Some tidbits from Bob Shallit's column:
Quote:
At least one national company sees a bright future for Sacramento's troubled K Street Mall.
USAA Real Estate Co., a San Antonio-based division of the military-focused financial services firm, recently completed its purchase of the landmark Renaissance Tower building at 801 K.
The sales price? Undisclosed but likely just below $90 million.
"We like the momentum we're seeing on K Street and the city's commitment to that area, especially the 700 and 800 blocks," says Sam Mitts, executive managing director of the USAA division that owns and manages about $4 billion worth of properties.
USAA and a partner, Canadian real estate investor SITQ, emerged as the high bidder among 10 that made offers to Indianapolis-based HDG Mansur, a global real estate investment company that purchased the tower in 2005 for $79.3 million.
Staffers of commercial brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle in San Francisco and Sacramento handled the sale.
Mitts says the new owners are planning to make the building "greener" by introducing energy-saving features. They're also seeking a tenant for the 28-story building's largest and most glaring vacancy – a 12,000-square-foot retail space that once housed a restaurant.
* * *
Readers weep: Roseville will be down one bookstore after the Borders store in the Westfield Galleria mall closes on Saturday.
The store was "underperforming," a spokeswoman says, and fell victim to a companywide effort to regain profitability by reducing marginal locations.
Only a handful of Borders stores are being closed nationally, but nearly half of the company's Waldenbooks outlets will be shuttered in the "right-sizing" effort, says Borders' Kolleen O'Meara.
Why would a Borders do poorly in such a successful mall?
Galleria spokeswoman Stephanie Ringey has no answer, but notes the company has a bustling store on Douglas Boulevard, less than two miles away. There's also a busy Barnes & Noble outlet right across the street from the Galleria.
Could be the area is just overbooked.
But Ringey isn't ruling out the possibility that another bookstore could enter the mall as part of a major expansion.
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Hmmm...maybe not all is as rosy in Roseville as Westfield would lead us to believe. Maybe Borders should move to the ground floor of the Darth Vader Building?
About maximum height limits: While I think there are places for height limits (residential neighborhoods, historic districts, selected view corridors) the CBD certainly isn't one of them. Real protection for historic downtown buildings should be enforced via landmark status and minimum maintenance standards, not forcing new construction in the place where things really SHOULD be tall to hunch their shoulders under a height limit.
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