Condo

Downtown Sacramento Real Estate

July 5th, 2007 categories: Condo, Downtown, Real Estate, Sacramento

Sacramento lost The Towers that would have changed our skyline and given us the tallest building on the West Coast.

Having such a spectacular Real Estate venue would have had quite an impact on our Real Estate and notoriety. Real Estate in Sacramento, CA, in my opinion would have opened itself up to some great potential and opportunities which would have helped seal new business deals.

John Saca and Cal PERS were partners in The Towers. Due to the decline in Real Estate, the increasing cost associated with building and possibly some poor choices on Sacas part, The Towers project failed.

Cal PERS cut off funds to the project, bought out John Saca and will be working with a Southern CA developer, CIM Group on a much smaller scale for the hole in the ground at Capital Mall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Deu0xJpubnM

This was quite a blow not only for Sacramento but to Saca, himself. Just like Trump who went bankrupt, Saca is back in business once again. He is not willing to tuck his head down and walk away from Sacramento.

John Saca has pulled himself up by the boot straps and is attempting to bring Sacramento yet another project as witnessed when listening to him on KCRA Channel 3. John Saca purchased 10th and J Street and owns it free and clear, needs no partners and plans on building a 40 story project of condos with the possibility of a hotel.

This project is called Metropolitan and will cost $200 million versus The Towers cost of $600 million. Although the Metropolitan will not be the tallest on the West Coast, it will be the tallest in Downtown Sacramento if approved by the City Council and Planning Commission.

You have to give John Saca credit. He is a visionary and he sees the potential for Downtown Sacramento. Without visionaries, where would we be? Lets give the guy a chance. He sold more condos in the now defunct Towers than this new project even offers.

Thank you, John Saca for giving this another try and I hope you make it this time! All this in due time if approved by the City Council and the time line for building, Saca might just have something here Real Estate will have made its comeback and he should be flying high.

Now, for the City of Sacramento how about a little vision on your part? Lets try to get some businesses here that can support this type of urban living. Relying on government jobs is not what will make Sacramento. Its time to bring in the Big Guys with the Big Guns. I realize that sometimes its the chicken before the egg but we really do need to have Big Business if Sacramento is to flourish.

Businesses should be looking at the affordability of re-establishing themselves here in the Sacramento, CA area. Real Estate in Sacramento is certainly much cheaper than San Francisco and the Bay Area. This is the time, to launch a Real Estate and Business partnership here in the Sacramento, CA Downtown area.

I see a great future for Sacramento Real Estate.

Sac Towers Officially Dead

Towers and Aura Deal or No Deal?

Craig Nassi Accomplishes 1st Step

Aura Condos with Sacramento as BANK

Update on Sacramento Arena

Development of Rail Yard in Sacramento

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Craig Nassi Accomplishes 1st Step

February 14th, 2007 categories: Condo, Downtown, Real Estate, Sacramento

Craig Nassi Signs Contract For Land Craig Nassi, of BCN Development has accomplished the first step toward securing a $10 million loan with the City of Sacramento for the Aura Condo project by finally agreeing on a purchase price with the Landowner, David Taylor for the property at 601 Capitol Mall in Downtown Sacramento. This was one of the prerequisites to the agreement reached with Craig Nassi when he met with the City Council Members and asked the City of Sacramento to become a bank for the Aura shortfall of $10 Million.

The next step is for Craig Nassi to provide our City officials with all the loans and conditions he has on other loans. I personally hope that the City officials will require Mr. Nassi to document his Secret Investors. Lastly, an agreement must be reached by Mr. Nassi and the City of Sacramento on the conditions of the $10 million loan. Hope this is public information since it is our tax dollars being loaned!

Ray Tretheway, City Councilman for Downtown Sacramento stated, there were some doubts that economics would allow him to pull of a building of that size. Well, time will tell, Mr. Tretheway. Although, I would love to see the skyline change and the Aura built I have some concerns about Craig Nassi.

Recently, a reader sent this web site link where Craig Nassis quality of work was negatively addressed. The caveat to this states, before you buy a condo built by Craig Nassi, you need to see this! Any thoughts after reading what some of his customers had to say?

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Aura Condos with Sacramento as BANK

February 11th, 2007 categories: Condo, Downtown, Real Estate, Sacramento

Sacramento City Council member met on February 6, 2007 to discuss the first step toward being the Lender for the project overage costs on the Aura which has not been built nor the Land purchased. Due to the slump in the Real Estate market and the high cost of construction, there is a shortage of funds to start this project. The total project costs are $175 Million. The Sacramento City Council Members had not been brought up to speed with this proposal and therefore had many questions and concerns during the City Council meeting. It seems that the Developer, Craig Nassi of BCN Development out of Denver, Colorado had not bothered to meet with the City Council members privately until a week ago. Mayor Fargo addressed the staff members and asked that in the future any project that goes through the Planning Dept. should also come before the City Council so that the Council Members are kept up to speed and not put in this position in the future. All Sacramento City Council members believe that this is a good project for the City of Sacramento and in turn will generate revenue for the City. Because Sacramento does not have a history of Downtown Condo projects, Lenders are uneasy to loan all the monies required to fund a new project such as this. Therefore, the Lender puts a maximum limit on the funds being loaned since there is no history to determine if the project would fail in our City or not. Once we as Sacramentians, have established a history and need for High-Rise upper end Condos, then Lenders will not have difficulty loaning for future projects. This would be a first for Sacramento. Do you think a high-end Condo High Rise is a good thing for our City?

The Developer, Craig Nassi and undisclosed investors are putting up money as well as Corus Bank of Chicago for $132 Million and Meecorp Capital Markets for $14.5 Million for what’s called a Mezzanine Lender (which is for loans where you need more assistance when you fall short of money for a loan). The City of Sacramento is being asked to loan $10 million toward the building of the Aura which would be paid off within 3 years time at the current prevailing interest rate, thereby making money for the City. This of course does not come without risk. Should the project fail, the City of Sacramento would have a lien on the property and negotiate with the 1st Lender, Corus Bank for payoff. Naturally, as in any Real Estate Loan deal, the first would be paid first. The City of Sacramento is essentially a third. The Developer for the Aura would not disclose who the Investors are which troubled a few of the City Council Members (as it should). The Developer was asked several times to disclose who the Investors in the Aura project are but Craig would not disclose. It was also noted at the Sacramento City Council Meeting that this Developer is having financial difficulty with a similar Condo project in Reno and is renegotiating with the bank on that loan slippery! However, Craig Nassi did address to the Sacramento City Council members that if the project fails, all monies would be returned to those future Condo Buyers (which represent 65% of the 268 units) who have placed their non-refundable monies into this project. Apparently, eager to advertise the Aura condo project, one City Council member noted that the brochure for the Aura specifies that the project is already built and on a different site location…slippery! Do you think the “Secret” Investors should be exposed?

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Towers and Aura…Deal or No Deal?

February 8th, 2007 categories: Condo, Downtown, Real Estate, Sacramento

SacTowers Liberskinds Aura at 601 Capitol Mall, and Sacas twin 52 story Towers at 3rd Street & Capitol are at a standstill. No building is present and no building construction is going on.

It seems that unexpected construction costs have suddenly brought The Towers to halt further construction. “Unanticipated construction-cost increases and the need for additional capital are primary reasons for the delay in proceeding,” Saca said in a prepared statement. It is rumored that construction liens have been issued while Saca asks CalPERS to cough up more dough. The retirement association had already given $100 million toward this project and now the hands are out asking for more. Wonder how many California Employees are aware that it is their money that is funding this project and if so what do the California Employees think about giving more money. It would appear that this wasnt very well thought out. Without any signs of a shell of a building and already short of funds hmmmm Will CalPERS deal or no deal?

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How the Sacramento Skyline is Changing…

November 25th, 2006 categories: Condo, Real Estate, Sacramento

Current Sacramento Projects Yes, the sky-line in Sacramento is soon to change with all the current and scheduled construction that will be taking place over the next few years. I wonder what the noise level is for those working Downtown? There are so many new high-rise projects that will be dramatically changing our sky-line. The Ziggurat building also caused great discussion years ago. With a projected 1 million new people moving to Sacramento by 2025, this seems like good timing. Here are just a few of the many projects slated for construction over the next year.