CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center
Golden 1 Center
Photo : Courtesy of Rudolph and Sletten
Clifford B . Allenby Building , DGS
Celebrating 115 years of tile and stone installation excellence , Fischer Tile & Marble , Inc . is proud to be partner on the Capital Region ’ s most iconic landmark buildings .
1800 23rd St ., Sacramento , CA 95816 I 916.452.1426 I www . FischerTile . com
Access Control
Experience The Valley Advantage
We are proud to be providing our advanced integrated technology services to many of the iconic projects leading Sacramento ’ s revitalization .
Cabling Security Wireless Audio Visual
916.349.7300 | valley-com . com | LIC # 806644
projects in Downtown Sacramento as part of a 10-year modernization plan adopted in 2015 . With logistics that are like musical chairs on steroids , employees are moved into a rehabbed or new building as work begins on the building they left behind . “ We make decisions site by site , taking in the construction type , the hazmat and demo costs , the site it ’ s on and any historical status ,” says Jason Kenney , deputy director of real estate services for the Department of General Services .
The decision to build new on the site that housed the Department of Food and Agriculture at 12th and N streets , for example , was straightforward . “ The building was condemned ,” Kenney says . Also , new construction of a 20-story , 838,000-square-foot building on a block bound by Seventh and Eighth , O and P streets took advantage of an open site that was formerly a parking lot and will house the state ’ s Natural Resources Agency .
The agency ’ s existing 12-story building a block away , built in 1964 , will be renovated despite its age and even though that will cost more than tearing it down . “ The light rail runs in front of the building and it ’ s adjacent to the historic Stanford Mansion ,” Kenney says . “ On a tight site like this , you don ’ t have enough room for demolition .”
But there are other less pragmatic reasons to keep the building standing . It is grandfathered into a restriction on buildings that block the view of the Capitol dome , meaning any new construction on the site would have to have less height and less usable space . “ The building also has provenance as an example of the National Style of architecture ,” Kenney says , adding that provenance is also a factor in preserving the Jesse M . Unruh Building on Capitol Mall , built in 1913 , and the Bateson Building on Ninth Street , a pioneering design in energy efficiency built in the 1980s .
The California Fruit Building at Fourth and J streets was built as Sacramento ’ s first steel-reinforced high-rise office building in 1914 but still faced structural improvements during its current conversion to The Exchange , a 100-room boutique hotel . “ Any time you add ductwork and hoods for kitchens , you have to move structural
72 comstocksmag . com | August 2021