July 9, 2010

Mayor Kevin JohnsonNew City Hall

915 I Street

Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Mayor Johnson:                                                            RE: K Street Development

The Sacramento Old City Association supports the recommendation of the Selection Committee to award the development of the 700 block of K Street to the D& S proposal and the 8th Street site to the David Taylor proposal.

At our last board meeting Leslie Friitzsche presented information  describing all four responses to the City’s RFQ.  At the conclusion of her presentation and our deliberations, the board voted unanimously to support the Selection Committee recommendation. Our reasons:

•  Having separate  developers for the two sites will increase the possibility of both sites being successfully completed.  Less risk is involved.

•  The D & S proposal for the 700 block saves all the buildings on the street not just the façades.

•  The David Taylor proposal restores the historic Bel Vue Apartments on 8th Street.

•  D & S has local businesses lined up as tenants for the 700 block.

•  Mixed income housing will be available on the alley and over the shops on K Street in the 700 block.

•  Mixed income housing will be developed in the 800 block.  The City needs more housing in the downtown area that people who work downtown can afford.  SOCA believes that proposals with high end condos can come after the workers are housed.

•  The projects chosen by the Selection Committee require less subsidy than the others.

We trust that you and the City Council will consider our position when deciding which of the four proposals to choose.

Sincerely,

Linda Whitney

President

cc:  Council Members.

At the June 2010 SOCA Board meeting, City staff presented the ’selection committees’ recommendations for the the 700 and 800 K Street proposals. The Selection Committee was created by the city staff and was composed of staff and external experts. They recommended two project teams, D & S Development, Inc., and CFY Development, Inc. for the the 700 block and the group 700-800 K Street, LLC, led by developer David Taylor and Z Gallerie owner Joe Zeiden — for the 800 block. The Taylor proposal does suggest the Bel Vue will be retained and restored. The Bel-Vue is a listed city Landmark and was designed by George Sellon, the first State Architect and designer of the Cal-Western Insurance Building now known as the Citizen Hotel.

On the 700 block, D&S Development wants to reduce the size of 160-foot-deep retail spaces and use the 66-foot-deep leftover space to create alley-fronting housing and a garage. Both proposals include a mix of housing in varying price ranges as well as street fronting retail spaces.

The Sacramento Old City Association supports the recommendations of the selection committee and will remain actively engaged as these proposals move forward to ensure existing landmarks are not demolished in this process.

In early July, 2010 SOCA learned that the Council Ad-hoc committee is recommending the full Council REJECT the selection committee suggestions and award an Exclusive Right to Negotiate to Rubicon Partners. The Rubicon “Authenti-City” plan as the concept drawing depicts today would destroy many of the historic structures on the 700 & 800 blocks of K Street.

This item will be heard at the City Council Meeting on Tuesday, July 13th at 6:00 PM. This is item 32 on the Agenda. Items 1-30 are on consent and should go very quickly. Therefore this item could be heard as early as 6:15 to 6:30 PM. Members of the SOCA Board will be there and we also strongly encourage our members to come and support the selection committee recommendations for the following reasons:

If you cannot attend, you can use the e-comment feature on the city council’s website:

link to Council Agenda main page : http://sacramento.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=8

look for link to the e-comment; again it’s item 32 on the July 13th Agenda

Staff Report on 700 & 800 K Project here: July 13th Staff Report  it’s large file and might take a little while to download/ view. You can also accesss it on the council agenda web page.

Thank you for your continued support.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $ 25 the day of the event

Advanced tickets can be purchased after August 22nd at the following locations:

The Avid Reader, 16th & Broadway

Collected Works, 4525 Freeport Blvd. next to Capitol Nursery

57th Street Antique Mall, 57th & H Street

Joann’s Elegant Gifts, 1019 L Street

Green Sacramento, 919 20th Street

When: Sunday, September 19th from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM (last tour at 3:30 PM)
Where: The historic-home walking tour will showcase homes on and adacent to Bungalow Row on Q Street at 26th Street.

The Street Fair will take place in Winn Park at 27th and P Streets. The street fair is free and will feature local artisans and contractors with special knowledge of historic properties as well as music and artists and other local artisans.

Tickets are $20 in advance, available at the following locations:

And $25 the day of the event, available at the ticket booth

Advanced tickets available August 22nd:

Collected Works – 424 Freeport Blvd. (next to Capitol Nursery) 
Joann’s Elegant Gifts -  1019 L Street
The Avid Reader – 16th and Broadway

57th Street Antique Mall – 57th & H Streets

Green Sacramento – 919 20th Street

See you all September 19th.

and $25 the day of the tour – ticket booth will be in Winn Park at the street fair.

Event Flyer: Home Tour Flyer

Some of the Buildings & Homes on the Tour are featured below:

The Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA) was born in 1972, when downtown homeowners discovered they could not obtain financing from lending institutions to restore and rehabilitate their homes. Lenders at the time did not consider central city homes worthy of investment. These pioneers banded together and formed SOCA, and because of their efforts, many of the city’s historic homes and civic landmarks have been saved and restored.

Today, the mission continues. SOCA engages in action that preserves and enhances the quality of life for city residents, businesses and visitors by promoting harmonious relationships among residential and commercial interests in the ‘old city’.

SOCA is an all volunteer organization. Members devote their time to increasing public awareness of the irreplaceable historic and cultural resources of the city. Other activities include advocating appropriate policies that ensure a quality urban environment that is respectful of our historic buildings and traditional neighborhoods.

The following have demanded our attention in recent years: Restoration of the Memorial Auditorium, The Railyards, implementation of the R Street Plan, plans to keep the historic Southern Pacific Rail Depot as a functioning passenger rail station, and many other projects that focus attention on the need to preserve and protect our historic places.

Hotel Berry circa 1930

On Tuesday Feb. 24, 2009 the City Council authorized the purchase of the Berry Hotel from its latest owners, developer AF Evans. Despite the efforts of the developer to restore the hotel and maintain its use as housing for those with very low incomes, the city will soon close the Berry, without a plan to reopen it.

Built in 1929, the Berry was part of Sacramento’s downtown hotel district, interspersed with theaters and department stores on the blocks near K Street. The Berry and other hotels like the Clunie, the Land, the Sacramento and the Clayton offered nightly rooms to some, while others were rented on a monthly basis. In the era after World War II, downtown hotels faded in popularity compared to the new motor hotels. As redevelopment changed the face of downtown Sacramento, destroying many rooming houses downtown, hotels like the Berry became more strictly residential hotels, renting almost entirely to monthly tenants. Because the rents were generally less expensive than other housing, those with the least money to spend moved into these hotels. By 1929 standards, the Berry was a comfortable and luxurious place; by the 1970s and through today, it was housing of last resort, one step above living on the street. These hotels became known as “single room occupancy” hotels, or SRO hotels.

In 2007, AF Evans and Trinity Housing purchased the Berry with the intent of renovating the hotel, but maintaining its role as an SRO. To make this project feasible, AF Evans applied for Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC) low-income housing bonds. Housing developers can obtain tax credits when building low-cost housing, which helps make low-cost housing more economically feasible. A non-profit developer like AF Evans does not need tax credits, so these housing bonds can be sold to another company who needs a tax write-off. AF Evans’ objective was to use the money generated by the sale of the bonds to repair the interior of the hotel, replace its aging plumbing and electrical systems, and retain almost all of its 109 rooms.  A number of rooms were to be converted to ADA-accessible use, but all would be affordable units. The agreement also included provision for an on-site case manager who would provide supportive services for residents of the hotel who are disabled or senior citizens.

The current economic crisis made the sale of tax-credit bonds nearly impossible, as very few businesses are in need of a tax write-off. The bonds could not be sold, and AF Evans returned the tax-credit bonds to TCAC. They have tried to maintain the hotel, and have spent considerable time and effort figuring out how to repair the building, but the costs of repair are far greater than the income that can be generated from rents. Because they planned to vacate the hotel, rooms were not rented out as they became vacant, and the hotel currently has only about 50 tenants. Due to their inability to fund the project, AF Evans and Trinity Housing decided to give up sell the hotel to the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) for $1.

SHRA considered several scenarios before deciding on closure. Keeping the hotel open in its current state is not possible due to the deteriorated state of the building. Carrying out the developer’s plan to restore the hotel would cost about $13 million, and would still require relocation of the building’s occupants while construction was underway. On February 12, the SHRA board decided that the hotel should be closed until better economic times. This plan will still cost about $2.5 million to relocate the current residents and secure the building. AF Evans had developed a relocation plan in order to temporarily move residents during the building renovation. With the ownership change, the city is now responsible for carrying out the relocation plan, but instead the move will be permanent.

The closure of the Berry means that Sacramento’s stock of SRO hotel rooms will drop by 108 units. In 1986, there were over 1000 SRO units in Sacramento, down from about 4000 units in the 1960s. In 2006, the city of Sacramento passed an ordinance committing to the maintenance of the remaining 712 SRO hotel rooms in downtown Sacramento. If rooms were lost, the city of Sacramento is responsible for creating replacement units. Since the ordinance was passed, two hotels have closed, leaving about 630 units, with no replacement units built or under construction. After the Berry closes, about 520 SRO units will remain.

SRO housing is, admittedly, the housing of last resort, but in these economic times, many people are in dire need of affordable housing. If they cannot find housing they can afford, they can become homeless. As low-income housing in rooming houses and SROs has disappeared, homelessness has grown into a national epidemic. SRO hotels are often indifferently maintained, but they are preferable to a tent by the river or a spot on a park bench. As the number of SROs shrink, the number in tents or on park benches grows. Can we afford to wait until better economic times when the need for affordable housing is greatest in times like these?

Another factor in the story of the Berry is the historic nature of the building itself. The building is not listed on the current list of city landmarks, only because the city has not placed it on the existing landmarks list, which supplanted an earlier citywide list of historic buildings. Past surveys of Sacramento’s historic buildings identified the Berry as a priority structure, worthy of preservation for its architectural merits and its association with Sacramento’s history. Even its connection with Theodore Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber, who briefly stayed in the Berry, adds to the building’s legacy. Loss of the Berry Hotel would rob our city of part of its architectural heritage, as well as a home for 108 people with few other options for housing.

There is another alternative to allowing the Berry to sit vacant, at risk for another fire like the one that destroyed the buildings at the corner of 8th &K, or those on 9th & J years earlier. Compared to new construction, $13 million for 108 units of very low income housing is practically a bargain price. Because restoration of historic buildings requires more labor than materials, a restoration project would mean more jobs for Sacramento construction workers than a new project of similar size, and require far less consumption of raw material than a new building. It would also prevent the Berry from becoming another boarded-up vacant building downtown. Because the building will continue to deteriorate whether or not it is occupied, that $13 million repair figure will only grow with time, so the sooner the project is taken up, the less it will cost. Fast action would also reduce the risk of disaster by fire, or demolition by neglect. As a renovated building, properly run, the building could become an asset to the community, and a place of hope for about a hundred Sacramentans. As a vacant hulk, it can only represent lost hopes and missed opportunities.

SOCA acknowledges his contributions in our publication, “Rehab Resources for Older Homes,” published in 2008 and posted on this Web site, to the right, where you click “My Old House.” There you will find this statement, “Primarily, we are indebted to Roger Lathe, Housewright, for sharing with us his list of reputable contractors accumulated during his many years as a ’savior’ of old houses (both instructively and literally). His unmatched reputation in the field as author, raconteur, and all around bon vivant should not go unrewarded.”

Following is the Bee obituary.

Obituary: Nobody knew Sacramento’s vintage homes like Roger Lathe

http://www.sacbee.com/obituaries/story/1624727.html

Published: Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009 | Page 4B
Roger Lathe, a contractor, architectural historian and writer who restored Victorian homes and championed Sacramento’s rich heritage of vintage housing, died Wednesday at age 75.
He died of respiratory failure after a long illness, said his daughter, Victoria Curtin.
Mr. Lathe was an early and influential leader in the capital’s preservation movement. Trained in repairing century-old homes in Philadelphia, he moved to Sacramento in 1976 as many new buyers began fixing up dilapidated historical homes in central city neighborhoods. He bought and spent the last three decades painstakingly restoring a fire-gutted Victorian in Alkali Flat where he lived with his wife, Dr. Louise Mehler.
“He didn’t just rebuild the house; he handcrafted it,” Curtin said. “He hand-cut every shingle on the back of the house. There must be a couple of thousand shingles there.”
Mr. Lathe also worked on other old homes as a professional contractor before starting his own business as a licensed house inspector. He stood out behind the wheel of a restored Morris Minor van hand-painted on the side with his business name, “The Housewright,” a Colonial term for home builder.
“Anybody who had anything to do with owning or restoring an old home knew Roger,” midtown resident Rodney Kingsnorth said. “He was quite well known.”
Mr. Lathe also shared his expertise as a community activist and writer. He served on the board of the Sacramento Old City Association and was a popular contributor to the preservationist group’s publication, the Old City Guardian.
As a freelance writer for The Bee’s Neighbors and California Life sections, he educated readers about Sacramento’s architectural treasures. He explored the stylistic differences among late Victorians, Italianates, California Bungalows and Colonial Revivals in breezy, witty columns.
He gave practical remodeling tips as well as personal opinions on old and new structures, including a $25 million city garage with a waterfall sculpture at 10th and I streets.
“Surely, this is a tax-supported gift to stand-up comedians and architecture writers – a subsidized, ludicrously easy target for critical ridicule and put-down zingers,” he wrote in 1992. “I have only one problem with this: I like it.”
Roger Lathe was born in 1933 in Harrisburg, Pa., the only child of a newspaper printer and housewife. He served in the Air Force and held several jobs as a Philadelphia city worker, including designing playgrounds.
He had two children during a 14-year marriage to the former Janet Davies that ended in divorce. He worked as a general contractor and married Mehler in 1972 before moving to Sacramento.
Mr. Lathe was an avid reader who enjoyed opera and photography. His favorite activities included chatting about current events and politics with friends at coffeehouses and exploring the ins and outs of older homes as an architecture buff and writer.
“As he inspected your home, he educated you,” midtown preservationist Kay Knepprath said. “That’s pretty much what he was all about.”

The following press release from ECOS was released on January 16th, 2009.  Several SOCA and Preservation Roundtable members participated in NAST.

ECOS (Environmental Council of Sacramento) and NAST (Neighbors Advocating Sustainable Transportation) have reached a settlement agreement with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) resolving the lawsuit filed over Caltrans’ planned expansion of HOV lanes on Highway 50 from Sunrise Boulevard to Watt Avenue.

In light of the ongoing state budget negotiations and the importance of directing stimulus spending at important infrastructure upgrades, ECOS, NAST and Caltrans have agreed on a plan that will protect our communities and the environment while creating thousands of new construction jobs for our region.  The agreement:

• clears the way for Caltrans to start construction this year on new HOV lanes on Highway 50 from Sunrise Boulevard to Watt Avenue;
• commits Caltrans to funding $3.9 million in improvements on Regional Transit’s Gold Line that will allow for 15-minute frequency light rail service from Hazel light rail station to downtown Sacramento and additional peak period express trains from Folsom to downtown Sacramento;
• commits Caltrans to funding 3 years ($3.6 million) of Regional Transit’s net operating costs to run 15-minute frequency service to downtown Folsom;
• commits Caltrans to finding an additional $820,000 to fund construction of a bicycle pedestrian crossing over Highway 59 near Mather Field Road;
• commits Caltrans to enter into discussions with affected communities regarding the allocation of community enhancement funds to maximize access to and use of the Gold Line.

ECOS and NAST challenged Caltrans’ proposed Highway 50 expansion on the grounds that the agency had failed to perform adequate environmental review of the project.  This past summer, Judge Timothy Frawley ruled in favor of ECOS and NAST, finding that Caltrans had failed to address environmental and community impacts associated with the project and needed to consider transit-oriented alternatives.  The delay in project implementation became a point of contention in ongoing budget negotiations between the Governor and the Legislative leadership, and the Governor had proposed altering the landmark California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to specifically exempt this project from the usual environmental review.

By resolving the outstanding litigation over Highway 50, ECOS, NAST, and Caltrans are helping to take CEQA compliance out of ongoing budget negotiations.  Furthermore, by committing in substantial ways to enhance transit service in the corridor and to increase pedestrian and bicycle access to transit, Caltrans has signaled that it understands the environmental and community concerns and will work with all interested parties to maximize the efficient movement of people and goods through the Highway 50 corridor.

ECOS spokesperson Eric Davis noted the historic nature of the agreement.  “We are happy that improvements for the benefit of vehicle traffic in the Highway 50 corridor are now tied to improvements to transit service in the same area.  Our agreement shows that economic stimulus and environmental protection can go hand in hand.  We also hope that resolution of our lawsuit will help prevent the undermining of CEQA during the difficult budget negotiations that are underway.”

The resolution of this lawsuit also gives Regional Transit and Caltrans an unprecedented opportunity to work together to ensure that the highway and transit line function as an integrated system.  ECOS and NAST look forward to an evolving relationship with both of these agencies to ensure that future transportation decisions in the corridor follow this promising new model.