Newest downtown proposal: Townhomes on
T Street

Sacramento Business Journal - August 5, 2005 by Mike McCarthy Staff Writer

Developer Tony Giannoni and partner Kevin Noell have bought a city block in midtown
Sacramento, where they plan to build deluxe townhomes for buyers who want something more genteel than the high-rise condos proposed in the central city.

The deal is one of many prompted by the apparently rising demand for downtown homes from downtown workers. This project is unusual in taking up an entire city block.

Giannoni and Noell, who built the 12-story Meridian Plaza office building at 1415 L St., this week bought the 3.1-acre block bounded by T, U, 20th and 21st streets from Angelo Tsakopoulos. Tsakopoulos' daughter, Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, is a partner in the project, said Noell.

Noell is a San Diego builder who specializes in rehabilitating polluted "brownfield" sites in existing neighborhoods. He was scouting the R Street corridor for properties when he came across the Tsakopoulos site, which happens to be free of toxics, Giannoni said.

The partners propose 61 detached townhomes, each separated by three feet of air and built around a grassy common area. The structures would rise two stories above ground-floor garages, and resemble brownstones found in New York City or Boston.

The partners could have proposed a condo high-rise, but felt downtown Sacramento has plenty of those in the offing. Other developers have proposed up to seven high-rises in the central city, all with at least some condos.

Also, Noell said, the brownstone look fits in better with the Victorian neighborhood around 20th and T.

Prices to start in low $400,000s
The site is a short distance from the award-winning, Safeway-anchored R Street Market shopping center that developer Paul Petrovich completed last year. Because of that project and others in the area, Noell said, the partners decided their venture didn't need to include stores. They haven't settled on prices, but Noell estimates that the units will be priced from the "low $400,000 range to around $700,000."

Yeah, that price range should be fine," said John Schleimer, owner of Market Perspectives, a company that analyzes the new-home market. "And having the ability to offer detached townhomes should be fine there."

The buyers would include people who prefer detached homes to high-rise condominiums,
downtown workers tired of commuting, and people who prefer the urban lifestyle, Schleimer said.

The T Street townhomes sound a bit like Regis Homes' 45-house Metro Square project in midtown, which sold out in one week in 1998 and demonstrated a demand for new homes in the central city.

Reservations, start dates
The property is listed with real estate agent Jaci Wallace of Lyon Real Estate's midtown office. Giannoni expects the partnership will be able to take reservations for the units in December. Construction would be in phases, with the first units started next April.

Noell said 45 of the homes would range in size between 1,500 and 1,800 square feet, featuring roof decks. Another 16 would be 1,000 square feet.

The site now has an empty industrial-style building that was used as an office. It would be torn down. Although the property's current zoning might allow homes, Noell plans to ask the city to rezone it residential.

The project architect is Packowski Heinritz Associates.