n DEVELOPMENT
T
here’s a word that comes to mind for Sacramento
Mayor Darrell Steinberg regarding the largest infill
project in his city, The Railyards. “The one word I
would use to describe the state of where we’re at is
‘breakthrough,’” Steinberg says.
Anyone who has lived or worked in or near downtown
Sacramento more than a few years knows the maddening-
ly elusive promise The Railyards has long offered. Once a
base of operations for Union Pacific Railroad, the 244 acres
have sat largely undisturbed for decades, separating the
western end of downtown from the Richards Boulevard
area bounded by the American River.
Recently, however, several projects have been proposed
or approved there, including a Kaiser Permanente medi-
cal center, a new Sacramento courthouse and two hous-
ing projects. Perhaps the most tantalizing proposal could
be the catalyst to kick-start a development that eventually
will nearly double the size of downtown Sacramento.
As this issue of Comstock’s was going to press, city
leaders and Sacramento Republic FC officials were eager-
ly awaiting the announcement of a Major League Soccer
expansion franchise that seemed perfunctory. Earlier this
year, MLS announced it would expand by three teams to
30 teams and enter exclusive negotiations with Sacramen-
to and St. Louis. A vote by the league’s board of governors
was expected during the all-star break in Orlando, Florida,
in late July, with an official announcement expected this
month.
“Nobody’s willing to (say) that it’s in the bag,” says
Sacramento City Councilman Jeff Harris, whose District
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comstocksmag.com | August 2019
3 includes The Railyards. “But it’s as close as you can get
without saying that.”
The announcement — during a public event, if history
is a guide — will trigger construction of a $250 million-plus
stadium on 14 acres in the northeast corner of The Railyards
that already has cleared its design, entitlements and plan-
ning documents and would open in time for the 2022 MLS
season.
It’s all part of broader efforts by Larry Kelley and his son
Denton, who purchased the once-forlorn property through
their company Downtown Railyard Venture after the Great
Recession knocked out a previous owner. The Kelley fam-
ily, who has developed other major projects in the great-
er Sacramento region such as 4,000-acre Stanford Ranch
in Rocklin and 3,500-acre McClellan Park, and other key
Railyards stakeholders are banking that a soccer stadium
can help spur new opportunity at the largest infill site west
of the Mississippi River.
ANOTHER DOWNTOWN SPORTS VENUE
This isn’t the first time a sports facility has been discussed
for The Railyards. At one time, the site was touted for a new
building for the Sacramento Kings, who desperately wanted
to leave aging Sleep Train Arena in Natomas and move to an
urban setting. But that was before Stan Thomas defaulted