With a Valentine’s Day launch and the motto “show some love,” the Warehouse Artist Lofts project broke ground Thursday with plans to bring 116 new and renovated apartments to the R Street corridor between 11th and 12th Streets. Citing the goal of creating live-work spaces for artists, the start-up is highly anticipated after 15 years of planning, financial challenges and site clean up. State, county and city dignitaries gathered to herald the persistence and passion invested in the effort to revamp the century-old warehouse at 1108 R Street into affordable and market-rate apartments. Plans include 13,000 square-feet of ground-floor retail space along R Street and construction of 66 new a

For the next two weeks at Site 2, the contractor will be laying out and beginning to install plumbing, laying out the mechanical system, laying out and framing the third floor walls, floor joists, and laying out and framing fourth floor walls. At Site3, the contractor will be laying out walls on the newly-poured concrete deck above the first floor, removing the shoring that supported this floor during concrete pouring, begin framing the second floor, and install the plywood decking for the third floor. Work to lay out the building’s mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems will begin. Work began on this project at both the SW and NW corners of 16th and O Streets January 12th and i

The Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) has been awarded $795,000 in funding from the Strategic Growth Council Urban Greening Grant Program (Prop 84) for the 16th Street Greenscape Project. CADA was one of the few agencies to receive funding over $75,000 and was one of 50 projects selected out of 260 applicant proposals. The purpose of the 16th Street Greenscape Project is to: • Reduce storm water runoff from 16th Street and its sidewalks and reduce water pollution flowing to the Sacramento River • Significantly increase the amount of permeable landscaped space in the public right-of-way • Reduce air pollution and increase shade • Educate the public about the environmental benefits

Join the Friends of Fremont Park, Councilman Rob Fong, the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission (SMAC), CADA, and artist Stephanie Taylor this Saturday, May 12th, for a day of family fun at Fremont Park. The festivities will kick off at 5:30 p.m. with the dedication of Confluence, the 8-foot sculptures recently added to Fremont Park through public art grants provided by SMAC and CADA. The sculptures depict aspects of the famous explorations of the 19th century “Pathfinder,” John C. Fremont. Although the event is free to the public, visitors might want to bring some extra cash for the food truck vendors who will be selling a variety of cuisines beginning at 6 p.m. Participating vendors i

At its October 28, 2011 meeting the Board of Directors of the Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) appointed Jacqueline Whitelam Interim Executive Director effective January 1, 2012. Jacqueline Whitelam will assume this position upon the retirement of Paul Schmidt, CADA’s current Executive Director. In making Ms. Whitelam’s appointment, Ann Bailey, the CADA Board Chair noted that, “Jackie is uniquely qualified to lead CADA at this time when the Department of General Services is reviewing the possible sale of the state-owned properties managed by CADA. The outcome of this review could significantly impact CADA and its continued role in implementing the residential and neighborhood com

Paul Schmidt has announced that he will retire from his position as Executive Director of the Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) at the end of December 2011. CADA is a Joint Powers Authority of the City of Sacramento and the State of California. By announcing his retirement plans now, Schmidt provides the CADA Board of Directors with time for a seamless transition of leadership. Schmidt was appointed Executive Director in 2005, but his work in the Capitol Area began in December 1975 when Schmidt and Jacqueline Whitelam, CADA’s Deputy Executive Director, were staff planners for the State on the Capitol Area Plan, adopted by the Legislature in 1977. The Urban Land Institute has calle

On Thursday, June 2, Sacramento saw the start of another year of the Hot Lunch Concert Series and a new free music event playing at Cesar Chavez Plaza; “Fiesta en la Calle” (Street Party). The Hot Lunch Concert Series is a collaboration between Hot Italian, Sacramento News and Review and Friends of Fremont Park. Musical guests perform on Thursdays from June 2 to September 1 during the lunch hour (11:30 to 1p.m). Promoter Jerry Perry has put together a great lineup. Fremont Park, located on the corner of 16th and P Streets hosts the event. Musical Charis was the first band scheduled to perform this year. The weather cooperated and made for a delightful lunch concert. People from around t

The city of Sacramento and Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) are working on the R Street Corridor Project – an effort to turn a 27-block-long stretch of R Street into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood. A two-block section of R Street from 16th to 18th streets will hold the project's centerpiece, the R Street Market Plaza. Elements of the historic rail corridor and industrial warehouse district have inspired its design, which is expected to be completed in early June. The public project is intended to spur private development — creating more businesses, housing, services and jobs along the corridor. California state agencies now occupy some of R Street. The project has been design

How? By contributing to local history!  While researching my recent article on the Capitol Area Plan and the Ron Mandella Community Garden, I noticed how widely the facts varied from source to source, and how many facts were just plain missing. And even though this is a story that is relatively recent in living memory, the most frequent answer given in every interview I conducted was: “I don’t remember.”  If you have any information about any version of the Capitol Area Plan, the relationship between the Capitol Area Plan and the West End redevelopment project, the history of the Ron Mandella Community Garden (also known as the Terra Firma Garden and the adjacent garden known until the m

(Read Part 1 here, or click on the green Storyline tab) When CADA issued a Request for Proposals to private developers in 2000, the subsequent fight between RMCG advocates and CADA ended in 2004 with the RMCG’s destruction and two new gardens, one built as part of Fremont Mews and one built near Southside Park. A full account of the final protracted battle—especially regarding the lawsuits, the soil remediation issue, and the garden advocates’ organizing strategies—is still lacking, but the contested details of those years are not covered here. Instead, two of CADA’s tactics during this period are reconsidered in light of the evidence presented thus far: one, their presentation of the blo

Fifty years ago last month, the California State Legislature adopted the first version of the Capitol Area Plan (CAP). Revised in 1977 and again in 1997, this document’s incarnations have ordered the acquisition and arrangement of the state’s central city properties in the Capitol Area, a state-defined zone encompassing a sizeable swath of downtown. The story of Sacramento’s downtown development is convoluted, but the CAP is a key thread throughout that story. To mark its golden anniversary, this retrospective focuses on how the plan affected a specific block: the one enclosed by 14th, 15th, P and Q streets. Once the site of the Ron Mandella and Southside Community Gardens, identified as

Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) November 2010 Agenda In Partnership with the City of Sacramento Neighborhood Services Division Monday, November 15, 2010, 6:15 to 8:30 p.m., Hart Senior Center, 915 27th Street Tonight’s facilitator: Gerald Celestine, Capitol Area R Street Association (caRsa) and Friends of Fremont Park 6:15 Complimentary pizza and soft drinks courtesy of Sacramento Deal Ticket 6:30 Welcome and Introductions 6:35 Area 1 Police Department Activity Report             Lt. Mike Bray, Police Department 6:45 East End Gateway Site 4  Tom Kigar, Development Director, Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA)  Learn about the three development proposals for the site

Mogavero Notestine and Associates, SKK Developments and Sukna Global Holdings will be presenting their proposals for development of East End Gateway Site 4, in response to CADA's August 1, 2008 Request for Proposals (RFP). East End Gateway Site 4 is a highly visible site at a prominent intersection and of the last key development sites along 16th Street in the Capitol Park Neighborhood. Date: Wednesday, November 3, 2010 Time: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Place: CADA Administrative Office located at 1522 14th Street Each Development Team will describe their proposed project, answer your questions and hear your comments and suggestions. Refreshments will be served. If you cannot attend this pres

Fremont Park has put on a few movie nights in the park. On Friday, the delightful 2009 animated Disney-Pixar movie Up was shown to area residents and guests. The Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) with the help of the City of Sacramento and Friends of Fremont Park held their Movie in Fremont Park screening. The movie was free to the public and had other activities preceding the showing of Up. Lena Wrightsman, former president of Chalk-it-Up, was at work finishing up a chalk drawing of Carl who is one of the main characters of the movie. Around the Fremont Park fountain Lena had already drawn Kevin, Russell (characters in the movie) and as she finished Carl moved on to draw Dug the

At 7th and S Streets, one block north of Southside Park, a colorful 40-by-10-foot centerpiece flanked by two 19-by-19-foot panels has materialized on the front of a concrete building. This latest montage was created by Sofia Lacin and Hennessy Christophel of LC Mural & Design. The mural features representations of people living and working in the Capitol Park Neighborhood who are illustrated as paper-based sketches over a boldly-colored city grid. In executing the mural, the artists showcased the diversity and spirit of the Capitol Park Neighborhood, but allowed for there to be some ambiguity in identifying specific people. Passers-by will note the loosely-modeled Fremont Community Garden

The Capitol Area Development Authority is turning a vacant corner across from Fremont Park into a parking lot, eliminating an eyesore and adding parking spaces to an increasingly busy part of town. On Monday, a construction crew with E & J Enterprises was busy at the corner of 15th and Q streets. An excavator loaded trucks with dirt to be hauled away during site[-]grading for a temporary surface parking lot. The corner, which sits in the R Street Corridor, has been vacant for at least 10 years after an old gas station closed down. Neighbors said the 120-by-160-foot lot had become overgrown with weeds and filled with trash. CADA has been working with the property owner, the McGilvray fam

The Capitol Area Development Authority is hunting down a new home for a historic fourplex in an effort to save the Art Moderne building from a wrecking ball. The stucco apartment building known as Capitol Gardens was built at 1517 N St. in 1949 by Sacramento architect and engineer Jacob Loyth. In fall 2011, construction will begin on the site at the northwest corner of 16th and N streets on a $43 million, nine-floor building with 117 condos. CADA is trying to find a way to relocate the building's historic four front units to reduce the cumulative loss of historic resources and impact on a potential historic district, as directed by an environmental report for construction on the site. T

The Capitol Area Development Authority began an environmental review this week for a $43 million, mixed-use building proposed for the East End Gateway. While a consultant began the environmental analysis of the project's final design, developers Em Johnson Interest of San Francisco and Nehemiah Community Reinvestment Fund Holdings of Sacramento have begun working with the authority to draft a development agreement for the project at the northwest corner of 16th and N streets. CADA ended its partnership with the first developer, Lambert Development, after that company's proposal was deemed too high-end for Sacramento and progress wasn't made fast enough, said Marc de la Vergne, the author

Residents and business owners will soon have a chance to help fine-tune ideas to improve the look of 16th Street, a major gateway into the capital city. The Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) will lead a workshop on Tuesday, July 21, to share updated information on development activities and to collect input on streetscape elements to brighten 16th Street. Those upgrades will be part of a renaissance unfolding there, along with a surge in businesses such as Hot Italian, Mochi, Pronto and Starbuck's. The ideas that are gathered will be used to help form a cohesive vision for the street. That vision and specific details will be incorporated into a $20,000 conceptual streetscape desi

Until recently, R Street languished with an isolated, post-industrial vibe. Warehouses, loading docks and abandoned railroad tracks formed the areaʼs spine. Many locals would wander into the area to catch performances at Studio Theatre, music at Fox & Goose or a Second Saturday show at the Art Foundry. Five years ago, R Street began to throb with new life. R Street Marketplace, anchored by Safeway and Peet’s Coffee, was built at 19th and R streets. The Empire nightclub opened, and recently, the block saw the opening of Magpie Catering, The Shady Lady and 12 new lofts upstairs. On the street’s other end, CalPERS amped its image by erecting its impressive headquarters. Wednesday night, bu