Huge spotlights illuminate buildings at Sacramento’s downtown railyards. The new owner of the property, Thomas Enterprises, wants to literally shine a light on the future of the site as it moves forward with plans to redevelop the land. It’s part of an effort to generate enough energy to push the project off of the drawing boards and into reality.

The project goes to Sacramento City Council for a vote just before Thanksgiving. It’s a $125 million project to transform the 244 acres into an entertainment, retail and residential complex.

“People have been waiting a long time for this project,” said Suheil Totah of Thomas Enterprises. “Sacramento has been wanting to see a revitalized downtown, and it’s Sacramento’s turn, and we want to make it happen.”

There is no plan right now to include an arena in the project. However, the owners say there is plenty of undesignated land in the project, so it could still happen.

Many people who already live along the riverfront say they favor filling in the undeveloped land. “I want these urban infill projects to succeed because what they do is reduce the sprawl and all the terrible environmental effects that go with the sprawl,” said Robert Turnage, who lives near the river’s edge in West Sacramento.

Turnage’s wife, Kristina, looks forward to the 2009 projected start of construction but wants to first see that the project meets some basic but critical standards.

“In which people have liveable space, places to work, places to have community without it becoming this intensely congested area,” said Kristina Somma. “And that’s a hard balance but that’s the balance that we’re looking for.”

The lights will continue to shine on the largest buildings in the railyards for the remainder of the year.

[tags] Sacramento,  Thomas Enterprises, Sacramento Development [/tags]