To stop new Shake Shack, Sacramento building could be labeled historic by City Council
The Sacramento City Council will this month consider listing a building that formerly housed a bank on the city’s historic register, which would halt plans to demolish it for a Shake Shack.
The building, at 1950 Arden Way, is a former Home Savings and Loan, according to the city staff report. It’s at the busy intersection of Arden Way and Exposition Boulevard, near the Arden Fair Mall.
In August, the owners of the building approached the city about a proposal to demolish the building and replace it with drive-through fast food restaurants, the staff report stated. An evaluation by Sacramento firm Dudek found it lacked historical significance necessary to be listed on the Sacramento Register of Historic and Cultural Resources.
The evaluation was circulated to neighborhoods and architecture experts. Preservation Sacramento and several other groups submitted comments to the city claiming it did indeed belong on the register. City staff along with the city’s Preservation Commission agreed, prompting council consideration.
If the council adds it to the register, it could technically still be demolished, but the process would be more complicated because it would be subject to various environmental regulations, city spokeswoman Kelli Trapani said.
But if it is added to the register, the project would not be able to go forward, said Charles Smyth of Newport Beach-based Market Street Development.
The developer is planning to build a Shake Shack at the property, Smyth said. It would be the second location in Sacramento County for the popular East Coast-based burger chain, which opened a restaurant in the midtown Ice Blocks in 2020.
The second restaurant that would open at the property would also have a drive-thru, but would mostly be a sit-down restaurant with non-disposable silverware and plates, Smyth said. The third building could be a restaurant or another type of retail use, and would not have a drive-thru, Smyth said.
The building has been vacant for at least five years, and the firm has been trying hard to find tenants for two years without success, he said. A large regional medical provider was in escrow to use it for an imaging center in 2021, but that plan fell through, he said.
“It’s not a great office location, it’s more of a retail location,” Smyth said.
The building is one of several Home Savings and Loan buildings in California.
“To people who lived in California during the 1960’s, 1970’s, and 1980’s, the local Home Savings and Loan buildings were distinctive and immediately recognizable,” the staff report stated. “They helped foster an interest in local history and helped to create a sense of place in a rapidly changing world. They were important buildings in their time period and their high-quality materials, design, and artwork were rightly seen as a gift to the community and urban landscape. 1950 Arden Way is an excellent late example of the work of Millard Sheets.”
Sheets designed over 100 buildings for Home Savings, the report stated. The three-story Arden Way location is one of the largest and most visible of the sites in Northern California. It also contains small glass mosaics and murals, all in the late new formalist style.
A similar former bank building downtown was redeveloped into a since-closed bar, restaurant and event space, and city staff believe a reuse could also be feasible on Arden Way, the report stated.
The council plans to consider the item May 28, but the date could change, Trapani said.
