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Sacramento's alleys viewed as ripe for development
Jul 19, 2009 (The Sacramento Bee - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
In the glare of the afternoon sun, the stretch of dingy concrete alley, overlooked by broken windows and the dreary hindquarters of buildings, is as inviting as a barren desert. And that's in daylight.
Once the sun sets, the alley's recesses could turn into a darkened backdrop for burglars, prostitution and a host of other unsavory activities.
In all that urban desolation, Aaron Zeth sees only potential: a thriving midtown alley featuring a restaurant row with patios of diners embracing the outdoors.
Just around the corner from the moribund alley where Zeth has set his sights, a buttery aroma wafts from Lucca's, a popular midtown restaurant, and farther down J Street crowds cluster at P.F. Chang's China Bistro.
As prime storefronts fill up in midtown, and as lease rates escalate, the hunt is on for new, affordable space.
"They're not making any more land in midtown," said Zeth, adapting Mark Twain's adage: "Buy land -- they're not making it anymore."
Zeth is one of a group of developers who are groundbreaking their way to a new concept for the city: turn alleys into lanes of commerce and urban living, complementary venues to established stalwarts on midtown streets.
Developers and other supporters are joining together to win city backing on plans to convert three alleys: the restaurant row, another alley with new condominiums and a third with new landscaping, including solar lighting.
In the alley between 16th and 17th streets and I and J streets, Zeth envisions four or five restaurants with roughly half the footprint of traditional sites. Think European cafes, in the 1,500-square-foot range with mostly outside seating that comes inside at closing, he said. Think rents that are half those of traditional storefronts.
With 300 blocks of alleys in midtown and downtown, the idea -- a novel one for a recession -- could inspire other developers to redo largely unused space on the hind end of buildings for boutiques and galleries, said Rob Kerth, executive director of the Midtown Business Association.
Narrow, long buildings in midtown lend themselves to the concept, said Kerth.
"I think it would actually create more excitement in midtown," said David Spaur, director of economic development for the city of Sacramento. "Midtown seems to be a bright spot in this economy, so if we could expand and energize our alleys ... ."
By adding roughly 25 percent more commercial space, alleys that have been "reactivated" also will generate another 25 percent in sales and employment, Spaur said.
It's an equation not lost on developers like Zeth and Jeremy Drucker, who expects to break ground next month on a model condo project that fronts on an alley.
Drucker is about to get city approval to build a small development of one- and two-bedroom condos on the back end of existing home lots. Between 17th and 18th streets, Capitol Avenue and L Street, the condos will be in the $100,000 to $300,000 range.
"People making $60,000 to $70,000 a year can finally afford to buy a home in midtown," Drucker said.
Drucker paid property owners as much as $100,000 and a new garage space to obtain the 40 feet to 60 feet he lopped off their land, land often gone to weeds or dilapidated garages.
Another broader plan is under way to landscape the 41 alleys in midtown, upgrade them with pavers, lighting and greenery -- without dipping into city coffers.
"There's really no downside," said Julie Young, another developer immersed in the project.
A prototype alley -- between 18th to 19th streets and Capitol Avenue and L Street -- will showcase the upgrades. The estimate to do all the alleys comes in at no more than $8 million, Young said.
The Midtown Business Association will help raise money through grants and other donations -- 3,000 trees have already been promised -- for the upgrades.
A consultant working on a plan for Sacramento's downtown core said it makes sense to improve the alleys if the timing is right.
"The primary streets need to be healthy before you can really pay attention to that," said Midge McCauley, a Washington, D.C., consultant hired by the Sacramento Downtown Partnership. "If they're doing it in midtown, they're probably ready for that to happen there."
The residential alley plans are moving along, but the restaurant row and the landscaping concepts have no launch dates yet because the city has no formal approval process for them, said Stacia Cosgrove, a senior planner with the city.
"We're still in the early stages of determining, are we open to this and what's acceptable?" she said.
The city also plans to name the alleys logically to give businesses and residents an address.
Long backed by City Councilman Steve Cohn, who represents midtown, the whole alley reactivation plan will get a public airing before the council in August, Cosgrove said.
Not that there isn't precedent.
The city of San Francisco has long reinvented alleys for boutiques and restaurants.
"People still thank me for that legislation," said Angela Alioto, a former San Francisco supervisor who, in 1994, pushed to permit outside seating in alleys.
Belden Place, in the city's financial district, is one of the most renowned alleys and is home to Cafe Tiramisu, an Italian-style restaurant with outside seating for 30.
"People thought we were crazy," Giuseppe Scoppetta, one of the restaurant's owners, said of the initial plan. Diners have taken to tables with white linens underneath strands of lights and the city's spires overhead.
"It brings the flavor of Europe and it looks nice," he said.
If the economy improves, Scoppetta would consider a Sacramento alley venture and has talked to Zeth.
In Sacramento, at the end of what will become the first residential alley, Old Soul Co. opened a wholesale coffee roasting business almost three years ago, but the aroma drew in customers searching for a cup of coffee.
"We didn't even have a cash register," said Jason Griest, one of the owners.
Eventually, Old Soul evolved into a coffeehouse and bakery and tangled with the city over a retail license and how the business would operate in an alley. Outside seating is still unresolved, Griest said.
Griest, who views himself as a village cobbler, sees a metamorphosis ahead for the city as more businesses join him in the alley.
Inside, the warehouse interior draws an eclectic crowd of suits and sandals.
Cade Camarena is drawn to the off-the-beaten-path feel of Old Soul, he said.
"I like it and I can't tell you why," he said, sitting just inside the entrance.
Camarena, 30, who works on exhaust systems for commercial kitchens, said the alley ideas are a bonus for midtown.
"It opens up the darker places," he said.
Not that there aren't problems.
Some residents and property owners are resistant, resentful of development dictated to them, Kerth said.
"They want to do it on their own terms," he said.
Some believe a strictly restaurant and bar district could price out the little cheese shop or the knitting shop that would create a mix.
Access for firetrucks and garbage trucks and where to put garbage are all issues undergoing discussion, but Kerth, a former city councilman, anticipates resolutions.
"It's garbage cans; it's not rocket science," he said.
The same concerns about access and public safety arose in San Francisco, said Alioto, daughter of legendary Mayor Joseph Alioto. "But we figured out ways for it to happen."
If nothing more, legitimate business in alleys will chase away other kinds of businesses, supporters noted.
Alleys are largely forgotten real estate, making them prowling grounds for criminals, said Sacramento Police Sgt. Norm Leong.
"Just the concept of having more people out and about," he said, "is a good thing."
IF YOU GO ...
The Sacramento City Council will hear a presentation on the alley plans at a public hearing that begins at 6 p.m. Aug. 11 at City Hall. For more information about the alley activation program, call Councilman Steve Cohn's office at (916) 808-7003.
Call The Bee's M.S. Enkoji, (916) 321-1106.
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Copyright (C) 2009, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
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