Undaunted by possible "Not in My Backyard" objections, a new development group proposes to build condominiums behind hundreds of homes in Sacramento's central city.
"Yes, in My Backyard," declares the Web site for their project, called Stitch.
They say their new plan will make Sacramento's core more environmentally sustainable, affordable and lively – while at the same time helping existing homeowners earn some extra cash.
In the neighborhoods adjacent to downtown, nearly 2,400 houses sit on lots 40 feet wide by 160 feet deep. The Stitch group proposes to buy up the back portions of such lots and build three new condominiums on each one. The new housing units would front on Sacramento's mostly deserted alleys.
"They would activate the alley as a new streetscape," said Jeremy Drucker, one of the Stitch partners. Drucker recently completed the environmentally friendly 9onF housing development at 1419 F St.
Putting more units on underused properties could help meet the city's goal of bringing more residents downtown, and reduce the need for more suburban growth, which is dependent on cars, Drucker and his partners said.
"In most cases, when you see these lots, the back 60 feet is really an underutilized asset," said partner Ron Mellon, who is also a partner in the Township 9 project planned north of downtown.
The Environmental Council of Sacramento has given Stitch its seal of approval, and the plan has backers in city government as well.
"There are just endless thousands of acres in the city that are screaming out to be densified," said Graham Brownstein, executive director of ECOS.
Existing property owners stand to benefit substantially by participating, with relatively little sacrifice, the Stitch partners said.
Each set of three attached units would have the garages tucked underneath. In addition to about half of the profits from the development, the existing homeowner would get the rights to one or more spaces in the new garage.
"They can earn upward of $100,000 by doing this, and still have a garage and a yard," Drucker said.
"That's the really big message," Mellon added. "You can reduce your existing debt."
The name "Stitch" comes from the idea of "stitching the urban fabric," says its Web site, www.stitch-space.com
In addition to Drucker and Mellon, the partners include prominent midtown architect Ron Vrilakas and James Cuttle, owner of Cuttle Construction Co.
Drucker said Vrilakas' involvement has helped reassure neighborhood groups that Stitch would not be a repeat of the cheaply built apartment complexes that popped up all over midtown several decades ago.
Stitch plans to start building models by this spring in a site in the heart of midtown, although the partners won't say where yet. "We do have a site in mind, and if we get it for the right price, we'll make a move on it," Mellon said.
They have lined up one midtown resident who wants to participate, albeit not in quite the way they anticipated.
Deanna Marquart has lived in her four-bedroom house at 2216 L St. since 1985. Her kids are gone, she recently retired, and she needs to reduce her expenses. She wants to participate in a Stitch development in her backyard, and then sell her house and move into one of the new units.
"It would take a huge load of worry off my shoulders, and I would get to stay in the neighborhood I love," she said, adding, "I can't help but think there would be other people like me."
Drucker said the group has identified 436 lots with the right combination of location and alley to make an ideal Stitch site.
More than 70 percent of them are owned by investors and rented out, he said, emphasizing the need for more ownership housing near downtown.
"We're committed to a high quality product," he said. "We're not building rentals."
On each lot, the developers propose to erect a new three-story building containing up to three new housing units.
One of the units would be a handicapped accessible ground floor studio. The other two units would be two stories and have two bedrooms each.
The Stitch concept dovetails with an ongoing effort by Sacramento city staff and urban design enthusiasts to find ways to enliven Sacramento's alleys – essentially creating a second grid of urban streets lined with shops and housing.
"The city manager is interested in a pilot alley development," said Greg Taylor, an urban designer with the city of Sacramento.
The Stitch partners said the units would be more affordable than the higher end lofts being built in the central city today, with the idea of allowing young people who work downtown to buy a condo close to their job. A ground floor studio would run for about $250,000 and the two story units would be about $350,000.
Drucker said Stitch would be carried out bit by bit. Each unit would have to be presold before the Stitch partners took out a construction loan.
Compared with the grand condominium towers once proposed for downtown, which went poof when the economy soured, Stitch represents a more modest, incremental approach, Vrilakas said. He opined that it is an appropriate proposal for the restrained ethos taking hold in the American psyche.
"I think small is the new big, and Stitch really embodies that," he said.
Call The Bee's Mary Lynne Vellinga, (916) 321-1094.
