop pool for residents, according to HRGA drawings submitted to the city in March. It would also have a ground-floor coffee shop open to the public.
As of this month, the city no longer requires any parking spaces to be included in new housing projects, Trapani said.
Sacramento, like much of the state, is suffering a severe housing shortage. Less than half the number of new housing units got built in the city of Sacramento in 2024 than needed to stay on track with the eight-year housing strategy, according to a report the city released earlier this month. To keep up with its goal of building 45,580 new housing units by 2029, the city would have had to issue 5,698 new housing permits last year.
Given the housing and homelessness crisis, the commission has approved most housing proposals in recent years, even those with controversy.
“We think its a great addition to the community, especially where there’s a shortage of rental housing,” Berger said. “The environmental report has come back and everything is good, so we’re scheduling it for a Planning Commission date shortly.”
If the commission approves the project, construction would start in spring 2026, Berger said.
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 11:14 AM.
