Downtown Commons

Downtown Commons

The former eastern entrance to what was then Westfield Downtown Plaza
Location Sacramento, California, USA
Address 660 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Opening date 1971 (as Downtown Plaza)
2016 (as Downtown Commons)
Closing date 2014 (as Sacramento Downtown Plaza)
Developer The Hahn Company
Management JMA Ventures, LLC
Owner Sacramento Kings LP, LLC
No. of stores and services 3
No. of anchor tenants 1
Total retail floor area 1,188,100ft2 (110,374m2) [1]
No. of floors 2
Parking 4,045 [1]
Public transit access St. Rose of Lima Park
Website docosacramento.com

Downtown Commons (or DoCo), formerly known as Sacramento Downtown Plaza, Westfield Downtown Plaza and Downtown Plaza, is an upcoming two-level outdoor mixed use entertainment and shopping complex operated by JMA Ventures, LLC, located in downtown Sacramento, California, United States near the State Capitol building. The complex is bordered by J Street to the north, L Street to the south, 7th Street to the east and 4th Street to the west. Downtown Commons' former use was a mainly two-level outdoor shopping mall commonly known as Downtown Plaza, despite numerous official name changes over the years. The majority of the site is being redeveloped, centering on the Golden 1 Center, future home of the NBA's Sacramento Kings. The section between 5th and 7th Streets was demolished in 2014 to make room for the Golden 1 Center, as well as a boutique hotel operated by Kimpton Hotels immediately north of the arena site. The currently standing section between 4th and 5th Streets is being redeveloped in association with the arena project.

History

Downtown Commons was originally built in 1971 as Downtown Plaza by The Hahn Company as a mixed enclosed and open-air plaza adjoining a Macy's store built in 1963. Weinstock's relocated their downtown store in 1979 to the center, and in 1981 added a Liberty House store. Liberty House closed in 1984 and was replaced by I. Magnin, which closed in 1992. The center was completely renovated in 1993, adding a second story, a food court, various upscale shops, and a United Artists Theatres with 7 screens (Century Theatres took over ownership of the theater in 2000). An entertainment complex named America Live! also opened in the spot formerly occupied by I. Magnin, housing various nightclubs and bars. After Federated Department Stores (parent company of Macy's at the time) acquired Broadway Stores (parent company of Weinstock's) in 1995, the former Weinstock's store became a second Macy's location in 1996, housing Macy's Men's & Furniture. In 1997, Hard Rock Cafe opened their only Sacramento restaurant at the east end of the mall where America Live! operated, which closed a year prior. The restaurant closed its doors 13 years later in 2010.[2]

The center was sold to Westfield America, Inc. in 1998 and renamed it Westfield Shoppingtown Downtown Plaza. The unwieldy "Shoppingtown" was dropped from the name in 2005. Various redevelopment proposals, including plans for a Target store and an unnamed grocery store as new anchors, never came to fruition and the center declined.[3] Small retail and restaurant occupancy rates at the mall plummeted from 96 percent in 2004 to 51 percent in 2012. The facility also housed office space, only 53 percent of which was occupied in 2004, declining to 38 percent by 2012.[4]

On August 15, 2012, JMA Ventures, LLC of San Francisco acquired the mall from Westfield, effectively dropping "Westfield" from the name of the mall and was renamed Sacramento Downtown Plaza.[5]

Arena conversion

The Sacramento Kings are currently building an arena where the eastern two-thirds of the former Downtown Plaza was located (the section between 5th and 7th Streets). [6][7] After a protracted battle with the owners of the Macy's Men's & Furniture store (the former Weinstock's), the city took the property by using eminent domain laws,[8] and the remaining retail stores vacated this area by April 30, 2014.[9] The Men's and Furniture departments were then consolidated into the main Macy's store at the west end of the mall. Demolition began on this section, including the former Macy's store in August 2014 and was complete by late 2014.[10] The building that houses 24 Hour Fitness was left intact, unaffected by the mall wide closure and demolition and, to this day, remains open. The section between 4th and 5th Streets is being renovated in association with construction of the Golden 1 Center; tenants in that section, except for Macy's and Century Theatres, which remained open at the time, vacated the mall sometime between June and September 2015.[11]

On September 16, 2015, Sacramento Downtown Plaza was renamed Downtown Commons.[12]

Anchors and majors

References

  1. 1 2 Westfield Downtown Plaza property portfolio accessed August 18, 2006
  2. ↑ "Hard Rock Cafe leaving Sacramento, Downtown Plaza".
  3. ↑ Johnson, Kelly (October 29, 2008). "Target pulls out of Downtown Plaza". Sacramento Business Journal. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  4. ↑ http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/23/6096871/sacramento-kings-close-deal-to.html
  5. ↑ Bizjak, Tony (August 15, 2012). "JMA Ventures takes reins at Downtown Plaza". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  6. ↑ http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/03/5161046/both-downtown-plaza-and-sacramento.html
  7. ↑ http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/03/5161046_a5161315/both-downtown-plaza-and-sacramento.html
  8. ↑ "City wins possession of old Macy’s building for new Kings arena". The Sacramento Bee. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  9. ↑ http://www.sacbee.com/2014/05/01/6372047/sacramentos-planned-downtown-arena.html
  10. ↑ Duhain, Tom (April 19, 2014). "Last few stores leave Downtown Plaza before demolition". KCRA. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  11. ↑ Bienick, David (23 September 2014). "Downtown Plaza tenant says mall will close next year". KCRA. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  12. ↑ Sacramento Kings and JMA Ventures, LLC Announce Downtown Commons, Initial Tenants
  13. ↑ http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/04/24/whats-staying-open-at-downtown-plaza-heres-the.html

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 20, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.