West Sacramento OKs land buy for riverfront hotel
blindelof@sacbee.com
Published Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010
The City of West Sacramento is moving closer to having a big hotel on its riverfront.
The City Council, acting as the West Sacramento Finance Authority, on Wednesday authorized the purchase of 4.6 acres of land for nearly $9.6 million from Raley's.
The land is between the 11-story, ziggurat-shaped office building built by the Money Store and the Tower Bridge.
"We will have a tremendous view of the whole Sacramento skyline," said Tina Gontarski, community development director.
The Finance Authority, a joint powers body of the city and the West Sacramento Redevelopment Agency, also gave the go-ahead to execute a loan agreement with Consus Asset Management, a South Korean real estate investment trust.
The agreement would be for $12 million for site acquisition and the design of the hotel.
"This is a very big step," said Paul Blumberg, project manager for the city.
A development plan calls for the Finance Authority to own the hotel. It would be managed by a not-yet-named hotel operator.
Blumberg said the purchase of the land includes the Raley's boat dock. Construction of the hotel is scheduled to begin in mid-2011 with opening in early 2013.
By the end of the year, the city hopes to complete the conceptual design of the hotel. Bonds would be issued by the end of the year.
The 300-room hotel is planned to have 15,000-square-feet of meeting space. The hotel, with a high end restaurant, could be as tall as 16 stories.
The authority has been pursuing a high-rise hotel at the site north of the Tower Bridge since 2007. An earlier partner with the city in the proposed hotel endeavor ceased involvement in the project when the firm's purchase option ran out.
A city report, in part, blames the recession in the hospitality industry for that effort not going forward.
Earlier this year, Parkcrest Development presented the Finance Authority with the proposal that includes Consus Asset Management's involvement.