The ambitious project to build a multi-faceted downtown campus for Sacramento State got a boost of financial support from the federal government this week.
Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, announced Friday that she had secured $2 million in federal community project dollars to help support the construction of a “vibrant mixed-use district” where underutilized government offices now stand. In January, university and state leaders announced their intention to build Sacramento State academic facilities, student housing, a mixed-use performing arts space, a boutique hotel and other amenities just blocks away from the Capitol.
“We all know that our downtown has faced real challenges in the wake of the COVID pandemic, foot-traffic decline, offices empty,” the longtime Sacramento congresswoman said on an unseasonably warm March Friday at a news conference in the wide, grassy median just west of the Capitol.
“The answer to that is not to retreat, it is to re-invigorate. The Capitol campus is exactly that. A place where students live and learn, where researchers collaborate with policymakers, where arts and culture thrive, where visitors stay, dine and invest in our local economy,” Matsui said.
Local leaders have pitched the project as a way to bring more energy back to downtown Sacramento since the pandemic shuttered government offices that surround the Capitol and state employees, who were major economic drivers for the area, began working remotely.
Sacramento State President Luke Wood said, “This development project will bring together higher education, public policy, workforce development, innovation, technology and housing, which will help to revitalize the urban core.”
The project was announced earlier this year alongside a $50 million grant from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to help demolish the existing government buildings and prepare for new construction.
While a total estimate of the redevelopment project’s cost has not been provided, such a significant construction project will likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Planning still underway
Planning documents show that school officials are contemplating building a parking structure, events center, “one or more hotels,” leasable office or lab space, and the performing arts venue, which would have rooftop views of the Capitol. Though school officials noted that the project may change during the planning process.
For additional funding, Wood said the university was looking at revenue bonds from the Cal State system that could support some of the aspects of this project that would make money, such as hotels, parking garages and event centers. Additionally, the university is looking to donors and private foundations for more ways to fund the project.
“I would say we’re off to a pretty darn good start,” Wood said in an interview. “We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire that I feel are going to translate in pretty short order to us being able to effectuate this vision.”
Matsui said in an interview that investors are watching the project to see whether this development will take off.
“I think this is beginning to be real to them,” Matsui said. “You’re going to see investors in Sacramento coming off the sidelines.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom is hoping his return-to-office order for state employees, which was paused for one year last June, will help revitalize the area. Currently, most eligible state employees are required to work from government offices at least two days a week. The unpopular directive has prompted protests from state workers, lawsuits from unions and a bill from California lawmakers.
Asked whether she supports Newsom’s decision to call state workers back to offices four days a week, Matsui said face-to-face interactions are important, but the pandemic has shown us that some work can be done remotely. “There has to be a balance of that,” she said.
The congresswoman noted that the Capitol campus will bring students and housing to the downtown area, in addition to the employees who work in the area.
“I think the whole concern was not having enough traffic around here,” she said, smiling, “we’ll have plenty of traffic.”
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William Melhado is the State Worker reporter for The Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Bureau. Previously, he reported from Texas and New Mexico. Before that, he taught high school chemistry in New York and Tanzania.