As the government and private sectors grow jobs in the downtown core, the availability of housing is vital and it appears to be meeting the challenge, and one hopes the housing struggles can be addressed, whether through auction or normal sales.
City core is hopping with new, urban infill homes
By Mary Lynne Vellinga - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Driving around Sacramento's urban core, you'd never guess there was a housing market slump.
New lofts, three-story row houses and condominiums conceived during the housing boom are nearing completion in neighborhoods ringing downtown.
Some have attracted surprising interest, given the region's depressed home sales. At 18th and L streets, for example, one buyer is spending $2 million to combine two loft penthouses into a more spacious one.
At least eight housing developments with about 500 units are either under construction or just completed in the central city. Across the Tower Bridge on the West Sacramento waterfront, another roughly 250 units either have hit the market or soon will.
Unlike previous central city projects, nearly all of the new units coming on line are for sale, not for rent. Most were built without public subsidy.
An exception is the Globe Mills project at 12th and C streets in Alkali Flat, which received $19 million in redevelopment funds. Developer Skip Rosenbloom and architect Michael Malinowski are winning accolades for their striking renovation of the old grain elevators and mill into rental units for low- and moderate-income tenants.
