Sacramento Business Journal: New developer 29th Street Capital lays out details of Township Nine project

Jul 31, 2020, 2:59pm PDT

The developer taking over Township Nine has revealed new details about the project.

Chicago-based 29th Street Capital announced last month that it was taking ownership of the project in Sacramento’s River District.

Now Kevin Smith, the company’s vice president for development in Northern California, says 29th Street is in the process of purchasing the property. The entire project consists of a 65-acre plot north of Richards Boulevard, although Smith said only 30 acres of it is developable. The rest is park or green space.

Smith said the company plans to pull permits for the first apartment building in the first quarter of 2021.

“We’re going to be developing it in chunks and phases,” he said.

The first building will be a 150-unit housing development on one block, which will be in four different buildings.

Smith said each building will be built separately, about a month apart. He said this is to make it easier to schedule subcontractors, and also to move in residents one building at a time, instead of all at once.

Then, there will be some infrastructure and streets on the property that will need to be completed before building housing blocks on the next six blocks of road, for a total of more than 900 new units.

The new housing would be across the street from the state of California’s planned campus, which would house 4,650 state employees in four multistory buildings.

“We have the opportunity to be the housing with no commute,” Smith said. “You don’t even have to get on light rail, you just walk across the street.”

The development is also blocks away from the planned Major League Soccer stadium, and will be just one light rail stop away.

Farther north on the site, on the section of the property closer to the American River that borders the Township 9 Park, Smith said the company is planning more mixed-use construction, with some retail and restaurant space. A section of property along the light rail line could be put toward a more intensive use, Smith said, such as commercial development or a hotel. However, that would be built in a future phase of the project.

The property has been in a state of flux for years, after a previous owner filed for bankruptcy, and the lender foreclosed on the property.

Smith said 29th Street Capital has been working on taking over the project for more than a year.

In addition, the company is working on a 752-apartment infill project at The Mill at Broadway. Smith said construction started on those units last year, and is beginning the next phase of development soon.

Emily Hamann

Staff Writer

Sacramento Business Journal