Railyards Developers Looking For Ideas For Central Park
Source: Sacramento Business Journal, Ben van der Meer
Photo: Railyards developers are hosting a pop-up workshop Thursday at Sacramento Valley Station to get ideas for a Central Shops Park within existing buildings on the south end of the redevelopment site near downtown Sacramento (TODD QUAM, DIGITAL SKY AERIAL IMAGING)
As the Railyards development north of downtown Sacramento creeps closer to reality, developers are looking to fine-tune a central public amenity.
Next Thursday, the developers will host a pop-up workshop at the Sacramento Valley Station downtown to get ideas for Central Shops Park, a quarter-mile stretch amid the existing shops and buildings.
Railyards developers didn’t immediately respond to a message left through the website. But a diagram on the site shows the park would extend northward and eastward from a planned connection to the existing train terminal at Sacramento Valley Station.
People who can’t attend the workshop can offer suggestions through the website for potential recreation features, design ideas and beautification for the park.
For example, potential recreation features listed on the website include urban swings, a water mister play area, demonstration outdoor kitchen, public art and multiuse event space. Design ideas for increasing safety include lighting and low planting for visibility.
The site also shows a diagram of the park, with three future retail or development sites along the park’s north-south axis. The park would wrap around an existing “plant shop” building and include another future development site on the eastern edge facing that building. The diagram has marked spaces where website visitors can fill in the types of recreation features they’d prefer to see at each one.
In addition to specific options, the site allows broader feedback on topics such as other design ideas, potential challenges and how the park/plaza could benefit people who live nearby.
Though the park is at the conceptual stage now, infrastructure to help the entire Railyards site get started is in the works.
On Tuesday, the Sacramento City Council will vote on a $14.3 million contract to build new sewer capacity for lines running along Third and T streets downtown. One of the cited benefits of the sewer project would be needed capacity for planned development in both the Railyards and the River District to the north.
Members of Railyards development group Downtown Railyard Venture LLC have said the added capacity is vital infrastructure to allow large-scale development in the Railyards to move forward, with the first project scheduled to start next year.