Uneasy Rhetoric

A few days ago, Carl posted about the Epic Tower, another Libeskind-designed tower planned for downtown Sacramento, apparently for the corner of 10th and J Streets. Despite my past quibbling and lack of cheerleading, I will say that just about anything would be an improvement for that dank row of decrepit buildings lining both sides of J Street between 10th and 11th and the south side across from Chavez Park.

Copenhagen Furniture, which used to be in that location, has been closed for maybe 20 years and yet nothing much exists there. BeanHeads is gone, the Hoover Vacuum Cleaner store is gone; all that is left is Mother India and its cheap and mediocre buffet. If the Patiño Law School is to be taken seriously, it would also do well to relocate to better digs, and I’m sure Sacramento’s cigar fans could find a new location for Rodney’s (now I ask you, would someone who doesn’t spend any time downtown know the names of these businesses?).

The Epic (which I maintain is about as ugly as its sister the Aura), will join another planned condo tower at the corner of 11th and J, the Plaza Lofts, and upgraded versions of Sacramento’s original high-rises - the Elks Building and 926 J Street. Last I heard, the owners were courting a steakhouse for the Elks Building. As for 926 J, the new owners are basically rebuilding its insides, or so I’ve been told. A lot of the tenants are relocating. In a perfect world, one of the plans for K Street near the shopping mall will also bear fruit.

I don’t have a lot of faith that all of this will get done, but if even some of it does, it will go a long way toward making downtown come to life. The city has already spent money and psychic energy trying to make Chavez Park (growing up, before it was renamed “Chavez Park,” I only knew it as “wino park”) a centerpiece of the city, and I quite like the new city hall building, especially the way it acts as a kind of frame or cradle for the old city hall.