Downtown blockbuster: Kings, developer unveil luxury Capitol Mall high-rise project

The Sacramento Kings and a prominent developer unveiled plans Tuesday for a 28-story Capitol Mall high-rise development, a project the two groups say will be the city’s first-ever luxury high-rise rental project.

The project plotted for Lot X at Third Street and Capitol Mall, long a parking lot for downtown’s office workers, could be downtown’s most dramatic architectural entry since the Kings’ Golden 1 Center debuted five years ago.

The high-rise will house 225 luxury apartments and an 80,000 square-foot office building, developer Southern Land Co. announced in a joint statement with the Kings. Groundbreaking is slated for 2023 with a 2025 due date. Nashville, Tennessee-based Southern Land Co. bought the 2.56-acre lower downtown lot from the NBA franchise.

“We are excited to build a beautiful mixed-use project in an outstanding location and add to the vibrancy of downtown Sacramento,” said Tim Downey, Southern Land CEO and founder.

The planned mixed-use high-rise blocks away from Golden 1 Center and across the street from Crocker Art Museum at Second and O streets comes as the museum plans a major redevelopment to include developing adjacent-but-undeveloped Crocker Park into what officials there call an “art-focused attraction.”

The Crocker foresees the high-rise being a “true, second front” of Crocker Park, said Lial Jones, the Crocker’s director and CEO, in the joint statement.

“The addition creates great synergies for this part of downtown Sacramento,” Jones said, adding that the museum will be a draw for the luxury development’s future residents while the project’s added housing and commercial space will “bring vibrancy to the area.”

The project is Southern Land’s first in the capital city and in statements both Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg weighed in on the project’s potential impact on the city’s downtown.

“We need more housing of all types in our downtown and it’s great to see a property that has been underused for so long turned into a project that will bring new residents to our urban core who will patronize our city’s stores, our restaurants and our entertainment venues,” Steinberg said in the statement.