Sacramento Sees a 'Heightened' Home Market

Groundbreaking is scheduled this quarter for a pair of 53-story condominium towers at Third Street and Capitol Mall. The same developer has two other high-rise projects planned for downtown.

By J.T. Long

In the Sacramento region, where subdivisions have been the rule for the last half-century, creative developers are redefining the meaning of home.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for early this year for developer John Saca's planned pair of 53-story condominium skyscrapers in downtown Sacramento. Saca said he hopes to start moving residents in by the end of next year (rendering courtesy of MulvannyG2 Architecture).

"Finally," reads the tag line in the marketing campaign for developer John Saca's planned pair of 53-story condominium skyscrapers in downtown Sacramento, "you can live in the sky."

The planned landmark project is called the Towers on Capitol Mall, at Third Street and Capitol Mall. It is 20 stories taller than anything ever built before in the city and will include a 230-room, four-plus star hotel; 800 condo units; and 70,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurants.

The sky was definitely the target when Sacramento native Saca, known for his shopping center developments, was putting together the amenities, including a $15-million, 50,000-sq.-ft. gym and spa; rooftop pool; concierge service; and 1,100 parking spots on 2.5 blocks in the heart of downtown.

"I believe it is the amenities that have given the project the sheer sex appeal and generated the excitement that broke all records for marketing," said Saca, adding that a total of 18,000 people are on the interest list for the condos and 4,000 have pre-qualified.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for early this year, and Saca said he hopes to start moving residents in by the end of 2007.

The Towers on Capitol Mall are Saca's first foray into a development of this stature, and so he looked for contractors with high-rise experience. San Mateo-based Webcor Builders Inc., the company on the ground for the 42-story St. Regis Museum Tower in San Francisco, and New York-based Turner Construction have been tapped to build a cast-in-place, post-tensioned structure designed by Bellevue, Wash.-based MulvannyG2 Architecture.

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And this project could be the beginning of a trend upward for Sacramento. "Early on, developers were telling me I was crazy, but now they are jumping on the bandwagon," Saca said.

For example, Denver builder Craig Nassihas has proposed Aura, a 38-story building designed by Daniel Libeskind, who created the master plan for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center in New York City.

But when it comes to height, Saca said he has reached the pinnacle. "No other site in the city deserves to be that high," he added, citing the location near the Sacramento River, Old Sacramento, the Capitol building, shopping and entertainment.

Saca has two other projects planned for downtown with lower profiles. One is a 35-story retail/condo project at 10th and J streets and the other is a 22-story more price sensitive retail/condo/loft project on Seventh and K streets. "These projects are targeting totally different demographics," Saca said. Both could start construction in fall 2007 pending city approvals.

"This is just new to Sacramento," said Saca, who credits a number of factors in the emergence of the downtown high-rise residential market. He reasons that 78 million baby boomers in the country are looking for low-maintenance living where they can travel and come back to a secure residence with all the conveniences of the four-star hotels they stay in on the road.

Also, the economics are finally making sense. Two or more years ago when the average single-family home in the Sacramento area was $280,000, high-rises couldn't compete because they are expensive to build. Now the median home is $500,000 and Saca said he can get the $500 to $800 per sq. ft. required for 1,100 sq. ft. of luxury in the sky.

"It doesn't seem out of line anymore," he added. "In fact, it's a bargain because it is half the price of similar products in San Francisco."