Uneasy Rhetoric

32-story tower proposed: Plans call for 100 luxury condos atop 200-room J St. hotel. From the Sacramento Business Journal

I don’t object anymore to the thought of Sacramento growing up. Once upon a time, I did, because I saw it as a sign of greedy and slipshod development. Frankly, it still is – Sacramento seems to grow without any real planning – but I’d much rather the city grow up than out. It’s better for the environment, it’s better for commuters, and it’s better for city life in Downtown and Midtown.

My complaint with this highrise isn’t that it will have eight floors of parking or yet another hotel. My complaint is that Sacramento is pricing middle-class families out of the urban landscape. Once again, we’re smitten with “luxury condominiums.” Has anyone ever tried to build “family-friendly condominiums” or “working class condominiums”?

This highrise will have, according to the article, 100 condos over 12 stories. That is eight and a third condos on each floor. Each floor is supposed to be 12,800 square feet. That means each condo would have about 1500 square feet devoted to it. If we assume about a fourth of the space would be dedicated to “common area” and utilities, that still means the condos would have about 1,100 square feet of living space. In other words, a somewhat large two-bedroom space or a very small three-bedroom space. If they can get by with less common area, perhaps they can get 1,200 square feet of living space. This is not bad, in terms of space, but at $350,000 this is hardly a bargain compared to what you can still get for the same amount of money in parts of the suburbs.

If Sacramento really wants to revitalize the Downtown, they are going to have to start finding ways of attracting families, and not just those families who are, like me, hard-core urbanists who don’t believe that anyone needs more than 2,000 square feet of living space plus a communal garden or other outdoor arrangement. Sacramento needs to find a way to bring the post-nuclear family back into downtown.