Sacramento: Cathedral Square (25 floors) 264’ | PRO
 

Sacramento: Cathedral Square (25 floors) 264’
233 Condominiums/Mixed-Use
Located at 11th & J Street
Developer: St. Anton Investments, LLC.
Architect: Kwan Henmi
Building Height: 264’
Building Square Footage: 473,260 gross
328 Parking Spaces
Special permit to allow structure to exceed Capitol View Protection area.

Goes before Design Review Committee July 20th.

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07-05-2007 Design Revisions: Response to Design Commission Comments
June 20, 2007 Design Commission Review and Comment

Cathedral Square proposed high-rise residential tower (DR05-340)

Final Summary of Comments:

1. Garage entry needs more detail. Garage entry was strengthened by
adding more pronounced signage (adding blade sign so that signage
can be visible from 11th street), and adding more emphasis to the
elevation bay of the garage entry (more pronounced reveals, stronger
cornice, larger windows directly above garage entry). The “Cathedral
Square” signage at the metal canopy would be backlit and can
illuminate at night.

2. Further Review and modification is needed on the landscaping plan.
More detail was added to the landscaping plan, specifically at the
podium terrace where planters were added to the private terraces and
larger trees introduced to the public terrace to provide much more
shading for the outdoor space.

3. Concerns of durability of materials proposed (specifically use of cement
plaster and the finishing thereof). Design team will study details and
present examples of successful plaster high-rise projects at the next
commission hearing.

4. More detailing of the entries and of materials. The residential entry
plaza was strengthened by adding more detail to the main entry
elevation. A cornice line was introduced to frame the residential entry
wall and to establish continuity with the cornice of the corner retail
pavilion and the retail cornice at the 11th street podium. The entry
canopy was enlarged and the accent paving at the entry plaza was
widened to create a grander entry gesture. More detail was also added
to the corner retail pavilion in terms of adding stone capitals at the top
of the brick columns for a more finished look at the roof/cornice line.

5. Need for more greening of the building (both landscape and
environmentally). More substantial planting was introduced to the
podium terraces (planters and larger trees to provide shading) Building
will be considering LEED certification and spandrel glazing was
introduced to the tower elevations to limit direct solar heat gain.

6. The glazing (transparency) of the tower element and relationship
between public and private residences should be further studied. The
composition of the large transparent floor-to-ceiling glazing windows at
the building corners were studied and spandel (opaque) glazing panels
were added to the glazing system there to reduce direct visibility and to
create more privacy.

7. The street wall along J street needs further integration into the overall
design and strengthened. The street wall along J Street was
strengthened by adding emphasis to the 4-story podium height with a
bolder cornice line and introducing a stone finish to the 3rd and 4 story
expression to further differentiate those levels from the rest of the tower.
The windows at the 3rd and 4 story now have deeper recesses and
overall the 4-story composition reads stronger from the street. More
detail was added to the brickwork at the retail base in terms of reveals
and recesses to add more depth to the elevation at the street level. As
well a stone or precast header was introduced to each of the storefront
bays to emphasize the storefront windows.

8. Additionally, more detail was added to the building spire for a more
unique and distinct look.

Great replacememt for what's there now. And you can't argue with more residents downtown.

Though the design is mediocre at best, the building will lively up the area with the Metro. Yes, its better than whats there now.

Downtown high-rise condo project approved
Sacramento Business Journal - 11:41 AM PDT Friday, July 13, 2007by Michael ShawStaff writer
The city of Sacramento's Planning Commission on Thursday approved a 25-story condo project at the southwest corner of 11th and J streets.

Although the city has yet to approve one architectural element of the building -- a spire -- the approval means that developers St. Anton Investors LLC and the Cordano family could proceed if there are no appeals with a 10-day period.

The 250-foot tall, 233-condo project is called Cathedral Square, and would require knocking down existing commercial buildings on J Street. It will have 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

The spire proposed for the top of the building exceeds the city's Capitol Views Protection Ordinance and is due to be reviewed by the city's design commission this month.

It's moving right along. :tup:

I don't understand why the paper doe's don't include the penthouse in it's total height
which is an additional 14' and then the spire which is an additional 26' to be 290' :shrug:

Any word regarding the design review committee's decision on the spire?
Also what exactly is there now? Does anyone have current photo's?

That spire will undoubtably block out all available sunlight to the CBD.

i hope thats sarcasm ;)

Cathedral Square will be the final height of 264'. Appearently when the
Planning Commission did not want to approve the spire and it went back to
the Design Commission. After further review, it was determined that the
Mayor did not support this request for the spire and it was withdrew.

I thought the spire was nice looking, but at least the building is still on.

After all of the disappointment that Sacramento has seen this year, I would think the mayor would be down on his knees begging for something to get built, what could possibly be wrong with a sliver of metal? :shrug:

Well at least it is approved, I'm glad to hear some positive news. So whats the next step before this thing gets going?

New rendering without the spire.

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Downtown high-rise project seeks funds quietly, won't offer pre-sales
Sacramento Business Journal - September 14, 2007
by Michael Shaw Staff writer

Sacramento's next condo tower has been quietly approved by the city, but the owners of the project don't mind a lack of fanfare, considering how other prominent condominium projects struggled during the past year.

There's no sales office yet, no billboards and no promotion of Cathedral Square -- a 25-story, 233-unit tower planned for the southwest corner of 11th and J streets.

The canceled Towers on Capitol Mall project and the seemingly lifeless Aura condo project grabbed the limelight in part because ambitious developers were selling units while at the same time trying to finance and build them. But Cathedral Square's developers, St. Anton Partners and the Cordano family, have been more comfortable under the radar, hoping to begin selling when the market favors them.

That means not anytime soon.

Financing the estimated $120 million tower will be a challenge, said Steve Eggert, one of the St. Anton Partners along with Peter Geremia. Eggert said they'll face the same hurdles as the earlier projects, including the housing slump and rising construction costs. And there's an additional issue of a credit crunch, which has led to less capital available for construction lending.

But they have avoided some of the pitfalls.

"We're not under the time pressure of an expiring land option," Eggert said.

Developer Craig Nassi of Denver had proposed Aura on Capitol Mall on land owned by another developer. Nassi has an option for the property. The Towers at Capitol Mall collapsed under rising construction costs but also due to a progressively turbulent relationship between developer John Saca and his equity partner, the California Public Employees' Retirement System. The partnership dissolved when a new deal couldn't be struck.

Eggert said he and his partners own the Cathedral Square property, now home to vacant buildings and a few small retail shops, and don't face internal pressure to deliver the project on a timeline.

He's looking to the sale of about 600 condos in those earlier projects as a sign that there's significant demand for luxury condos downtown.

The biggest challenge is funding.

"Up until the end of last year, there was abundant capital," Eggert said. "That has tightened up significantly."

The slowdown in capital markets is somewhat tied to the subprime meltdown because higher defaults have meant less money to distribute to other investments such as high-rises.

David Taber, president and chief executive officer of American River Bankshares, noted that assets tied to the subprime mortgage fallout are also being scrutinized more thoroughly by lenders. American River doesn't do high-rise construction lending, but he said the effect of tightening credit has been minimal on commercial projects.

"From my office in Rancho Cordova, I look out and see construction all around," he said. "Walls are being tilted up. ... The commercial real estate market is very good."

The Federal Reserve said last week that commercial real estate markets had experienced somewhat tighter credit conditions, but a number of banks noted that "credit availability and credit quality remained good for most consumer and business borrowers."

The Cathedral Square's developers will need to find a construction lender to provide about 75 percent of the cost and a mezzanine lender for any remaining portion that isn't covered by equity, which is about 20 percent, Eggert said.

Unlike previous projects in Sacramento, the developers won't be pre-selling units. Eggert and his partners would get little reassurance by locking in prices at the bottom of the market under contracts that could be easily canceled by buyers, he said.

Sacramento city officials are prepared to wait until the developers are ready.

"They told us basically they need time to prepare a plan for building permits," said David Kwong, Sacramento's planning manager. "They're waiting for a better market."

Brimming with confidence
The project has sailed through the city's planning process. Developers had originally planned to put a spire atop the building, mirroring Sacramento's Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament nearby. But they canceled the spire after concerns expressed by the city's planning and design commissions, Kwong said. Any objection period for the project has passed, and the building doesn't need City Council approval.

The building is designed by San Francisco's Kwan Henmi Architects, which also is designing developer Saca's next attempt at a high-rise, The Metropolitan. That project is going through the approval process at Sacramento's design review and planning commissions, city officials said.

If built, Cathedral Square will feature many unobstructed views of the Capitol in 600- to 3,000-square-foot units, with penthouses, oversize windows, 9- or 10-foot tall ceilings and parking in a secured garage. The building will have a swimming pool, a fitness center and a clubhouse for residents. It has 12,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor for a restaurant or shops.

While the developers are taking a different approach than their predecessors, there is the same confidence about delivering the project.

"I believe it will get built," Eggert said. "The condos will be delivered just as the next cycle is heating up."

Cancelled

April 2015 article:

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