Curtis Park New Shopping Center Controversy (Sacramento, Oak Park: low income, best neighborhoods, crime)

[Chimérique]

Curtis Park New Shopping Center Controversy

Higher End Safeway with union wages along with nice restaurants and higher-end shops are Out; instead low-income retailers like Dollar Tree and low-end shops will take their place.

Did Curtis Park residents, which was named one the best neighborhoods in the nation, just force the DEMISE of their neighborhood because the city council caved to collectivist-socialist ideologies, over a gas station?

Every demand was met: clean up a toxic site to the highest level and create a dense semi-urban neighborhood with a light rail station that is within walking distance of the neighborhood where you can walk and bike to the shopping center within the new development.

I was seriously thinking of buying one of the brownstones or the "estates", and envisioning walking to the Safeway or the higher-end restaurants, walking to the light rail station to go to midtown or downtown, or biking over to the City College. Now it is going to be a huge low-income neighborhood on the edge of curtis park. I will not defiantly not buy their now.

City of Sacramento residents pipe up, give us your thoughts. Did the city council make the right decision? What is the future of the neighborhood. Low-income, trashy shopping center fueled by others using light rail to go to the dollar tree, check cashing place, and liquor store.

[Stay West]

This is a laughably bad analysis of the situation. Regardless of which retail vendors move in at the onset, this neighborhood is firmly upper middle class. Eventually the grocer and adjacent commercial space will reflect that affluence. Conversely, the gas station would have remained there indefinitely and always been a drag on the quality of life.

Also, nobody of means considers Safeway to be an affluent super market anyway. I'd call it middle to low income catering brand. So what if the employees are union, the food is mostly awful. So getting Grocery Outlet instead isn't really a trade down.

I'm impressed the residents called the developer's bluff, honestly. He didn't spend decades of his life on this project to realize a dream of bargain outlet stores. He's going to put the best tenants in he can find and eventually those will be upper class catering stores.

[Majin]

I don't like NIMBYs, but sorry, the city made the right decision here and should not give into blackmail by an ******* developer. The Curtis Park NIMBY's reasons were probably not honest, but yes adding a huge gas station and large surface parking lot does not advance the city's agenda for dense transit oriented infill. Just building suburban car oriented development right next to a light rail station should not be what the city should be promoting.

It sucks that Petrovich is able to now bring in low end retail (at this point I would not be surprised if he announced the next tenant as a Motel 6) to an otherwise high end neighborhood just to spite but what can you do? Give into blackmail and let developers build mini-rosevilles inside historic century year old neighborhoods? I hope no garbage like this gets built in other upcoming neighborhoods like Oak Park or Broadway and the city learned their lesson on this project. They should not of even let any amendments to the project be approved after it's initial approval. Now the city and the Curtis Park neighborhood is about to be burned.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by Stay West

This is a laughably bad analysis of the situation. Regardless of which retail vendors move in at the onset, this neighborhood is firmly upper middle class. Eventually the grocer and adjacent commercial space will reflect that affluence. Conversely, the gas station would have remained there indefinitely and always been a drag on the quality of life.

Also, nobody of means considers Safeway to be an affluent super market anyway. I'd call it middle to low income catering brand. So what if the employees are union, the food is mostly awful. So getting Grocery Outlet instead isn't really a trade down.

I'm impressed the residents called the developer's bluff, honestly. He didn't spend decades of his life on this project to realize a dream of bargain outlet stores. He's going to put the best tenants in he can find and eventually those will be upper class catering stores.

"Eventually the grocer and adjacent commercial space will reflect that affluence", I seriously doubt that, and I hope I am wrong. Dollar tree is coming in 9 months per Business Journal.

I figured I would get that kind of response from most of you, "laughably bad analysis", how?

Safeway certainly will attract a higher income demographic than Dollar Tree. Grocery Outlet is fine but doesn't fit the demographic of the prices of the homes built thus far.

Petrovich, NOW plans to build much lower end housing on the remaining 2/3 of the undeveloped lots. He can still make a lot of money but the neighborhood will be much lower end.

A Dollar Tree tied to a light rail station from low-income SouthSac; how is that better than a gas station?

Dollar Tree will attract way more of the low-income element than the gas station. These people will be on foot from the light rail station.

What could have been an upper middle class shopping center will now be a low-end shopping center dragging down the whole neighborhood. Like we need more of that.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by Majin

I don't like NIMBYs, but sorry, the city made the right decision here and should not give into blackmail by an ******* developer. The Curtis Park NIMBY's reasons were probably not honest, but yes adding a huge gas station and large surface parking lot does not advance the city's agenda for dense transit oriented infill. Just building suburban car oriented development right next to a light rail station should not be what the city should be promoting.

It sucks that Petrovich is able to now bring in low end retail (at this point I would not be surprised if he announced the next tenant as a Motel 6) to an otherwise high end neighborhood just to spite but what can you do? Give into blackmail and let developers build mini-rosevilles inside historic century year old neighborhoods? I hope no garbage like this gets built in other upcoming neighborhoods like Oak Park or Broadway and the city learned their lesson on this project. They should not of even let any amendments to the project be approved after it's initial approval. Now the city and the Curtis Park neighborhood is about to be burned.

It's STILL going to be a "suburban car oriented development" but now it will be a low income and TRASHY as well. I envisioned it like the 19th street Safeway but better because the light rail station is way closer and a lot more user friendly, and because of the higher end restaurants.

It could have been a local "destination" place with higher end coffee houses, restaurants etc. Now its just going to be another low end lot of low end stores; certainly not a shopping center I would want to hang out in and spend money.

What could have been a middle-upper middle class light rail station mixed with college students and a "nice" middle to upper end shopping center will now be a low end and the remaining housing will reflect that.

Part of the allure of using that light rail station would be a higher end shopping center right there, now I see that shopping center as a distraction to the middle/upper income light rail user, rather the shopping center will now attract more of the low-income non-paying light rail user.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by Stay West

He's going to put the best tenants in he can find and eventually those will be upper class catering stores.

Apparently, Petrovich always knew this was a possiblity, and is willing and able to turn the whole development downward to high density lower income housing.

How is an 8 pump gas station supposed to ruin the neighborhood, and a 24hour liquor store, and Dollar Tree supposed to be better?

[Stay West]

Petrovich, NOW plans to build much lower end housing on the remaining 2/3 of the undeveloped lots. He can still make a lot of money but the neighborhood will be much lower end.

A Dollar Tree tied to a light rail station from low-income SouthSac; how is that better than a gas station?

Dollar Tree will attract way more of the low-income element than the gas station. These people will be on foot from the light rail station.

What could have been an upper middle class shopping center will now be a low-end shopping center dragging down the whole neighborhood. Like we need more of that.

I believe a dollar tree could go in out of spite, but there's no way he's making 2/3 of those homes anything less than upper middle class prices. Why would anyone from south sac commute to a dollar store? They have plenty nearby. Ultimately the market will incentivize retail that reflects the neighborhood. There's nothing worse than a gas station, it's open all hours and attracts crime and bums perpetually. Even the worst discount retail is closed at night.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by Stay West

I believe a dollar tree could go in out of spite, but there's no way he's making 2/3 of those homes anything less than upper middle class prices. Why would anyone from south sac commute to a dollar store? They have plenty nearby. Ultimately the market will incentivize retail that reflects the neighborhood. There's nothing worse than a gas station, it's open all hours and attracts crime and bums perpetually. Even the worst discount retail is closed at night.

I hope you are right but seriously doubt it. Many of those low-income folks don't drive and have to take light rail. They will be coming not only from South Sac but the downtown area as well. With a Dollar Tree and a Grocery Outlet, it will sadly be nothing like it was intended. The monied folks will not be incentivized to go there, instead they will go to the new Raleys, new Co-op and new whole foods.

So sad, I was looking forward to that shopping center it would have been unique, a little bit of midtown walkable vibe within Curtis Park, now it's going to be alot of low-end Sac within Curtis Park, all because certain people had to have everything there way, exactly there way, over a gas station. Group-think can be dangerous when it blows common sense out the door.

[borninsac]

We all might be surprised to learn that upper-crusters shop at stores like these including thrift stores like Thrift Town where some of the best deals can be had. You can't judge a book by its cover the saying goes.

Gotta go; I'm off to the 99 Cent store for some frugal shopping then I'll make a pit stop at Thrift Town for some "new" Christmas attire.

[wburg]

Chimerique, do you have any source/article you can point to that suggests the housing will now be less expensive than the units built so far? Unless he's just going to cut his own throat on profits by building the currently approved units and selling them for less than the cost of construction, significant changes to the development would require going back through the city planning process. If he actually is going to make the units far less expensive, I'd applaud; Curtis Park doesn't have a whole lot of affordable housing.