Sacramento Proposal/Approval/Construction Thread - III

[urbanadvocate]

I have heard rumors that Kaiser is getting ready to make a very large proposal at the railyards (this in addition to the new medical offices across the arena site. Anybody else hear anything about this? Personally I wish they would develop further north along Richards which is already not pedestrian friendly but has easy access to freeways.

[Deno]

I thought Kaiser might develop the Natomas sleep train arena property.

[ozone]

Originally Posted by urbanadvocate

I have heard rumors that Kaiser is getting ready to make a very large proposal at the railyards (this in addition to the new medical offices across the arena site. Anybody else hear anything about this? Personally I wish they would develop further north along Richards which is already not pedestrian friendly but has easy access to freeways.

This is the first I've heard of this. I'm having a hard time imagining what it might be. I know the City is keen on adding a hospital to Natomas and there's land and infrastructure ready for it. And with Sutter, Mercy and UCD Med Center already servicing the Central City I don't think we need another one. It would be great if they moved their HQ here though.

[urbanadvocate]

Originally Posted by Deno

I thought Kaiser might develop the Natomas sleep train arena property.

From what I am hearing (unconfirmed source) Kaiser is no longer interested in Natomas and feel the railyards allow them to service a larger population. Additionally they have a reputation for scoping an area out by first building a medical office (like they are now doing on J street) before a larger development. Once again unconfirmed and no actual sources other than an "insider" into Kaiser. Might be rumor but I am starting to think it is more than that.

[creamcityleo79]

Originally Posted by ozone

This is the first I've heard of this. I'm having a hard time imagining what it might be. I know the City is keen on adding a hospital to Natomas and there's land and infrastructure ready for it. And with Sutter, Mercy and UCD Med Center already servicing the Central City I don't think we need another one. It would be great if they moved their HQ here though.

This will probably not happen. But, it would be one of the biggest developments in recent Sacramento history!!!

[urbanadvocate]

Originally Posted by creamcityleo79

This will probably not happen. But, it would be one of the biggest developments in recent Sacramento history!!!

From what I hear Kaiser is already looking at entitlements--but I don't know exactly what area of the r-yards.

[creamcityleo79]

Originally Posted by urbanadvocate

From what I hear Kaiser is already looking at entitlements--but I don't know exactly what area of the r-yards.

I meant the HQ. I mean, really...if that happened...SUPER EPIC AMAZINGNESS would transpire!!!

[wburg]

I can't really envision a new Kaiser campus being the biggest thing Sacramento had ever seen, considering we already have a couple of Kaiser campuses and a few other hospitals. I have heard a few reports about this too, they bought the building at 6th and J to use as a medical office building, and there were noises about a Kaiser campus to replace Kaiser Morse as it will not meet earthquake standards in a decade or so. As to the location, there are plenty of hospitals in Midtown/East Sacramento but none downtown--the last time there was a hospital there was probably the old Southern Pacific employee hospital in the railyards, quite a few decades ago! If Kaiser did decide to locate there, it would be an additional employment center, create more demand for Railyards housing, and if they're thinking of a downtown location one can assume they're optimistic about the potential for a lot more residential downtown in general and in the Railyards in particular. But I doubt they have much reason to relocate their corporate headquarters to Sacramento from Oakland.

Still hoping for a college campus in the Railyards, as part of the semi-stereotypical "eds and meds" method of developing downtown economies, probably in the form of that theoretical UC Davis Food Center. But still crossing my fingers for a university campus with an undergrad program, as that would call for student residential housing (while the plethora of small grad-student campuses downtown are commuter campuses.)

[creamcityleo79]

Originally Posted by wburg

I can't really envision a new Kaiser campus being the biggest thing Sacramento had ever seen, considering we already have a couple of Kaiser campuses and a few other hospitals. I have heard a few reports about this too, they bought the building at 6th and J to use as a medical office building, and there were noises about a Kaiser campus to replace Kaiser Morse as it will not meet earthquake standards in a decade or so. As to the location, there are plenty of hospitals in Midtown/East Sacramento but none downtown--the last time there was a hospital there was probably the old Southern Pacific employee hospital in the railyards, quite a few decades ago! If Kaiser did decide to locate there, it would be an additional employment center, create more demand for Railyards housing, and if they're thinking of a downtown location one can assume they're optimistic about the potential for a lot more residential downtown in general and in the Railyards in particular. But I doubt they have much reason to relocate their corporate headquarters to Sacramento from Oakland.

Still hoping for a college campus in the Railyards, as part of the semi-stereotypical "eds and meds" method of developing downtown economies, probably in the form of that theoretical UC Davis Food Center. But still crossing my fingers for a university campus with an undergrad program, as that would call for student residential housing (while the plethora of small grad-student campuses downtown are commuter campuses.)

For the record, I meant that if they move their HQ to Sacramento...which I don't think will happen. But, if they did, it would be a big deal!

[Pistola916]

Vanir Tower is expected to break ground in 2016, according to a recent blog post in The Architects Newspaper

Also the Vanir Tower website is up.



UNVEILED> 601 J STREETPei Cobb Freed's tilted tower to rise in Downtown Sacramento.

With construction on a new AECOM-designed arena underway, downtown Sacramento is poised for a comeback. The latest entrant in the race to recapture the city’s business district is a glassy tower developed by Vanir Development Company (which will locate its headquarters there), designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners (PCF). The building will consist mostly of offices with two restaurants and a café on the ground floor.

Characterized by a bold geometric facade, the building nevertheless remains sensitive to the surrounding urban fabric. “The balance between iconic forms that give skyline presence, and how the building transforms as it comes to the ground to respond to the context, is fundamental to the design,” explained PCF’s Michael Bischoff.

The tower’s north and south facades form parallelograms, canted to respond to traffic flows along the adjacent streets. Because those streets run in opposite directions, the parallelograms lean against one another. The resulting tension is resolved by diagonal folds along the east and west facades.

Engaged with the base of the 26-story building is a metal-panel-clad parking podium, set back in deference to an old bank building to the east. The southwest corner of the tower pays homage to another historic neighbor, the Scientology building across J Street, with a street-level plaza. “Creating a public open space in response to the Scientology building was an important gesture, showing that our building was not trying to diminish it,” said Bischoff.

Of course, no design for Sacramento would be complete without a reference to the new Kings arena, just to the south of Vanir’s site. In the plan, the angled face defining the southwest corner of the tower points toward the center of the arena. “Our goal was to be both deferential to historic buildings and architecturally responsive to the development of the new arena,” said Bischoff.

Work on the tower is expected to begin in 2016, with completion by 2018.

[Majin]

Glad so far it seems this will get built, but I really want to see some progress on some residential towers.

[Pistola916]

http://www.sactownmag.com/Blog/2015/...n-Plaza-Hotel/

[CAGeoNerd]

Originally Posted by Pistola916

Vanir Tower is expected to break ground in 2016, according to a recent blog post in The Architects Newspaper



UNVEILED> 601 J STREETPei Cobb Freed's tilted tower to rise in Downtown Sacramento.

With construction on a new AECOM-designed arena underway, downtown Sacramento is poised for a comeback. The latest entrant in the race to recapture the city’s business district is a glassy tower developed by Vanir Development Company (which will locate its headquarters there), designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners (PCF). The building will consist mostly of offices with two restaurants and a café on the ground floor.

Characterized by a bold geometric facade, the building nevertheless remains sensitive to the surrounding urban fabric. “The balance between iconic forms that give skyline presence, and how the building transforms as it comes to the ground to respond to the context, is fundamental to the design,” explained PCF’s Michael Bischoff.

The tower’s north and south facades form parallelograms, canted to respond to traffic flows along the adjacent streets. Because those streets run in opposite directions, the parallelograms lean against one another. The resulting tension is resolved by diagonal folds along the east and west facades.

Engaged with the base of the 26-story building is a metal-panel-clad parking podium, set back in deference to an old bank building to the east. The southwest corner of the tower pays homage to another historic neighbor, the Scientology building across J Street, with a street-level plaza. “Creating a public open space in response to the Scientology building was an important gesture, showing that our building was not trying to diminish it,” said Bischoff.

Of course, no design for Sacramento would be complete without a reference to the new Kings arena, just to the south of Vanir’s site. In the plan, the angled face defining the southwest corner of the tower points toward the center of the arena. “Our goal was to be both deferential to historic buildings and architecturally responsive to the development of the new arena,” said Bischoff.

Work on the tower is expected to begin in 2016, with completion by 2018.

Awwwwesome.

[Pistola916]

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacrament...up.html?page=2

[Majin]

http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/...e18649035.html

I knew something was going on here. Original contractors were fired and replaced. Also there have been some design tweaks. Hopefully it will look better now and this has been a blessing in disguise. The project is doing to have it's THIRD groundbreaking in Summer.... lets see if it gets delayed again...

[wburg]

Not necessarily a development project, but while wandering around recently, I noticed that the Whiskey Hill Lofts, the rehabbed tilt-up office building at 21st and S and the four-unit buildings on its former parking lot, now have a sales office instead of a rental office. They were built to be sold as condos before the market crash, but ended up being leased as rentals since construction. Now they're up for sale. I wonder if some of the other buildings originally intended to be condos but used as rentals (like Alexan Midtown) will start selling units now that the market seems to have hit an upturn, and these condo units hit the 10 year old mark?

[enigma99a]

Originally Posted by Majin

http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/...e18649035.html

I knew something was going on here. Original contractors were fired and replaced. Also there have been some design tweaks. Hopefully it will look better now and this has been a blessing in disguise. The project is doing to have it's THIRD groundbreaking in Summer.... lets see if it gets delayed again...

Could be worse. At least it is not shipping containers

[ozone]

Originally Posted by Majin

http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/...e18649035.html

I knew something was going on here. Original contractors were fired and replaced. Also there have been some design tweaks. Hopefully it will look better now and this has been a blessing in disguise. The project is doing to have it's THIRD groundbreaking in Summer.... lets see if it gets delayed again...

Jeesh. I didn't read the article (because it's in the Bee). Did they say what the problems were with the contractor? I hope you are right about the design. The current design looks to much like an office building to me.

[ozone]

Vanir’s tower is yet another missed opportunity. Yes, it's a very welcomed infill. Cheers to that! But the design is not a game changer and it's seems kind of dated, which is not surprising since it's by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. If I were building my company's HQ/signature tower I'd want to make a real statement. But I hope I end up eating my words.

[Majin]

Originally Posted by ozone

Jeesh. I didn't read the article (because it's in the Bee). Did they say what the problems were with the contractor? I hope you are right about the design. The current design looks to much like an office building to me.

The schedule (which I assume to mean they were too slow), and they even admit the building didn't look like residential in the article I believe. Hopefully it looks softer, more open, and more exposed windows.