The saga continues with this latest perambulation.
Daniel Weintraub: Railyard project developer runs into a brick wall
By Daniel Weintraub -
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, October 18, 2007
Although the railyard on the northern edge of downtown Sacramento was once the center of industry in the region, for decades it has been a blight on the neighborhood, its abandoned buildings crumbling while toxic waste seeped into the soil below.
Developers and potential investors came and went, promising to buy the contaminated land from the railroad, clean it up and turn it into something special. But none of those deals ever amounted to anything.
Thomas Enterprises, a Georgia-based company better known for building shopping centers than new urban villages, looked for a while like one more in that long line of big talkers. But the firm actually delivered.
Thomas managed to buy the land from Union Pacific, an accomplishment in itself because the railroad company is a notoriously hard-nosed seller. The new owners then moved the toxic cleanup into high gear and designed a mixed-use project of 10,000 housing units, offices, shops, restaurants and entertainment.
But now Thomas has run into a major impediment: a fight with historic preservationists over how the old railroad buildings the company has promised to save should be used, and how the land around them should be developed.
The state Railroad Museum wants two of the buildings, representing about half the square feet of all the structures combined, for a massive expansion of its operation, and the museum's supporters are using hardball tactics to try to get their way.
