Shoppers enter Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025.
HANNAH RUHOFF
hruhoff@sacbee.com
Though Citrus Heights officials unanimously passed a new development agreement for Sunrise Mall this week, dozens of people submitted wrote to the council urging them to ensure that Royal Stage, a theater company, can maintain its location in the shopping center.
Royal Stage has rented a space near the former men’s Macy’s building at the mallfor the past three years. Terry Tallen, CEO of Tallen Capital Partners, one of the key firms behind the proposed redevelopment project, said Wednesday that his firm would have to look into the issue.
Tamara Warta, Royal Stage’s founder and artistic director, said in an interview Thursday morning that she wants to see new investment in the mall. When the theater company first moved in, it was “quiet, but still active.”
Then the food court closed, and the Macy’s department store. Crime increased, and the fire alarm goes off regularly, she said.
Warta said she wonders what will happen to the space under a series of new, proposed developments that include a sports complex, housing, hotels, retail and restaurants. She and her employees learned about the project through the news, and as of Thursday morning hadn’t heard from the property owners or developers.
The Royal Stage, a Christian ministry, doesn’t turn anyone away, regardless of their ability to pay. The group pays a base rent of $1,500 for its 8,000-square-foot space, plus utilities. Around 300 to 400 students participate in its dance classes and performances during the school year, and 600 to 700 in the summer.
Warta said she wants to work with any new operator who comes in.
“But financially,” she said, “there isn’t much more we can do. That makes us nervous, because if our rent gets jacked up to, you know, $1 a square foot, we can’t stay.”
A curtain call at a performance of “Bye Bye Birdie” at Royal Stage in Citrus Heights in August 2024. Tamara Warta / Royal Stage
In an interview Wednesday evening, Tallen said he wasn’t familiar with the Royal Stage before the meeting. He said he took no issue with having a theater at the mall, but his firm will have to examine its location and how it fits into the plans for the property.
“We just got started on our due diligence,” Tallen said. “We’re just going to have to evaluate it.”
Warta said that she had put out the call Wednesday afternoon, hours before the meeting, for students and their parents to support the Royal Stage by submitting written comments to the council.
During the meeting, the city clerk read each of the comments aloud to the chamber, the majority of them from residents who support the proposed development, but want to ensure the Royal Stage can remain at Sunrise Mall. After about a half hour, the council discussed whether they should continue to read each comment, given all were very similar in sentiment.
After a brief discussion with the city attorney, the clerk resumed reading the comments.
“I think,” said Mayor MariJane Lopez-Taff, “we may have set a record.”
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Annika Merrilees is a business reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She previously spent five years covering business and health care for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.