Sacramento Proposal/Approval/Construction Thread - III

[Pistola916]

Any idea why vertical construction has stalled at the natural resource building?

It’s been about 2 weeks now and the height remains on the 11-12th floor. It seems they’ll add a few floors and stop for a few weeks before resuming steel construction. I suppose that’s part of their plan.

[Majin]

Someone kill me now

https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramen..._news_headline

[snfenoc]

Someone kill CEQA now. The council will deny the appeal. Then, the union will sue. That will probably get denied (depends on how activist the judge is). Then, the union will appeal to a higher court. 18-month to 2-year delay.

All the while, the union will offer to drop the suit, so long as Nikki Mohanna gives in and lets them charge an arm and a leg to pour some concrete and lay some cable.

You wanna know ONE reason why construction is so expensive?

[Majin]

Originally Posted by snfenoc

Someone kill CEQA now. The council will deny the appeal. Then, the union will sue. That will probably get denied (depends on how activist the judge is). Then, the union will appeal to a higher court. 18-month to 2-year delay.

All the while, the union will offer to drop the suit, so long as Nikki Mohanna gives in and lets them charge an arm and a leg to pour some concrete and lay some cable.

You wanna know ONE reason why construction is so expensive?

I don't agree with your world view in general but we are 100% in agreement on this one.

[snfenoc]

Individual liberty, personal responsibility, small government, and supporting the non-aggression principle whenever possible, what a horrible world view.

[j_deguzman10]

Originally Posted by snfenoc

Someone kill CEQA now. The council will deny the appeal. Then, the union will sue. That will probably get denied (depends on how activist the judge is). Then, the union will appeal to a higher court. 18-month to 2-year delay.

All the while, the union will offer to drop the suit, so long as Nikki Mohanna gives in and lets them charge an arm and a leg to pour some concrete and lay some cable.

You wanna know ONE reason why construction is so expensive?

I'm gonna have to agree with Snfenoc on this one Majin; unions and organizations like the one that was blocking Yamanee are the reasons why Sacramento is lagging so far behind in terms of multifamily growth compared to other cities outside of the state.

[snfenoc]

Majin was agreeing with me. He just disagrees with my belief that government shouldn’t be our collective mommy.

Don’t get me wrong.... The use of CEQA as a pretense to block construction by parties with ulterior motives is just ONE reason why construction prices are ridiculous. ONE reason. There are many other reasons.

Oh, yeah and.... I don’t think that it was a union that tried to block Yamanee. It was a group called Sacramentans for Fair Planning that thought the project was too tall for the area, and it would be a watershed for 100s of other tall luxury apartment towers to sprout up in the “affordable” mid-town area. I think CEQA may have been a part of their overall complaint. However, I think their main argument was that the city violated its own laws by allowing for an exception to the zoning. Of course, the city has a right to review projects on a case by case basis and make decisions that go against the norm. However, it took 2 court hearings and 3 years to establish this plainly clear fact.

[Majin]

I don't understand how if one cases is ultimately thrown out after 3 years, why every other project must go through the same 3 year process to ultimately get thrown out anyway?

Originally Posted by snfenoc

Majin was agreeing with me. He just disagrees with my belief that government shouldn’t be our collective mommy.

Don’t get me wrong.... The use of CEQA as a pretense to block construction by parties with ulterior motives is just ONE reason why construction prices are ridiculous. ONE reason. There are many other reasons.

Oh, yeah and.... I don’t think that it was a union that tried to block Yamanee. It was a group called Sacramentans for Fair Planning that thought the project was too tall for the area, and it would be a watershed for 100s of other tall luxury apartment towers to sprout up in the “affordable” mid-town area. I think CEQA may have been a part of their overall complaint. However, I think their main argument was that the city violated its own laws by allowing for an exception to the zoning. Of course, the city has a right to review projects on a case by case basis and make decisions that go against the norm. However, it took 2 court hearings and 3 years to establish this plainly clear fact.

[TWAK]

There's always somebody or some group that end up stalling every project, it's ridiculous. Either that or they just don't get built after the developer gives up. I bet if less people and groups blocked projects, more buildings would provide ample opportunities for work.
Speaking of construction has anybody seen on foot or drove by the new water complex south of the city? It looks like they are building an olympic complex or something.

[snfenoc]

Originally Posted by Majin

I don't understand how if one cases is ultimately thrown out after 3 years, why every other project must go through the same 3 year process to ultimately get thrown out anyway?

I guess since they’re cases, they’re taken on a case by case basis? There are many ingredients that go into a building. All you have to do is focus on one of those ingredients and you have a case.

[Sac-O-Lantern]

Originally Posted by Majin

I don't understand how if one cases is ultimately thrown out after 3 years, why every other project must go through the same 3 year process to ultimately get thrown out anyway?

There is an endless list of things to sue for under CEQA. This whole particular situation is repeated again and again. I'm aware of another one involving the same law firm and tactic in Vacaville. They don't even need to expect to win in court, the legal costs and delay of defense is just a poker chip to try and get the developer to sign a contract with their union for construction. They don't want to go to court, they just want a union contract.

The unions contribute to the politicians to NOT do any CEQA reform. For example, this project is in Kevin McCarty's district. According to votesmart.org, 6 of his top 10 contributors are trade councils representing construction unions. This is legalized corruption.

I've read a bit of the appeal on the City's website. They're appealing based on the assumption that the project will FOLLOW state regulations regarding formaldehyde levels in building materials. Here's the relevant passage verbatim below:

"Formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen. Mr Offerman states that there is a fair argument that future residents of the project will be exposed to a cancer risk from formaldehyde of approximately 125 per million, assuming all materials are compliant with the California Air Resources Board's ("CARB") formaldehyde airborne toxics control measure."

This is how poor the rule of law is in actual practice in this domain, and how screwed up CEQA is. This project is about to get sued based on an assumption that the developer will follow the building regulations.

[Sac-O-Lantern]

Originally Posted by Majin

https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramen..._news_headline

On a more positive note, the apparently imminent start of construction on part of Sacramento Commons is great news. Bringing residents, and a tiny bit of retail, to this state office building dominated part of downtown is very positive.

[SacTownAndy]

Originally Posted by TWAK

Speaking of construction has anybody seen on foot or drove by the new water complex south of the city? It looks like they are building an olympic complex or something.

Where is it? Weren't they building something like in Elk Grove?

[urban_encounter]

Originally Posted by snfenoc

Individual liberty, personal responsibility, small government, and supporting the non-aggression principle whenever possible, what a horrible world view.

I’ll drink to that Steve.

(Meaning that’s a world view i can embrace)

[urban_encounter]

Originally Posted by Pistola916

Any idea why vertical construction has stalled at the natural resource building?

It’s been about 2 weeks now and the height remains on the 11-12th floor. It seems they’ll add a few floors and stop for a few weeks before resuming steel construction. I suppose that’s part of their plan.

All three state buildings under construction had activity going on this past weekend. The crane was in use on Saturday at the Natural Resources building.

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by SacTownAndy

Where is it? Weren't they building something like in Elk Grove?

It's in the unincorporated area between Sac and Elk Grove
https://www.regionalsan.com/echowater-project
I like projects of all kinds!

[CAGeoNerd]

Originally Posted by snfenoc

Individual liberty, personal responsibility, small government, and supporting the non-aggression principle whenever possible, what a horrible world view.

Sounds great until you actually have to organize as a society in the real world.

[snfenoc]

Originally Posted by CAGeoNerd

Sounds great until you actually have to organize as a society in the real world.

Typical response. “If it weren’t for government, we’d all be dead!”

Please note, I did not say “no government”; I said “small government”. Nothing results in perfection, including big or small governments. There will always be the haves and the have nots. There will always be people who take advantage. It’s a fact of life. Perfection is Utopia. And Utopia is “no where”.

History and current events show this quite clearly. In an imperfect world I would rather have more liberty and agency than I do now.

Anyway, some potentially good, but maddening, news...

Remember the fairly large apartment proposal at 1220 H Street (near 12th and H)? It was held up by the city for historic designation review. The developer said that the city missed the 45-day window for having that review and filed a lawsuit to stop the review process and allow for permitting. He stated that a long review process could make the project too expensive to build, due to rapidly rising construction costs.

Well, the developer has dropped the lawsuit and resubmitted a new design.

I guess the Sac Mod group and our good friend, wburg, were at it again: They pushed to force a historic designation on the 2-story, 1950s pile of vomit that currently occupies the site. Instead of fighting the busy bodies, which is always tempting, the developer decided to work with them (as if they should even have a say on a property they don’t own). The new plans call to preserve most of the swingin’ mid-century craphole in the front and construct the apartments (109 of them) in the back.

Instead of having new, street-level retail, the offices will likely remain.

At least it’ll have 12 MORE apartments than the previous proposal since the new design has a higher proportion of studio units.

According to the developer, “We’re trying to bring some needed housing to Sacramento, especially downtown Sacramento.”

I love how a developer is trying to meet demand and get people a roof over their heads, while the historians are trying to save a waste of space (a waste of space that they DON’T OWN, might I add), by forcing an unwanted historic designation down the developer’s throat.

I think I remember predicting that the historians would put up a fuss... Just sayin’.

We shall see how this turns out. The developer has not released a construction cost estimate. I am sure it’ll be astronomical. Maybe a union or two can stick their collective hands out and drive things even higher. (Here’s hoping .) Then, nothing will get built, and we’ll all be homeless. I guess that’s a small price to pay so the activists can make their (score some) points and feel all warm inside, huh?

The developer also doesn’t know what the timeline will be, stating that, “There are too many uncertainties in this business.” Yeah, no f$&king kidding. You never know what group wants to seize some little bit of power, so they can feel good about their lack of human value. Well, there’s only so much time to get a project built. I certainly hope this little display of power by the historians didn’t close a window for more housing downtown.

Oh yeah, the new rendering looks quite meh. I guess it’ll match the 2-story meh office building that just had to be saved.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramen..._news_headline

[novatone82]

Originally Posted by Pistola916

Any idea why vertical construction has stalled at the natural resource building?

It’s been about 2 weeks now and the height remains on the 11-12th floor. It seems they’ll add a few floors and stop for a few weeks before resuming steel construction. I suppose that’s part of their plan.

ANY NEWS ON WHY THE NATURAL RESOURCE BUILDING STOP GOING UP ????

[snfenoc]

Here's a new proposal:

Residential, retail project planned on Broadway near light rail
By Ben van der Meer – Staff Writer, Sacramento Business Journal
July 25, 2019

https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramen..._news_headline

Called The Fitzgerald, the five-story project at 1827 Broadway would have 51 market-rate apartments above 7,543 square feet of retail space.

Vrilakas Groen Architects submitted the proposal last week on behalf of Utah-based Trondheim Properties, which owns the property, currently filled by a single-story restaurant/bar building.

32 Studio Units
15 1-Bedroom Units
4 2-Bedroom Units

First-floor retail would be on Broadway and wrap around on 19th Street.



I believe this is the building that it would be replacing:


This is a prime but unique example of a the Mid-Century’s cheesy take on Old World European styling. I think it needs to be saved. Screw adding more desperately needed housing. Mid Mods and wburg, get to work. Save this cheesy building now!