Client: City of Sacramento, CA
Seifel Consulting provided economic advisory services and input to the community planning process on alternative planning concepts for a portion of the 240-acre Union Pacific Railyards site in Sacramento. The site is located in the Richards Boulevard Redevelopment Project Area, immediately north of the City’s existing central business district.
The current landowner (Union Pacific) had formed a coalition with local transit service providers and business interests known as the Sacramento Intermodal Transportation Alliance (SITA). SITA proposed a development concept for the front portion of the site, which would require relocating the existing railroad tracks at the front of the site to an area north of the existing train station, This would extend the existing downtown grid onto the site, improving pedestrian linkages to historic Old Sacramento and the rest of the downtown. In response, local preservationists formed a coalition opposed to this development concept, known as the "Save Our Rail Depot" (SORD), since it would not preserve the train station in its current use. SORD proposed an alternative concept that would leave the existing tracks in place and continue the use of the historic train station.
As advisors to the City of Sacramento, we evaluated alternative development scenarios given transit requirements and market opportunities. We researched potential funding sources and investigated joint development opportunities for the proposed improvements, presenting our findings.
Drawing on the case studies of comparable public/private planning efforts (such as Mission Bay in San Francisco), we outlined the key ingredients for successful development. We provided advice at community workshops on the site’s competitive advantages and disadvantages, market conditions and requirements to attract viable development.