Goodbye Towers Project

A few years ago, I nearly convinced my husband that giving up $10,000 on the potential of an amazing apartment with a view of the Capitol was a brilliant idea. I rarely say it, but honey, you were right!

The hope of the idea that Sacramento would be able to build and sustain a high-rise apartment building of the caliber of The Towers Project is gone. CalPERS announced last week that they are buying Saca out of the project and going into redesign mode. It's doubtful that CalPERS will keep the original concept and many people who wanted an apartment have made the jump to the Aura building already.

So what does this mean? Is Sacramento not yet ready for such a high-brow concept? Saca was a visionary and was willing to take a leap that nobody else in Sacramento had really gone for. It was only after Saca secured funding that Aura even got started. It was amazing to hear chatter on the streets of the future of Sacramento and the rise of a new downtown. I truly enjoyed the idea that the downtown might flourish without a city-funded, taxpayer burdening arena.

I have to agree with Marcos Breton in today's Bee article. The idea of the Towers begged for us to believe that Sacramento could be so much more. I for one, can only stand by and hope that CalPERS and CIM are able to come up with a better, grander project than envisioned by Saca, one that will continue the blossoming downtown force. Please do not build us another office building that closes by 6pm and has nothing to offer the public more than 100 hours a week. We want a hotel, vibrance, restaurants, mixed-use facilities and creativity. Something to put Sacramento on the architectural map.

And to agree again with Breton... without the Maloofs.