More development news. It's funny that Thomas Enterprises has such elaborate plans for the railyard when they don't own it yet.
And I was looking at an article about Jimboys expansion and saw this. Hamburger Mary's is just OK, so I can't get very excited about the owners opening a place, but the selection of food on the river is so dismal that this at least can't make it any worse. It's been open for a while now, has anyone been there?
Here's a biz journal poll on the arena. It's not a random sample so it probably doesn't mean much.
Despite your sureness, Culinary Specialists is the catering company's name and they are doing very well. Nice positivity!
ReplyDeleteAnd Mulvaney's Building and Loan, the restaurant next door, is doing great too - you should try it out sometime, especially on a nice evening, the patio dining area is amazing. They serve great food with most vegetables sourced from local area organic farmers.
Wow, both these comments are snotty for no reason. Yeah, I saw the date, but even though that restaurant has been open for over a year (the Blue Gecko, the one on the river) I've never heard anyone mention it.
ReplyDeleteNice positivity is also one of the weakest disses I've heard it a while, although it was directed at Smitty so I won't get mad.
The plans for the railyards have been in the works for years--plenty of time for several series of business plans, complete with artistic renderings. Part of what galls me about the current "arena debate" (I know, taboo topic, but it relates to this) is that people assume that nobody has ever planned anything for the railyards, when plans have been in the works when the railyards were still actively shifting freight, rebuilding locomotives and otherwise doing useful work for Southern Pacific.
ReplyDeleteUnion Pacific generally tries to make money doing anything but actually moving freight, but they are a big, slow-to-move corporation so it takes a long time. The state is involved, which also takes a long time--complex land swaps between UP, Thomas, Parks & Rec and the city of Sacramento take a while. The various environmental hazards and plans for their remediation or at least coverup takes a long time--part of why the R Street plan has taken so long to start is because only since about 2004 has state money been available to clean up the goop in the ground. Thomas Enterprises is a big developer and very conservative, they're going to take their time working out the details, and in the process they will work out several potential business models and many, many renderings to try to get some idea to ensure that this chunk of land is worth buying in the first place.
So yeah, lots of developed plans for land they haven't bought yet is absolutely commonplace. And the pile of dirt out there is likely to remain a pile of dirt for a while longer. Even if all the details get sorted out, they're still doing archaeology, figuring out how to preserve the shops buildings, etcetera.
Look at how developed the plans for Gold Rush Park are--and not only do they not own the land, they don't even have bids in, and consolidating the land would require an ungodly amount of eminent domain proceedings.
Anyone else have anything snotty to say? step right up! Want to school me on anything? Go right ahead. When I said that it was funny that Thomas Enterprises was doing that I should have said look how normal it is that Thomas Enterprises is doing this. That would have been an exciting post. Look everyone, look how normal it is that the entire city is under construction. As of today I feel pretty tired of even thinking about all this bullshit. Perhaps I should just buy stock in Thomas Enterprises (anyone wanna jump in and tell me that it's not a publicly traded company, duh) and step back and watch it all proceed. I know I'm overreacting but I'm tired worrying about the development all the time and I just want to not care or be excited like most people are. But thanks for not posting anonymously, jetrock, even though I don't know who you are. I'm cool with even a psuedonym.
ReplyDelete(warning, sarcasm ahoy!)
ReplyDeleteI had NO IDEA that Hamburger Mary's on J St predated Celestin's! Also, it was nice of the writer to leave out mention of the Italian Deli (it is already too crowded at lunchtime) which has been there since probably before Marika's, which has been there since the Day of the Locust. I really wish HMs didn't bore me to tears.
Ed
sorry my comments were snotty. i had to get it out of my system.
ReplyDeleteI am here to defend Jetrock. I don't know him from Adam, but I have been running into him on the internet for years. While I considered him a bit of a know it all when I first read his essays on Sacramento history, I have long considered him a fascinating know-it-all. He really does and he is more than willing to share his info. His best work is done in the Sacramento livejournal community. He's not snotty, he was just born that way.
ReplyDeletegbomb
I figured out who it is. I know him and he's a nice guy. Plus-hint-he just got a book published on Sacramento streetcars!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=0738531472
Does the Business Journal report how much Club 2 Me is selling for this time? I heard its a hell of a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteI think the end of the latest heat wave has everyone coming out of the temperature-induced torpor and in a fightin' mood. I didn't mean to come off as snotty, I suppose I'm reacting to the multitude of people jabbering about the arena (which I am already sick of too) and wanted to educate, not infuriate. Sometimes I get over-enthusiastic about all the silly stuff I read about in my free time, and I type fast. And when Scott Soriano isn't around to smack me on the nose with the vast multitude of things that I don't know (as he did often on the sacto-indie list) I sometimes run wild on the stench of my own opinions.
ReplyDeleteMy latest theory is that Mayor Fargo was visited by the spirits of the Indians whose graves were disturbed by City Hall construction, and they bestowed a curse on downtown Sacramento not unlike Sarah Winchester. Thus, the never-ending construction...
"I am known by many names..."
--Rance Muhannitz