get investors to give you money ,” Ellis says , “ they don ’ t want to wait two years to see a return .”
To cover the $ 30 million it would cost to demolish and prepare the site for redevelopment , Capital Commerce Center ( with Sacramento County and Sacramento Regional Sanitation District staff ) came up with a slick plan . The Campbell factory was a water-based manufacturing process when it began , with 165 million gallons of sewer discharge rights per month . The team created a wholly new methodology to allow the sale of the excess sewer capacity to create funds , which would then be reinvested in the site .
“ If that hadn ’ t happened ,” Ellis says , “ this building would be rotting for the next 100 years in south Sacramento due to demo costs .”
Bonus material
Rather than tearing down old buildings and dumping excess material into landfills , the City of Sacramento wants to incentivize adaptive reuse as a green solution . In the past , bonuses from the city went to developers involved with affordable housing projects , Monighan says . But he hopes the City ’ s 2040 general plan update ( which might go into effect next summer ) includes density bonuses based on sustainable response , energy conservation and adaptive reuse .
Basically , if a developer transforms an existing building with higher density , construction costs go up . But their overall costs don ’ t rise proportionally , so they would generate more profit . If the city uses increased density as a bonus to reward types of projects it finds important ( such as adaptive reuse ), Monighan says developers may be encouraged to go that route by increasing their financial return .
“ What it says is , we ’ re not throwing things away . We ’ re going to reuse them ,” Monighan says . “ Whether we ’ re recycling plastic bottles or recycling warehouses , it ’ s the same thing . We ’ re giving it an extended life .”
This funding would supplement the high costs of reuse where the returns are not as substantial , and there is less predictability and more unknowns . With these factors in mind , Monighan says , a developer ’ s motivation behind the repurposing of an old warehouse or industrial building is a big deal .
“ Sometimes development is a purely financially driven process , and sometimes it ’ s based on a desire to do good , to do better ,” Monighan says . “ We have a lot of developers in our city doing work , driven by , ‘ How do I make a contribution to Sacramento ?’ It ’ s that group that ’ s willing to take on a project like adaptive reuse .”
Russell Nichols is a freelance writer who focuses on technology , culture and mental health . On Twitter @ russellnichols .
“ We find that it ’ s a little bit of a labor of love in repurposing . It ’ s not the easiest process , but there is a lot of character you can ’ t replicate in some of these warehouse buildings .”
SARA LEBASTCHI Vice president of Operations , D & S Development
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August 2022 | comstocksmag . com 45