After several years of planning, Alchemist Community Development Corporation broke ground Thursday morning in the River District for its public market, which will allow the community to gather and enjoy food.
The Alchemist Public Market will be located at 341 North 10th Street and will serve as an incubator for food entrepreneurs. The market will include an outdoor food court, farmers market, cafe, a large commissary kitchen, coworking office and a small retail store. The estimated cost of the project is about $16.5 million, according to Alchemist CDC CEO Sam Greenlee.
“We’re really excited to be, hopefully, a central part of this neighborhood,” said Jacob Sacks, the director of economic development for the Alchemist CDC. “Two blocks south of us is the Sac Republic’s new soccer stadium. They just announced they’re gonna have 20,000 people, so I hope all of them come here before and after the soccer games.”
Leaders of the community, including Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty and Congresswoman Doris Matsui, celebrated the groundbreaking and spoke to the project’s significance: providing a place where the community can go grocery shopping and grab a coffee, something that’s lacking in the industrial, commercial warehouse district.
“We’re certainly excited about what’s going to happen right here in the River District,” Mayor McCarty said. “But just this overall project of bringing community together, focusing on entrepreneurship, focusing on what we’re known as: the bread basket of the world and our farm to fork movement right here in Sacramento.”
Screenshot of the Alchemist CDC Public Market’s location.Google maps
Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, said the public market will create 100 jobs.
“This is really a great example when people talk about equity, inclusion, the investment has to go into the neighborhood for the right kind of inclusion to occur,” Broome said.
There will be a public food court where seven businesses that have gone through the food incubator program will have the chance to open their first brick-and-mortar setting serving the public, according to Sacks.
Sacks said the Alchemist public market is starting with five businesses, and they were present during the groundbreaking, serving food: Nacho House, Warm Nuts and Hot Buns, Sugar Coated Cupcakes, Jerk Street Tacos, and Black Coffee Roastery.
Founder of Sugar Coated Cupcakes (left) Laquena Henry and her daughter gives out samples during the Alchemist CDC Public Market groundbreaking Thursday, April 9, 2026.Keyshawn Davis/CapRadio
Founder of Sugar Coated Cupcakes, Laquena Henry, was present during the groundbreaking offering samples of cupcakes and macarons.
Sugar Coated Cupcakes is a gourmet cupcakery that offers over 400 cupcakes and macarons, and Henry was professionally trained in Paris to make them.
“We joined Alchemist, I would say, two years into business…” Henry said. “I thought it would be great for us to join at that point, dot our I’s cross our T’s, just to make sure that we were headed down the right path.”
The business is now in its seventh year and they have a storefront on 58th and Broadway.
(L-R) Co-founder of Nacho House Danielle Green and Lakrisha Kelley at the Alchemist CDC Public Market Groundbreaking Thursday April 9, 2026.Keyshawn Davis/CapRadio
Danielle Green, a co-founder of Nacho House, was also present, giving out samples of their nachos. Green’s business specializes in customizable nachos with various proteins, fresh veggies, vegan and regular cheeses, and they make their own chips.
Green said she learned a lot from being Alchemist CDC’s incubator programs, from permits and marketing, to…. Nacho House has been doing pop-ups in the Sacramento community, but the market will allow them to stay in a central location.
“Alchemist has given us so many resources and tools to utilize so that we can just continue to grow,” she said. “And we’re hoping to branch off to stadiums and arenas eventually.”
The Alchemist CDC Public Market is expected to be finished by Summer 2027. There will be no parking for customers on site, so people will have to park on the street, according to Greenlee.
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