Ground breaking mixed-use
development proposed
for 19th and Broadway
By Kathleen Ave and Andrea Rosen
Special to the Viewpoint
Few new development projects have occurred on Broadway in recent decades,
but one proposed for the southeast corner of 19th Street and Broadway
stimulated SCNA's Neighborhood Concerns Committee to learn more. At their
April meeting, they hosted representatives of Millennium Real Estate Services,
Inc., who presented an overview of their project, which could turn this
corner of Broadway into a notable 24-hour residential and retail hot spot.
The mixed-use development planned by the Millennium group tentatively
includes 97 market-rate apartments and 11 live/work units along with about
6,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. Marc Jasso, president of Millennium, presented an overview of the proposed
project at the Neighborhood Concerns Committee meeting. Jasso is a Sacramento
native with real estate development experience. While this is an inaugural
project for the present partnership, Jasso hopes to make his mark on Sacramento
with the Broadway development. Millenium partners and neighbors Mark and
Lynn Giannini of Donner Way were also present. Architect Ron Vrilakas, who has designed several notable structures in
midtown including the new residential building at 18th and L Streets,
will be designing the Broadway building for Millennium. The company's vision is to develop intelligent green projects, and they
are working with consultants from all over the world to achieve that goal
at 19th and Broadway. The Sacramento Bee recently reported on Millennium's discussions with
Freeport Bakery about moving to a much larger retail space in their project,
which would allow for a long awaited expansion of their café and
baking operations. As an example of their desire to make the building eco-friendly, they
are looking for ways to capture the heat from the bakery's ovens to support
other heating needs of the building. They plan to incorporate elements
of the historic architecture on Broadway with modern green building techniques
and other high-tech features like biometric security. The site's proximity
to the Broadway light rail station would earmark it as smart growth and
would attract transit users. The Millennium developers say they are planning to make a long-term investment
and stated their intent to "hold their ground" in the neighborhood.
The apartments-a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom units-will be offered
at mid- to high-range rents, targeting tech savvy, highly educated, environmentally
aware consumers. Energy efficiency is a major goal of the development, which should help
offset the higher rents. No pool is planned, but the partners want to
take advantage of the existing YMCA at 21st and W Streets, hopefully inspiring
some new investment there too. They are planning "tuck-under"
parking and a tiered structure to prevent the feeling of the building
looming over the streetscape. The office portion of the project will be on the part of the lot closest
to the W-X Freeway. Six stories are being considered for this portion
only. Neighborhood Concerns Committee members were impressed with the developer's
desire to hear input from the community as the project moves from the
conceptual phase into more detailed design. The developer's current plan
is to submit the project proposal to the city soon in hopes of receiving
approval by late November. They plan to seek SCNA Board support concurrent
with submission to the city. Most of the neighbors present expressed enthusiasm for the plans and for
its potential to re-invigorate Broadway. To monitor the project's progress,
visit the developer's website at www.mresnnn.com.
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