The future ownership of Sacramento’s most diverse shopping center is up for grabs as Florin Square, the hub of the region’s Black-owned businesses, hits the market.
Florin Square, located at 2251 Florin Road in south Sacramento, is home to almost 100 retailers, service businesses and nonprofits. Florin Square describes itself on its website as the largest Black business collaboration in Northern California. The square’s businesses are primarily Black- or women-owned.
The complex is currently owned by Tom Donaldson, who has overseen the property since 2003. With his 80th birthday on the horizon, Donaldson is retiring from ownership. He put Florin Square on the market in January.
“I built what I consider to be a cultural location for minorities,” Donaldson said. “I’d like to make sure that, as best I can, that the new owner and I appreciate what we have built and carries on.”
The property is currently being offered at $15 million at 75,020 square feet, according to JPAR Iron Horse Real Estate.
Florin Square is 96% leased and houses businesses and nonprofits including The Sojourner Truth African Heritage Art Museum, Wake-Up Foundation, Ethio Foods and All Things Literacy Bookstore. Florin Square is widely regarded as Sacramento’s “Black Wall Street,” according to past Sacramento Bee reporting.
Shonna McDaniels, who founded the Sojourner Truth Art Museum in 1996, teaching a group from #SacYouthWorks while the African Market Place operates outside the museum Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, at Florin Square in Sacramento. She was teaching the group of teenagers about business. Xavier Mascareñas Sacramento Bee file Commitment to diversity
Among those nonprofits is Florin Square Community Development Corporation. The corporation provides community service programs throughout Sacramento and focuses on business and economic development, education, arts and culture health and wellness, said Aaron Boyce, the nonprofit’s executive director. Overall, the group seeks to “provide enrichment” to the Sacramento community.
Florin Square isn’t just a center filled with minority-owned businesses, it’s grown into something more. It’s place for community to convene, Boyce said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the corporation distributed more than 3,000 vaccines with the assistance of UC Davis at Florin Square. The shopping center also hosts a monthly African Marketplace that spotlights small Black businesses and vendors, and a youth entrepreneurs summit.
“When the building is sold, we hope that it will be sold to a party who appreciates the fact that we are community based and very diverse,” Boyce said. “(The diversity is in) the services we provide and to the people who we provide those services to.”
Anne Njuguna, who owns Kitenge 365 Everyday African Wear and is originally from Kenya, was a vendor at the African Market Place at Florin Square in Sacramento. Xavier Mascareñas xmascarenas@sacbee.com
Florin Square’s tenants say the complex offers something unique to Sacramento.
“It’s extremely important, to keep the flavor, the culture, the diversity and the community support that Florin Square offers,” Boyce said. “For that to go away, I think, and the community thinks, that would be a very sad state of affairs. Nobody wants that.”
Donaldson agrees with making sure the new owners support the center’s communities of color. However, when the building is sold, he said it’s out of his control. For now though, he’s looking to sell Florin Square to someone who appreciates, and seeks to uphold, its diversity.
“My desire is to sell the building to an organization or person who understands the value of what we’ve built for our Black community,” Donaldson said. “It’s also clear that — given the direction by the current government — that our history is in jeopardy. … I just want to make sure that the things we put together here in Sacramento don’t follow that pattern.”
Donaldson’s retirement doesn’t mean he’s leaving Florin Square. Helping out in Florin Square gives him a “reason to get up in the morning.”
“My role will be to be here from serving as a mentorship role,” Donaldson said. “(I will) pretty much pass on some of the knowledge that I’ve acquired.”
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Emma Hall covers Sacramento County for The Sacramento Bee. Hall graduated from Sacramento State and Diablo Valley College. She is Blackfeet and Cherokee.