217 units on 8.2 aces comes to 26 DUH...not bad for SFHs. More density would have been nice, but at least it gets rid of a lifeless building and replaces it with housing close to the CBD. Glad to hear they are including at least a little bit of retail as well.
Plus it sounds like they might be affordable for a larger market of people, including state workers.
217 homes planned for former Crystal Cream site
Subsidy-free project aims for nearby public employees
Sacramento Business Journal - by Michael Shaw Staff writer
A developer that’s already entered Sacramento’s infill residential market claims it can deliver new loft housing for about $300,000 — without public subsidies — at the old Crystal Cream & Butter Co. site near downtown Sacramento.
That means a virtually unheard of construction cost of $100 to $125 per square foot for loft units, one type of housing envisioned there.
San Diego-based MetroNova Development LLC and its designer, PHA Architects of Sacramento, have proposed 217 closely packed single-family homes as well as about 90,000 square feet of office space in a project dubbed “The Creamery” on D Street. Their ideal homebuyers are downtown employees who want to walk just a few blocks to work.
The cost for infill housing of this type has traditionally been much higher than the $125-per-square-foot target, but MetroNova and PHA have been continually checking with contractors to make sure the idea is still reasonable.
“That’s quite a bit lower than I’d expect,” said Bob Walter, founder of RJ Walter Homes and a longtime builder of infill housing, of the target construction price for the lofts. “It’s times like these when our industry gets very creative. It says a lot about that location that developers and banks will take a risk in this market.”
The developers expect to save through innovative design.
“‘Work force housing’ is a term like ‘low-income housing’ that’s been denigrated,” said Craig Hausman, an architect with PHA. “We’re not using any subsidies, so how it’s designed makes a big difference.”
The firm has created a mix of lofts, row houses and half-plexes, with money-saving designs. Besides homes, MetroNova is proposing a stretch of artists’ studios and two large commercial buildings. The homes range from an 800-square-foot, one-bedroom loft to a 1,700-square-foot row house.
All of the housing will be for-sale homes built to the edge of their lots or attached. The office buildings also are being designed as condos to be sold, not leased. Plans call for a small portion of the commercial space to be neighborhood-serving retail.
The project is expected to go to the city planning commission next month and to the design commission shortly after, said Evan Compton, a senior planner with the city. The Creamery will need general and community plan updates and rezoning from industrial to a mix of housing and commercial. If approved by the City Council, construction is planned for spring.
Demolition work has already started because scavengers stripped the old Crystal Cream buildings of copper tubing and other materials, making them unsafe. Crystal Cream set up at the site in 1911 and operated for many years before moving operations to south Sacramento. The dairy company sold the 8.2-acre site early last year.
MetroNova is the developer behind the Tapestri Square brownstones in midtown, which are aimed at more of a luxury market than The Creamery. That project and other infill developments have been hit hard by the housing downturn as an anticipated wave of migration from the suburbs to the city has been reduced to a trickle. Sacramento developer Anthony Giannoni is one of the company’s principals. Other partners on The Creamery project include contractor Brown Construction Inc. and structural engineer Kit Miyamoto.
The project’s designs have been warmly received by the residents, said Sean Wright, president of the Alkali and Mansion Flats Historic Neighborhood Association. As a resident of the neighborhood for more than 20 years, Wright said he welcomes the arrival of single-family housing.
“I’m speaking for the community, but also as a resident,” he said. “In this neighborhood, there is about 80 percent rentals. That doesn’t offer a stable community. We’ve been plagued by a transient population.”
He said the designs will be compatible with the Victorian houses in that neighborhood but won’t try to imitate that style.
Housing is also a relief after the site had been used for years as a fueling station for the dairy company’s trucks, and residents had to maneuver around the idling vehicles in their neighborhood.
“We are very happy with the designs,” he said.
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And it only took 6 1/2 years to get here... damn I'm getting old.
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