{"id":459560,"date":"2026-09-10T17:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T17:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/459560\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T17:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T17:00:26","slug":"elk-grove-could-sell-former-zoo-land-to-sky-river-tribe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/459560\/","title":{"rendered":"Elk Grove could sell former zoo land to Sky River tribe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An aerial view from 2021 shows the 98-acre Elk Grove property once proposed for the Sacramento Zoo. Elk Grove is now discussing selling a portion of the property to Wilton Rancheria, which operates the nearby Sky River Casino, seen under construction in the distance.<\/p>\n

Hector Amezcua<\/p>\n

hamezcua@sacbee.com<\/p>\n

A portion of the 98-acre Elk Grove property once slated for a $302 million Sacramento Zoo relocation could instead be sold to Wilton Rancheria, the tribe behind the nearby Sky River Casino.<\/p>\n

The Elk Grove City Council met in closed session Wednesday to discuss negotiations over a potential sale of the property to the tribe, according to the council agenda. The property is at 8675 Kammerer Road near Lotz Parkway in southeastern Elk Grove.<\/p>\n

City officials did not announce any action from the closed-session discussion during the council\u2019s public meeting later Wednesday. A city spokesperson said Elk Grove would not comment on the closed-session item. Wilton Rancheria officials did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

After years of discussion, the Sacramento Zoo was set to relocate to the city-owned site after the City Council voted to approve construction of the 98-acre project in 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n

Plans were scrapped in 2025 amid economic concerns, when<\/a> the zoo\u2019s interim CEO announced that the zoo would remain in Land Park, its home since 1927. The Sacramento City Council voted on Sept. 1<\/a> to allow the zoo to expand at its current location in William Land Park.<\/p>\n

Wilton Rancheria, the only federally recognized tribe in Sacramento County, opened nearby Sky River Casino in 2022<\/a>. The casino features 120,000 square feet of gaming space with 2,500 slot machines and 81 table games, along with 18 restaurants and bars.<\/p>\n

Sky River Casino has continued to expand, breaking ground in April on a new 300-room hotel and resort<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published September 9, 2026 at 3:36 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Camryn Dadey<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Camryn Dadey is The Sacramento Bee\u2019s Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova watchdog reporter. She is a 2022 graduate of Sacramento State.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An aerial view from 2021 shows the 98-acre Elk Grove property once proposed for the Sacramento Zoo. Elk…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-459560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}