“You see so many successful (Major League Soccer)
franchises, especially new ones that have developed
amazing stadiums, developed them in downtown cores,
had amazing support, driven a lot of business around it
for the city, and raised the profile of their city.”
~ Ben Gumpert, president and COO, Republic FC
ings can be repurposed, MLS might help drive other enter-
tainment options to them.
“There’s always been talk about the Central Shops and
what it could be, and there’s great visions,” Halbakken says.
“There was vision under Thomas, and there’s vision under
DRV, and it’s very complementary to the soccer stadium in
terms of ... an entertainment place for people, a very lively
place for people to go.”
PLANS INCLUDE MORE THAN SOCCER
The soccer stadium and the team’s surrounding development
are just part of what is planned for The Railyards, which also
could become a hub for medicine, employment, housing and
more. “There are not very many opportunities in the country
to be able to create an urban district out of whole cloth, and
we have the opportunity here in Sacramento,” says Richard
Rich, the city’s Railyards and Riverfront project manager.
Sacramento officials seem just as or more excited about
Kaiser Permanente purchasing approximately 18 acres west
of 7th Street in January to build a medical center. “The Rail-
yards itself, I would say, is kick-started by the Kaiser develop-
ment,” Rich says. A Kaiser official declined to be interviewed,
saying the project was in too early of stages to discuss, though
Councilman Harris is encouraged by what he has seen.
“There’s been a lot of work on entitlements so far,” Harris
says. “I would say that to get shovels in the ground, I’m antic-
ipating 2021. There’ve been many concept sketches. There’ve
been many discussions with city planners about parking
and locations of buildings and overall looks and the freeway,
functions of the buildings, helipads, all kinds of stuff. It’s
much farther along than you might imagine.”
The Kaiser project could be sprawling, Rich says. “They’re
working on their plan, so we don’t know the specifics of it,”
he says. “But it’s a major medical center, and with a major
medical center comes a hospital, medical offices of all sorts,
and you know they tend to be magnets for other medical uses
nearby.”
A number of other projects are also in the works in vari-
ous parts of the Railyards. Denton Kelley says DRV is work-
ing on 300,000 square feet of creative office space as well as
infrastructure and a parking garage. Another Kelley-related
effort, a six-story, 309-unit apartment project on 2.52 acres
at the corner of 6th Street and Railyards Boulevard, received
design approval from the city in May, and plans for it include
roughly 20-25 percent affordable units. And, last month,
Roseville-based USA Properties filed an application for a
four-story, 150-unit affordable-housing project on 2.35 acres
on the northwest corner of 7th and F streets, according to city
planners.
Denton Kelley says The Railyards are entitled for up to
10,000 residential units, with 5,000-6,000 realistically at
full buildout. Ault welcomes the thought that The Railyards
could bring more housing downtown. “We can’t build enough
housing down here, and when you look at successful down-
town centers, getting people to call this home as opposed to
just a place (where) people work is a priority,” Ault says. “The
Railyards offers us that opportunity.”
Another big project is a state-funded, 17-story Sacramen-
to Superior Court building at 6th and H streets that might be
the first structure to rise in The Railyards, city officials say.
Plans also include the I Street Bridge replacement, estimat-
ed by the city to cost between $150 million and $250 million,
that will connect Railyards Boulevard to C Street in West
Sacramento’s Washington neighborhood. Last month, nine
design options were narrowed to four, and two finalists are
expected later this year with a possible completion by 2022.
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