Infamous vacant lot on Sacramento's Capitol Mall for sale again
SACRAMENTO — After a couple of false starts over the last two decades, one of the most coveted pieces of Sacramento real estate is back on the market.
Sitting on a corner of 3rd Street, 301 Capitol Mall is the site of two of the most ambitious yet unsuccessful capital project proposals in city history.
Developer John Saca's Capitol Towers — built with funding from CalPers — were slated to be the highest residential towers on the west coast before he pulled out of the project, leaving still-visible pylons in the ground. CalPers took over the land and proposed an office tower that would've been the tallest in the city but a variety of factors scuttled the project.
With development returning to the capital region after a lull during the pandemic, the Greater Sacramento Economic Council said now is the best time to make a statement.
"If any developer comes in it's an opportunity and a gold mine right now," says Michelle Willard, Chief Public Affairs Officer for GSEC. "When people see that building when they're driving up it'll change how they think and feel about our city.:
The GSEC believes a tradeable sector anchor tenant in a mixed-use development is just what the city needs. Life sciences specifically are a rapidly growing source of capital and business in the region.
"Traditionally in Sacramento, a lot of our Class A office space is government buildings," says Willard. "So our developer already has the contract in place and knows what they need. We would love more developers to be proactive in building things because if you build it the people will come."
Over at the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, Economic Development Director Scott Ford feels that the influx of residential buildings in downtown is essential to the core's revival.
"The most important thing is to continue to infill with great residential density and complement a lot of the existing projects we have," he says. "We got capital markets looking at Sacramento that 5-10 years ago probably we weren't on the radar for."
"I definitely think there is a huge demand for residential so I don't think [a] high rise is out of the question," Ford continues. "Just kitty corner to that location, we're seeing the Lot X proposal -- Southern Land of course -- a 32-story high rise is a part of that project. That bodes well for what we may see proposed at that property there. So fingers crossed we see a proposal for a landmark property there."
301 Capitol Mall is just one of a handful of sites currently on the market. 927 10th St, the site of another John Saca high-rise proposal, the Metropolitan Tower, is now on the market with active entitlements. There are also a variety of open lots in the J and K street areas that are ripe for development opportunities, something that isn't lost on Ford.
"You know that those are once-in-a-lifetime pieces of real estate that are going to impact generations for years to come," Ford said.
