Housing and live music: The major developments coming to Sacramento’s R Street Corridor

Ryan Lillis
·4 min read

Stretching nearly 30 blocks in Sacramento’s central city, the R Street Corridor has seen significant development in the past few years. More is on the way.

Following the success of the Ice Blocks housing and entertainment district, the Warehouse Artist Lofts, and a dining and music row anchored by Ace of Spades, developers continue to bet big on the area. Major new apartment buildings are under construction or proposed along S and R streets, just a block or two from a Sacramento Regional Transit light rail line.

Regional planners have promoted the R Street Corridor as an example of the kind of densely-populated, transit-oriented neighborhood that can help address the Sacramento area’s worsening crises of housing affordability, poor air quality and congestion.

Could a historic Sacramento corridor hold the key to solving the region’s housing crisis?

Here are some of the major projects that are being built or have been proposed recently.

15S

Anthem Properties Group has made significant progress on an eight-story apartment building on S Street between 15th and 16th streets.

15S, as the company calls the building, will have 137 apartments and takes up nearly an entire city block. It is one block away from a busy light rail station.

Anthem, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, had previously said it expected to complete the project by early next year. Apartments in the building will range from 490-square-foot studios to 1,156-square-foot two-bedroom apartments.

Anthem Properties Group is constructing an eight-story apartment building on the 1500 block of S Street in downtown Sacramento, California.
Anthem Properties Group is constructing an eight-story apartment building on the 1500 block of S Street in downtown Sacramento, California.

Old Sacramento Bee property

A real estate investment firm based in Orange County has developed plans to transform roughly three blocks adjacent to R Street into a pair of 269-unit apartment buildings and 48 townhomes. The property is anchored by the former Sacramento Bee headquarters at 21st and Q streets.

An elevated light rail track runs through the middle of the property and a stop is two blocks away.

Shopoff Realty Investments owns the land and is seeking city of Sacramento approval for its proposed design. The firm is trying to sell the property and the development plans to a local developer who would then build the project.

Shopoff’s application calls for a pair of five-story apartment buildings and a five-story parking garage with 298 spaces. A public paseo would separate the two apartment buildings. The firm is also proposing 48 townhomes on a parcel it owns just south of the property.

An architectural drawing shows plans for a 538-unit apartment community proposed for the corner of 21st and Q streets in midtown Sacramento, California. That corner is the site of the former headquarters of The Sacramento Bee.
An architectural drawing shows plans for a 538-unit apartment community proposed for the corner of 21st and Q streets in midtown Sacramento, California. That corner is the site of the former headquarters of The Sacramento Bee.

ARY Place affordable housing

Construction appears to be nearly complete on ARY Place, a 158-unit apartment building on S Street between 17th and 18th streets. The complex is one of the most significant affordable housing developments in the central city, as every unit will be restricted to tenants earning low or very low incomes.

The Capitol Area Development Authority reported on its project website that the building was expected to be completed this spring.

The ARY backs up to the Ice Blocks. It will have 16 studios, 119 one-bedroom apartments and 24 two-bedroom units.

A new affordable housing apartment building is under construction at 1717 S St. in midtown Sacramento, California. The building will have more than 150 units of income-restricted apartments.
A new affordable housing apartment building is under construction at 1717 S St. in midtown Sacramento, California. The building will have more than 150 units of income-restricted apartments.

The KIND

At the western end of the R Street Corridor, a three-story apartment building is under construction on the former site of an Insight Coffee Roasters shop at Eighth and S streets.

The KIND will have 72 units. Insight Coffee is being replaced on the site by Brazilian cafe Tupi Coffee, and the new shop’s owners have said they are planning a rooftop area and more seating once they open for business later this year.

A new three-story apartment building with 72 units is proposed for 1901 8th St., near Southside Park in downtown Sacramento, California.
A new three-story apartment building with 72 units is proposed for 1901 8th St., near Southside Park in downtown Sacramento, California.

New music venue

At the other end of the corridor, local firm SKK Developments is working on a new 2,300-seat concert venue at the southwest corner of 24th and R streets.

On the same block as a light rail station, the new music venue “is intended to anchor the east end of the R Street Corridor and to serve as a catalyst for future mixed-use development,” the developer wrote in an a project application with the city of Sacramento.

The R Street Corridor already has one of the city’s most successful live music venues in Ace of Spades. The new venue would greatly expand the corridor’s entertainment district.

SKK Developments has proposed building a new live music and events venue at the corner of 24th and R streets in midtown Sacramento, California.
SKK Developments has proposed building a new live music and events venue at the corner of 24th and R streets in midtown Sacramento, California.

The Richmond

A four-story apartment and mixed-use building is under construction near 16th and S streets, one block from both the Ice Blocks development and the ARY Place affordable housing project.

The Richmond will have 47 apartments over a ground-floor commercial space, adding more dense housing to the corridor.

Construction is expected to be completed next year.

A four-story building with 47 apartments is proposed for S Street between 16th and 17th streets in midtown Sacramento.
A four-story building with 47 apartments is proposed for S Street between 16th and 17th streets in midtown Sacramento.

905 S Street

Anthem Properties has proposed a second major project near R Street: a seven-story apartment building at 905 S St., longtime home of Beers Books.

Anthem’s application for the project is under consideration with the city of Sacramento.

The firm is proposing a nearly block-long building with 225 apartments and retail space on the ground floor.

Anthem Properties of Vancouver, B.C., has proposed constructing a seven-story apartment building on the 900 block of S Street in downtown Sacramento, California.
Anthem Properties of Vancouver, B.C., has proposed constructing a seven-story apartment building on the 900 block of S Street in downtown Sacramento, California.