Downtown Sacramento business community reacts to plan to convert offices into housing
The downtown Sacramento business community is reacting to the state's plan to turn some of its office buildings near the Capitol into housing.
Many businesses have been hurting since employees started working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Downtown Sacramento Partnership said there were about 100,000 people working in the area before the pandemic. Now, it estimates about half have returned.
"Are we gonna get back to Monday through Friday, five days a week, 100,000 employees? Probably not," said Executive Director Michael Ault.
Addressing the issue earlier this week, Mayor Darrell Steinberg joined state leaders to announce a new plan that they hope will help.
The state is looking to see if developers can transform three office buildings on the Capitol Mall near 8th Street into housing: The Employment Development Department’s headquarters at 800 Capitol Mall, the EDD Solar Building at 751 North St. and the State Personnel Board Building at 801 Capitol Mall.
"The more development opportunities, the better," Ault said in response to the idea.
The proposal could be a small piece of the bigger picture in revitalizing downtown.
"Right now, there's about 3,500 units under construction within the central city and then another 5,000 being planned. So, if this can add to that and make downtown more of a destination, I think that's great," Ault said.
However, the plan is still in the early stages. The office buildings will not be empty until after 2025, when the workers there will move to a new building.
Because of their age, the buildings are considered historic. That means renovations would have to be reviewed by the California State Office of Historic Preservation. State documents also note that the existence of asbestos and lead has been confirmed.
"At this point, it's just a Request for Qualification, so as they go through and start looking at the analysis of what works, we're hoping something could work that we might be able to provide some housing to the workforce population that's down here. It could be great," Ault said.
There could be the potential for about 1,000 new units between the three buildings, according to Steinberg. At least 20 percent of the spaces will need to be affordable housing.