Sacramento Proposal/Approval/Construction Thread - III - Page 163

snfenoc · #**3241** Posted **Jun 2, 2008, 11:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldcntry

Great shots snfenoc... but I have one question:

How in the Heck did you avoid the photo-hog prima donna Darth Vader building???

Editing. I had to throw out 99% of my shots.

goldcntry · #**3242** Posted **Jun 3, 2008, 6:04 PM**

creamcityleo79 · #**3243** Posted **Jun 11, 2008, 8:04 PM**

I thought this was kind of cool.

Quote:

City launches Web portal with information on projects under review
Sacramento Business Journal - by Michael Shaw Staff writer

The city of Sacramento has launched a new service that uses Google Map technology to provide the public with information about development projects submitted to the city. The new service is available online at www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/reference/maps/active-projects.

Users can see specific information about a project as well as a map showing all projects citywide. Clicking on a project will display relevant information. The map will be updated monthly.

The city plans to add projects going through the design review or preservation application process by the end of the year.

ltsmotorsport · #**3244** Posted **Jun 17, 2008, 5:02 PM**

So is anyone free to check out the council meeting tomorrow night for the Metropolitan? I'm interested to see what changes Saca might have done to make it "less sleek".

Maybe he added some more height to spite the council.

urban_encounter · #**3245** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 3:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ltsmotorsport

So is anyone free to check out the council meeting tomorrow night for the Metropolitan? I'm interested to see what changes Saca might have done to make it "less sleek".

Maybe he added some more height to spite the council.

It's going before Design Review, not the council, (in case anybody was wondering)..

Cynikal · #**3246** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 3:28 AM**

Metropolitan shouldn't be going to council if memory serves. I don't think there was an appeal filed or a call up by council. I'll look into that.

urban_encounter · #**3247** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 5:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cynikal

Metropolitan shouldn't be going to council if memory serves. I don't think there was an appeal filed or a call up by council. I'll look into that.

The Metroplitan was already called up for council review, due to an appeal and Mayor Fargo's statement that she will call up every large project until height limits are established in the central city.

The council directed the project go back through Design Review and the planning commission.

Once it clears those two government bodies look for the council to take another look at it, just to ensure their views of the Capitol Dome aren't blocked.

snfenoc · #**3248** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 6:47 AM**

Checked tomorrow's agenda for the Design Commission - No mention of the Metropolitan.

Checked the agendas for the Planning Commission and found a mention on the May 22 agenda . I also checked the Minutes from that meeting and found the Metropolitan was approved with amended conditions. After looking at the staff report (you can download it from the agenda page), the Metropolitan does not look different.

Am I missing something?

Cynikal · #**3249** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 4:56 PM**

Metropolitan was pulled off of the Design Commission agenda for tonight because the Planning Commission decision was appealed by Kopper. The Design Commission will hear the item at the next meeting following the Council date. I don't think it currently has a date scheduled.

But if you want to attend tonight anyway, Target on Riverside and Broadway is going and should bring the usual dialog from the LPNA.

Trojan · #**3250** Posted **Jun 21, 2008, 11:42 PM**

I am curious about what is being built on Capitol and 20th or so? I don't know the exact cross street, but it looks like an old Auto shop is being torn down?

ozone · #**3251** Posted **Jun 22, 2008, 2:55 PM**

Yep I was really surprised to see that yesterday morning on my way to work. Thought they would leave the Mission-style facade -but by early afternoon the entire lot was down. Mike Heller who is the guy behind the MARRS project is planning something -but as far as I know there is nothing yet proposed and approved. I suspect that they moved fast on the demo because there was some talk about the historical value of the building and they might have worried that the preservationists would hold up the project -increasing the costs, or be made to change their plans. I'd be interested to get wburg's take on that.

wburg · #**3252** Posted **Jun 22, 2008, 3:25 PM**

My take is "WTF"?

Apparently they got a demo I&R through, which is nonsense because that building is (well, was) a listed city landmark structure. It was about a century old. You can't just knock a building down, especially a landmark, you have to get permission to do so from the city. I'm pretty surprised that this was resolved at staff level--I assume there was some political pressure to push it through rather than have it go to Preservation Commission hearing.

Cynikal · #**3253** Posted **Jun 22, 2008, 3:43 PM**

I was surprise at how fast that Demo I&R went through. I don't think its been 45 days. I also drove by yesterday and stopped and watched. I frequented Steve Rex's shop for years and was really sad to see it being torn down.

Heller is planning a 4 story building with similar to MAARS in use but very different in design. There are no renderings yet, but they have a concept in mind.

They will have significant parking issues with that site and I'm curious how they will combat that. The neighborhood groups will be watching this one closely I'm sure.

wburg · #**3254** Posted **Jun 22, 2008, 5:04 PM**

There was a brief mention of it a while back on David Watts Barton's blog:

Quote:

A few blocks away, at 20th and Capitol, another businessman who has long defined midtown - bicycle manufacturer and all-around repair guy Steve Rex - is being booted out of his all-too-central location to make room for a new Mike Heller development. Rex, who has been at the location seemingly forever, will be moving over to 18th and E Street, near the New Roma Bakery at the end of May.

According to Rex, Heller and partner Paul Thiebaud (son of...) are going to build a "heritage building" in honor of their developer and painter fathers. According to Rex, Heller and Thiebaud plan to tear down the more than 100-year-old building that has long housed both Rex Cycles and A&A Auto Repair, a building that was originally built as a livery just as the "horseless carriage" era dawned.

Will the city building department that routinely makes life so difficult for some people to change the slightest thing on buildings half its age allow Heller to tear this one down? It's not a good-looking building right now - the place doesn't appear to have been repainted since it was built - but perhaps at least the facade could be combined, post-modern-style, into what ever Heller has planned? I say this will full recognition of the great work Heller has done around town, most notably his excellent transformation of an old storage facility into the dazzling MARRS Building further down 20th, at J. And the "heritage" hook is hearsay, admittedly. But what about our heritage? I'm not particularly versed in this, and I'm happy to be corrected by Messrs. Heller or Thiebaud. But this isn't looking great from street level, guys. At least, not yet.

http://bloggingthegrid.blogspot.com/2008/04/second-saturday-morning.html

BrianSac · #**3255** Posted **Jun 23, 2008, 1:01 AM**

^^^^^
Are we talking the southwest corner of 20th and Capitol?

I have always thought that would be good lot for a more attractive mixed-use development.

I recall a "toolshed like" one-story building on that lot. It appeared to have aluminum siding or tin siding all up and around it. I don't recall a Mission style building there. I could be mistaken of course.

wburg · #**3256** Posted **Jun 23, 2008, 1:09 AM**

From the David Watts Barton weblog.

Not exactly a Mission-style building, but not aluminum siding either.

SactownTom · #**3257** Posted **Jun 23, 2008, 2:54 AM**

This is a f*cking outrage. I can't believe they were allowed to demolish that building? Who allowed this to happen?

BrianSac · #**3258** Posted **Jun 23, 2008, 5:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wburg

From the David Watts Barton weblog.

Not exactly a Mission-style building, but not aluminum siding either.

Wburg, Thanks for posting the pic. So what style is that? "The Old West", looks like a saloon or hardware store could have been there. I hope they make this a mixed-use edifice, at least 4 stories.

wburg · #**3259** Posted **Jun 23, 2008, 5:04 PM**

The north facing (on the right) does have Mission features (the overarching shape of the roof and the diamond-shaped accents around the roof vent) that would be in line with what I have head about the buidling's construction date. Mission Revival is certainly a possible style from what I have heard about the construction date of the building (1890s.)

People associate false-front buildings generically with the "Old West" due to their use in old westerns, but often buildings of that simple style appear in moveis because they're cheaper to construct than the scrollwork-heavy Italianate and Queen Anne styles that most western cities threw up pretty quickly. My guess is that the building was a livery stable or blacksmith shop, later becoming a bicycle and automotive shop.

I had kind of hoped to do a full assessment and building history, but there's no building now so there isn't much point, other than a postmortem of sorts.

edit: According to the Sanborn map, there were a couple of small, probably residential structures there in 1895. By 1915 there were two adjacent buildings: a Chinese laundry on the corner, and a veterinary hospital next to the tracks (which went in around 1909.) The corner cut-out wasn't there yet. At some point after 1915 but before 1950, the buildings were consolidated into a single business, an auto body/painting and auto upholstery shop. The upholstery shop was where Rex Cycle was located.

I'm going to have to look into this a bit further: at a couple of points in Sacramento history, adding "Old West" elements to a building became temporarily popular. The earliest was in the 1920s, during the "Days of '49" celebrations on the grounds of where the Southern Pacific passenger station is now. The other was during the "Roaring Camp" summer in 1939. A lot of businesses, hoping to get extra attention from the many tourists there for Roaring Camp and the giant 1939 State Fair events that went on all summer long, renamed themselves or redecorated in an "Old West" theme. The Clayton Hotel was renamed the Marshall Hotel (after James Marshall,) a lot of places took on the name "Sutter" this-or-that, and some businesses made an effort to "Westernize" their facades. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the corner facade was the result of such a "renovation."

Hm. If I get some time tomorrow I may have to go hit up the city directories...

ltsmotorsport · #**3260** Posted **Jun 24, 2008, 8:53 PM**

Can't say I will really miss this one. Sure it was an old building, but it didn't look like it had much going for it other than that. The facade was cheap and the building itself hardly meets the street at all. Like Brian said, something at least four stories would be nice. Are there any documents at all as to what might go in there or is it too early?