West Sacramento appears to be a city whose time has come.

For many years before and after its incorporation in 1987, West Sacramento has been a manufacturing and logistic industry hub. While the Sacramento region has grown in recent decades, that growth has gone mostly east and south of Sacramento to suburbs such as Roseville, Folsom and Elk Grove. Meanwhile, West Sacramento - right across the Sacramento River from the capital city - bided its time. Now, developers have “discovered” the Yolo County city of 40,000 people.

Developers are building thousands of suburban-style houses in the southern half of town. In the northern part of town (a ship channel cuts the city in half), the city is seeing private market interest in redevelopment plans that could transform parking lots and a rough industrial area into an urban mixed-use district. Also on the way: Extension of a riverfront promenade for 3 1/2 miles, and redevelopment of West Capital Avenue into a walkable, heavily landscaped boulevard.

“West Sacramento had this rough and tumble, wild West image in the region,” said longtime Community Development Director Steve Patek. “The regional developers just were not willing to take a chance here.” But when new houses started selling quickly in the southern half of town about five years ago, developers started looking for opportunities in West Sacramento, Patek said. And when a 57-unit, new urbanist-oriented housing project across the I Street bridge from Sacramento sold out quickly last year, more developers took note.

During the 1930s, '40s and '50s, thousands of modest homes were built in West Sacramento. From the 1950s through the 1980s, industrial development, including warehouses, predominated. The Port of Sacramento opened in West Sacramento during the 1960s. West Sacramento leaders, however, saw more potential for their town - potential that was not being realized. So they led a successful incorporation effort. Within three years of incorporation, however, the real estate market crashed just about everywhere in California, including in the Sacramento region.

The real estate slowdown provided West Sacramento with a chance to plan. Over a period of years, the city adopted the Southport Framework Plan, which calls for 14,000 housing units and 4 million square feet of commercial and industrial space on the 7,100 acres in the southern half of town (see CP&DR Places, March 2000). In 1997, the city completed a second bridge across the shipping channel connecting the two parts of town. The city also adopted the Triangle and Washington specific plans for riverfront redevelopment, an action plan for West Capital Avenue redevelopment, and more recently completed a waterfront plan in cooperation with the City of Sacramento.

In 1999, the city landed a stadium for the AAA-affiliate of the Oakland A's (see CP&DR Local Watch, March 1999). When Raley Field opened just across the river from Old Town Sacramento, many people thought that West Sacramento riverfront redevelopment was on its way - especially because the stadium was near the iconic Ziggurat office building constructed for The Money Store during the 1990s.

But redevelopment continued to wait. The Money Store, a “sub-prime” lender, went under several years ago, and the 11-story Ziggurat has not been fully occupied since. In the Triangle Area just south of Raley Field, a railroad spur serving a cement plant created both a “physical and psychological barrier” to plans for new development, said West Sacramento Redevelopment Manager Les Bowman.

But there is reason to believe the city's long-held plans to make something of its waterfront are moving forward. The city has committed to moving the cement plant to a location near the port, which could cost the city's redevelopment agency as much as $15 million, Patek said. But the move will allow destruction of the rail spur. If all goes smoothly, private development in the area could start in about 2 1/2 years, according to Bowman.

The specific plan for the 180-acre Triangle area calls for up to 5,000 dwelling units, 7 million square feet of offices and retail space, and a riverfront park with an amphitheater. The largest landowner, Fulcrum Capital Properties, which has ties to the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians, is the largest landowner in the specific plan area and has submitted an application for 1,750 dwelling units and 1.1 million square feet of office space on 50 acres.

In the Washington specific plan area just north of the stadium, Panattoni Development and Signature Properties have proposed a 27-acre, mixed-use project of 750 dwellings, 845,000 square feet of offices, some commercial and retail uses, and a hotel and conference center.

The Signature portion of the project - 550 condominiums and local-serving retail space on 7.4 acres - is remarkable for its density. There is nothing quite like it in the region, said John Bayless, a Signature vice president. The location is the attraction: Right across Tower Bridge from Sacramento.

“We're just looking at the extension of the Capital Mall. West Sacramento has the opportunity to extend that parkway feel across the river,” Bayless said. “The risk is that you're going in where there is nothing. The benefit is that those who come along at the same time or after use will bring new product.”

Bowman believes the project makes sense. “It's the right place for those densities, and it's the right time for those densities,” he said. “It's literally a stone's throw to downtown. I can't think of a better place to put those densities from a 'smart growth' perspective.”

The connection to downtown Sacramento provided by the two-lane Tower Bridge is critical to riverfront development - so critical, in fact, that the two cities have cobbled together $9 million to fund the construction of 10-foot-wide walkways on the historic bridge. Construction could start next year, Bowman said. Pedestrians and redevelopment efforts will also benefit from the planned River Walk Park extension. Ultimately, the city hopes to have a 3.5-mile linear park along the river. The city is now seeking designs.

Tower Bridge links Sacramento's Capital Mall with West Sacramento's West Capital Avenue, where the city plans to invest $18 million over five years. The plan is to narrow the former Highway 40, which is up to eight lanes wide, to four lanes, build wide sidewalks, plant extensive landscaping and leave room for a light rail line in the median. City officials hope the conversion will spur private investors to build high-density housing along West Capital, which is lined with underused stores and low-rent motels.

“It's a classic planning and redevelopment problem that communities all over the country have had, which is what do you do when the highway bypasses your primary street,” Bowman said.

The city's plans have attracted an application from a developer who wants to build 200 townhouses along West Capital.

What's going on the ground right now in West Sacramento, though, is suburban-style development. Since 2000, the city has issued permits for 4,000 units in the Southport area, according to Patek. On the city's north end, Grupe is developing a high-end, 1,100-unit house and multi-family project on a former golf course. And there is an application for another 2,000 units in an area proposed for annexation south of Southport.

West Sacramento is also getting its first power center on an 80-acre site adjacent to Interstate 80. Ikea will be an anchor. Patek expects the 900,000-square-foot center to be full in less than three years.

Contacts:
Steve Patek, West Sacramento Community Development Department, (916) 617-4620.
Les Bowman, West Sacramento Redevelopment Agency, (916) 617-4535.
John Bayless, Signature Properties, (916) 789-2400.
Sacramento Riverfront Master Plan: www.cityofsacramento.org/riverfrontmasterplan.