Given the deterioration the city has allowed, for many years, on lower K Street—one of the gateways to the Downtown Mall—it is hardly any wonder the area does not draw enough shoppers to encourage the mall operators to devote more money on mall upgrades.
Plaza takes back seat to Galleria, critics say
Westfield favors Roseville mall over downtown site, capital officials complain.
By Mary Lynne Vellinga And Terri Hardy - mlvellinga@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Thursday, December 13, 2007
They may share the same parent, but Sacramento's Downtown Plaza and the Galleria at Roseville have received very different treatment.
Shoppers at the Roseville mall owned by Westfield Corp. stroll along carpeted walkways lined with high-end stores. The steel skeleton of a $250 million addition is rising next to the Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware.
At the Downtown Plaza, also owned by Westfield, at least a dozen storefronts on the second floor sit empty as Christmas approaches. One major tenant, J. Crew, decamped to Arden Fair mall northeast of downtown three months ago. A third of the spaces in the food court are shuttered.
Since shortly after it bought the center on K Street in 1998, Westfield has promised upgrades. But they haven't arrived.
Sacramento city leaders grumble that Westfield treats Downtown Plaza like an unwanted stepchild. The City Council's frustration boiled over Tuesday night when a lawyer for Westfield challenged the city's environmental review for a massive proposal to redevelop the downtown railyard, which would include enough retail space to fill a shopping mall.
