State of Downtown Sacramento 2023 highlights upcoming projects
SACRAMENTO -- The annual State of Downtown Sacramento is a chance to take a look at what's been done and what needs to be done to welcome people back. This year's event was held at the newly-renovated SAFE Credit Union Convention Center.
Michael Ault is from the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, which sponsored the event, and he thinks it's time to recognize accomplishments. He said, " Look ahead in a couple weeks... We're hosting March Madness in Sac. We haven't had that since 2017. A lot of big events coming this summer."
This comes after Aftershock announced that Guns N' Roses will be its headlining act to close out the final day of the festival.
Some of the hurdles to success include hotel occupancy rates. Although there was a spike in the third quarter of last year, there is still a long way to go. According to Visit Sacramento, Downtown Austin has 17,000 hotel rooms, Indiana has 12,000, and downtown Sacramento has just under 400.
Mike Testa from Visit Sacramento said, "It's hard to borrow money right now, with interest rates so high."
They have heard from builders saying they're still very interested in Sacramento but they have to wait until the rates come down.
Keynote speaker, Brent Toderian, is a former city planner from Vancouver with decades of experience working all over the world. He says that cities are grappling with the crises of mental health, drug addiction, and homelessness. However, he was surprised with Sacramento.
"I'm amazed at the level of investment over decades in sport, culture, civic, and convention. These are things other downtowns are still working on," said Toderian.
He also highlighted that there is room for improvement when it comes to making the capital city less car-specific.
"It's a very big thing... how to take advantage of the moves you've already made. You've got these incredible assets like Old Sac, but you could still do better in terms of connecting them."
According to Mayor Darrell Steinberg, foot traffic is 75% of where it was pre-pandemic. This is something other larger urban centers, like San Jose, have yet to achieve.