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McKinley Village Open House and Tour

McKinley Village Open House and Tour

Posted by on Sep 10, 2016 in East Sac, McKinley Village | 0 comments

On Thursday I got to go through the new McKinley Village properties. Since then I have talked to a lot of people about the development. Here are my thoughts… The quality of construction is top notch. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Kevin Carson and The New Home Company. They did great work on all of these properties and I think they stack up very well against anything else that is in the market. The VIP event was packed with people ranging from everyone associated with the building of the development, agents, lenders, councilmen, neighbors and most importantly, interested buyers. I talked to a lot of them in an effort to get a good cross reference of feedback and have talked with many more since the event. Many neighbors are still concerned about the impacts of the development on their own properties. Some fear the traffic impacts. Some worry that the development might devalue the older homes in East Sac for one reason or another. Others see this as potentially being very positive for the values in East Sac, Midtown and the surrounding neighborhoods if the houses in McKinley Village can get those prices. The agents ranged from impressed to doubtful. Some focused on the train noise, lack of backyard spaces and the tight streets that were packed with people touring the properties. Some see this as a good amount of inventory in an otherwise very scarce market, a suburb style development without the commute to the suburbs. The buyers that I have talked to also ranged from ready to buy to realizing that this isn’t the home for them. The ones that can see themselves living there don’t want a yard, they want a nice patio. They might be used to not having a yard or are finally done with the work that comes with one. They want all new construction with a 2 car garage but can’t justify the hour plus long commute home to Roseville at 5:00 on a weekday. The ones that have ruled it out after seeing the property want that yard, they want big trees, they are willing to deal with all of the quirks that come with the old homes that dominate the close in neighborhoods.   I have a listing coming up in two weeks in Roseville. It is a house on a tiny lot in a cluster home development near a lot of big box stores. I recently helped the owner of that property buy a brick home that was built in East Sac in 1925. At one point his 1,400 square foot, two story new home with dual pane windows on a 1,096 square foot lot in Roseville was the right fit for him. Now a 89 year old home with antique light fixtures and single pane, leaded glass windows that are painted shut is the right fit. When we list the Roseville home for sale...

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McKinley Village Pricing, Floor Plans and Updates

McKinley Village Pricing, Floor Plans and Updates

Posted by on Aug 1, 2016 in McKinley Village | 3 comments

Last Friday I went to the McKinley Village presentation to real estate agents. They also held a meeting over the weekend to present to prospective buyers. The floor plans and artist renderings of the property look nice and shiny. Unfortunately, the big concerns of the neighborhood for traffic and access to the development is going to be worse than projected . When they open the development for the first residents to move in they will only have one working access point. McKinley Village Way that will connect into C Street (just west of the change from Elvas Ave to C Street) between 40th and Tivoli Way will be the only access point for more than a year according to the presenter. The other access road point that goes over Business 80 and connects to 28th Street in midtown/Sutters Landing will only be usable for construction well into the development and sales of the properties. Another disappointment is the fact that the Alhambra bike/pedestrian tunnel that was proposed is not going to be part of the project. This means that all of traffic for the first year or more will have to come through one road and it greatly reduces the accessibility of the project. There were a lot of other details that were talked about and the project access was only addressed when I asked the questions. Now that I’ve gotten this out of my head and into my blog, I can talk about the rest of the details of the project. The project is still going to be 336 homes and they will have the model home grand opening on September 10th. They will start taking reservations for them on Saturday September 17th. The first releases of homes should be available to move in on October through December of this year. They have 2,000 people on their marketing list that are interested in getting updates and had 600 people signed up for last weekends presentation. Just like with an open house, I expect a good portion of these are just curious and want to know what is happening with the development instead of waiting in line to make a purchase. There are going to be 5 different groupings of properties in the development. Alder Parkside Flat are four 6-plex buildings with units from 1,537 to 2,536 square feet and prices ranging from the low $500,000’s to the low $700,000’s before upgrades. Birch Cottage Greens are zero lot line homes (kind of like Metro Square at H and 26th Street) that will have ally accessed garages. These range from 2,008 to 2,781 square feet and will be priced from the low $600,000’s to the high $600,000’s. The Cottonwood Park Homes will be the largest and most expensive properties. These will be the only traditional homes on regular lots. They will range from 2,292 to 3,172 square feet and price...

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McKinley Village Updates

Posted by on Mar 5, 2016 in McKinley Village | 0 comments

The Sacramento Bee had a great article on what is currently happening in McKinley Village. Here are what I considered the most interesting details to pass along. The New Home Company will have 336, mostly 2 story house for sale. The houses will range from 1,300 square feet to 3,150 square feet and while the prices haven’t been set yet there are conversation of prices starting at $450,000 and going above $800,000. The model homes will be available to tour in August and they already have 1,200 people signed up to receive updates when the models will be available. The main park will have a community center and pool, the streets will be named for local artists and there will be public art from local artists throughout the development. There will be 8 original art pieces in the neighborhood that the developers are paying over $400,000 for. The first one is titled “La Feuille” by East Sac artist Marc Foster. You can read all the details of the article at the Sacramento...

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McKinley Village Environmental Impact Study

McKinley Village Environmental Impact Study

Posted by on Jun 11, 2013 in Clunie Community Center, East Sac, McKinley Village | 0 comments

There will be a city meeting about the upcoming environmental impact study for McKinley Village. It will be Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 7:00 at the Clunie Community Center in McKinley Park (601 Alhambra Boulevard). As per the document “ Responsible agencies and members of the public are invited to attend and provide input on the scope of the environmental document for the proposed McKinley Village project”.  The document also states: “Written comments regarding the relevant issues may be submitted at the meeting” and on the second page it state “written comments or questions concerning the proposed project should be directed to the City’s environmental project manager at the following address by 4:00 pm on June 24, 2013. Please include the contact person’s full name and address: Dana Allen, Associate Planner City of Sacramento, Community Development Department 300 Richards Blvd, Third Floor Sacramento CA 95811 916-808-2762 dallen@cityofsacramento.org You can see the full document here http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/planning/environmental-review/eirs/documents/FinalMV_NOP5_24_13rev_OPT.pdf I plan on going to find out what the scope of an Environmental Impact Report is, see the process and I hope to also gain any new insights into the project itself. I hope to see some of you there.  I’ve had conversations with several East Sac locals about this project and the reaction to it has been greatly varied. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. Please add a comment here on my blog or email or call...

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McKinley Village Meeting Follow Up

McKinley Village Meeting Follow Up

Posted by on Jun 5, 2013 in East Sac, McKinley Park, McKinley Village | 0 comments

I went to the community meeting about McKinley Village last night. It started at 6:30 and didn’t wrap up until 8:30. There was lots of good information, but most of the crowd wanted much more, and they were a very tough crowd!  I’m glad that I wasn’t one of the people at the front of the room because they had it rough. There was probably 250 people in attendance and almost all of the vocal ones were unhappy. There were several people that spoke out in favor of the project but they were definitely out numbered by the ones with concerns and questions. What are my take aways from the meeting? There is a good chance that this site is going to be developed. I talked to the city planning department representative after the meeting and it sounds like there truly is a decent chance of houses going into this site in the next two years. Despite the local opposition to the plan, this is the best plan that this site has seen and if it is going to be developed (and not into just a large park) 325 houses is much better than a high-rise hotel and office complex or the big box stores that were proposed by other developers in the past. The application for this development was only made one month ago, so it is still in the very early stages. A traffic study has been started and will take another 8-12 weeks to complete. An Environmental Impact Report has been ordered and that extensive report should be completed in October and up for public review at that point.  The design is better than I originally thought. They will be doing high earth berms with trees instead of a sound barrier wall, both on the side with the freeway and the railroad tracks. They have placed the houses far enough back from the tacks so they shouldn’t feel any of the vibration of the trains. They are going to have about 40-45 different home designs so it won’t look like a cookie cutter development. The are budgeting much higher build costs for each house (I think it was 40% above their normal build budget) to make sure that they can give them all the character and charm that they will need to appeal to the local expectations, which they know will be very high. When I look at an average East Sac block, they have about 40-50 houses on each block, depending on the block. If the builders get to build 325 houses, that is the equivalent of 7 to 8 blocks. To give myself an idea of what this looks like in current East Sac reference, there are 332 houses on the blocks of 34th, 35th, Santa Ynez, 36th, 37th, 38th and 39th Streets between H Street and McKinley Boulevard. Surprisingly, this was about the same...

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McKinley Village Meetings

McKinley Village Meetings

Posted by on Jun 3, 2013 in East Sac, McKinley Village, MENA | 0 comments

Don’t forget, if you want to find out all the details on the Mckinley Village project or the latest and greatest info on the progress of the Sutter Park neighborhood you should go to the MENA meeting on Tuesday night at 6:30.The community meeting is sponsored by MENA and ESIA on June 4th at 6:30pm at the Clunie Auditorium. The presenters will display graphics and answer questions on the proposed development. If you want to find out a lot about the project before the meeting, the development company has their shinny new website all set up. Go to http://mckinleyvillage.com to read all about the their plans before the meeting and come prepared with some good questions for them. See you...

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